Chess Strategy Infographic

Chess Strategy Infographic

Patience At The Chess Board

Winning and losing in chess is many times a result not of what you do not know, but of your behavior over the board. Impatience is a behaviour that leads to not fulfilling your full potential in chess. Review the games of masters and a common denominator is how they wield powerful yet patient moves whenever the opportunity arises. The virtue of patience must be acquired if you wish to cross the elusive 2000 elo threshold.

Study and practice increases your internal pattern recognition database, improves your calculation and evaluation skills and increases your knowledge of typical positions. This all adds up to making you a stronger more skilled player, but many times you continue to lose games and improvement seems slow and arduous. Your improvement does does not keep up with your investment in studying and practicing chess because of errors of chess psychology.

Chess improvement is composed of skill, knowledge and psychology. While skill and knowledge can be trained through books and coaching the psychological component is dependent on finding the weaknesses in your thought process and decision making and addressing them.

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Purdy's Endgame Rules: Rule #1

Rook and Pawn vs. King Endgame Rule #1

The defense draws against any pawn that is not more than one rank beyond the middle of the board (a white pawn on the 5th rank) when the defender's King stands on the queening square and the defender's rook is on the rank next-but one to the queening rank (a defending black rook on the 6th rank - Cheron). IF the pawn is on the rank next-but-one to the queening rank, the defender draws, provided he can safely give check - to do so, the defender should try to get his rook behind the pawn.

Either side to move draws
Philidor 1977

Following the rule above we have:

1...Ra6! 2.e5  Rb6 3.Ra7  Rc6 4.e6  Rc1! (now that the pawn has moved, move your rook to the opponent's back rank to begin the checking procedure.) 5.Kf6  Rf1+ (and Black draws. If the Black rook did not have a check now, then White would win)

Again, the simplest rule is to keep your rook on the rank next-but one to the queening rank, preventing the advance of the enemy King, until the pawn moves onto that rank. After the attacking King has moved then and only then, place your rook on the attacker's back rank and check forever (Cheron).