Chess strategy and tactics

'Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat'. By- Sun Tzu
One of the oldest and therefore the most popular board game, Chess, appeared in India about the 6th century AD and by the 10th century had spread from Asia to the Middle East and Europe.
A game of chess is generally divided into three phases; the opening, the middle game, and last the end game.
Let’s learn a number of the essential tactics and methods of Chess which will assist us in some ways.
1. Fool's mate

Fool's mate is one of the fastest ways to checkmate your opponent. It begins with a weak first move by White, kingside pawn to f3. This move doesn't help to develop any pieces and weakens the king's defense on the e1-h4 diagonal.

2. Forks

One of the foremost effective way which mostly occurs when one piece attacks two or more enemy pieces at an equivalent time. All the pieces, even the king is in a position to perform a fork, but the important master of the fork is that the knight. The knight's often surprising ability to leap into unexpected places, combined with its ability to attack in eight directions

3. Pins and Skewers

Pins and skewers are the two types of tactics that are associated with one another. A piece is said to be pinned when it cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece to attack. A skewer, on the opposite side, is used when a valuable piece is attacked, and then it moves, a lesser piece is exposed to capture. So, the skewer is the inverse of the pin. Unlike forks, only the long-range pieces like the bishop, rook, and queen, are able to perform pins and skewers.

4. Try to remove the guard

If you attack a piece and your opponent tries to protect it, So during this situation, look out for the possibility of winning the piece by removing the guard or barrier. Likewise, if one among your pieces is doing a crucial job in guarding another piece, make sure you do not let the opponent crash you.

Some other points to remember:

• Choose your strategy wisely.
• Your first moves are important.
• Always pack up your opponent.

By- Sakshi Bhardwaj