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10 Tips to Become a Chess Champ

chess player looking at board

If you want to be a chess champ, it’ll take lots of learning and lots of practicing. Here are 10 tips to get you started:

LEARN THE CHESS MOVES

Each chess piece can move only a certain way. For instance, a pawn moves straight ahead but can only attack on an angle, one square at a time. A knight’s move is L-shaped. The bishop moves at an angle but can move more than one square at a time. The rook (castle) can move only in a straight line but can go forward, back or to the side. The queen, the most powerful piece, can move in any direction for any number of squares, but not two directions in one move. And the king moves at a stately pace — as a king should — one square at a time in any direction on the chess board.

OPEN WITH A PAWN

Move the pawn in front of either the king or queen two squares forward. (Only on its opening move can a pawn move two squares.) This opens pathways for your bishops and queen to enter the game. They move on an angle and can’t get out onto the field of battle if pawns are in the way.

GET THE KNIGHTS AND BISHOPS OUT

Before you move your queen, rooks or king, move your knights and bishops toward the center of the chess board. You want to get these pieces out from behind the pawns so they can attack.

WATCH YOUR BACK!

And front! When it’s your turn, always think to yourself, “What did my opponent’s last move do? What is he up to?” Is he laying traps to capture your pieces? Then decide on your own plan. Always look at all your possibilities. Look at moves that would capture your opponent’s men or threaten his king first. But always double-check your moves before you play them. Ask yourself, “Does my move leave something unprotected?”

DON’T WASTE TIME

Don’t make too many moves with your pawns or try to pick off your opponent’s pawns.

“CASTLE” EARLY

Castling is a move that allows you to move your king to safety and bring your rook into play. Once all the squares between your rook and the king are unoccupied you can move the king two squares toward the rook while the rook moves to the square on the the king’s other side. If your opponent neglects to castle, you might be able to launch an attack on his king. This is the only chess move in which more than one piece may be moved in a turn.

ATTACK IN THE “MIDDLEGAME”

After you’ve brought all your knights and bishops into the game and castled (these moves are your “opening”), the middlegame begins. In the middlegame, always be on the lookout for ways to capture your opponent’s men. Take any chess piece that your opponent doesn’t protect. But look at what will happen to your piece if you take his — will you get picked off? Always be looking for ways to move lots of your men into position to attack the enemy king.

LOSE PIECES WISELY

You’ll take some of your opponent’s pieces. Some of your pieces will be taken. You must figure out what is and isn’t a good swap in chess. Use these points to figure out whether you’re making a good move if you’re going to lose one of them:

  • Queen: 9 points
  • Rook: 5 points
  • Bishop: 3 points
  • Knight: 3 points
  • Pawn: 1 point

So is it a good idea to lose a bishop to save a pawn? No!

DON’T PLAY TOO FAST

If you see a good move, sit on your hands and look for a better one. Patient thinking is the key to chess success.

WIN THE ENDGAME

After you and your opponent swap pieces and you’re down to just a few men, the endgame begins. Now the pawns become more important. If you can advance a pawn to the farthest row away from you, that pawn becomes a queen. A big success! Let your king attack, too, as long as he stays out of reach of your opponent’s remaining pieces — especially the queen — and does not let himself to be checked.

Your king is said to be in check when your opponent threatens to use one of his pieces to capture the king on his next move. If your king is checked and you have no way to remove the threat — it can’t run away, you can’t capture the opposing piece that has him in check and you can’t block the check by moving one of your own pieces — the game is lost. Checkmate! If you checkmate your opponent before he checkmates you, then you win!

60 Comments on 10 Tips to Become a Chess Champ

  1. it is very useful.

  2. Wonderful

  3. These tips really help

  4. very good tips, I agree

  5. Wooow its nice

  6. Phenomenon // April 5, 2020 at 10:47 am // Reply

    These tips really helped me, thank you

  7. Violet Moon // April 4, 2020 at 12:32 pm // Reply

    thanks! great advice im defanutly gonna use it!:)

  8. Chihuahua-El // April 4, 2020 at 11:03 am // Reply

    I’ll try them and let you know how they work thank you in advance

  9. These tips are wonderful.thank you

  10. You must also provide tips to defeat strong opponents

  11. I tried the tips but all didn’t work

  12. bad tips iam ask how to defeat a strong opponent please give tricks not tips

  13. cyrus the great // March 24, 2020 at 11:06 am // Reply

    nice…..good tips….

  14. sirhamilton253 // March 21, 2020 at 7:57 pm // Reply

    Tips worked great. Let me just tell you, I love all your tips, but may you please, if find any more tips for beginners, add it on here?

  15. ChessLovesChess1783 // March 21, 2020 at 7:56 pm // Reply

    BROOOOO YOU HAVE YOUTUBERS IN YOUR COMMENTS??? LUCKYYYYY

  16. EasterStarYT // March 21, 2020 at 7:45 pm // Reply

    Thanks for the tips again!!

  17. These tips help me on chess.org. Thank you very much

  18. Thanks for the hints!
    Jake

  19. The tips are very very helpful.

  20. play against the computer–at least level 5. you’ll lose almost every game, but you’ll develop an intuition for the game. openings, theories, development can only get you so far. it comes down to intuition and playing superior opponents. this is what will make you better. chess, like golf, can only be a fun game for most. enjoy it and do realize that you’ll never be a master chess player no more than you’ll ever be a master physicist. the game is just too complex for the average mind to master. enjoy!

  21. chessgamer // March 6, 2020 at 2:59 am // Reply

    thanks really good tips i am unstoppable !!!!!!

  22. cooperbedard // March 4, 2020 at 7:41 am // Reply

    record went from 2-15 to 25-16 thx

  23. #Anonymous101! // February 24, 2020 at 2:16 pm // Reply

    OMG! thxxxxx sooooo much! thx to u i will win my chess comp FOR SHORE!!! #winner!

  24. THE TIPS WERE SO OOD NOBODY CAN DEFEAT ME

  25. So helpful! I am getting better and better!!! I wasn’t sure whether it would help ,but now I am. ♥♥♥

  26. Yay

  27. nickname_find out u r self // January 25, 2020 at 8:41 am // Reply

    thanks, tips weren’t so good

  28. mr 101_anonymous international // January 25, 2020 at 8:39 am // Reply

    the advice wasn’t that bad but now let me give a piece of advice try better you’ll succeed one day

  29. ItzChris__here •~• // January 22, 2020 at 7:28 am // Reply

    Wow, i thought it doesn’t work..but it really makes me better at playing chess. Thank you very much for the tips!😊

  30. Thanks bro by this tips I improved my skill.
    can you give more tips

  31. Thanks now I’ll win the chess

  32. It will help wen I play

  33. Heaven light // January 7, 2020 at 7:58 am // Reply

    I’m getting better and better now that I know your tricks… so easy 😊 thank you.

  34. extra tips:
    use your queen in the beginning wisely so you can take out a lot of pieces and so you can get a quick checkmate

    use pawn chains as a good offense and defense; pawn chains are pawns set up diagonally because they can attack diagonally

  35. i need pro tips

  36. BAD

  37. so easy

  38. Any cannot play with me easily.Thank you for teaching me tricks.

  39. Wow. I never knew what “check” meant until reading this. But is it mandatory to say it? On other words, can you “ckeckmate” (capture the opponent’s king) if you didn’t say “check” right after the previous move? Hmmm.

  40. I can now get to beat someone at chess. Thanks.

  41. Great tips

  42. Good tricks

  43. I beat my sister every time it’s so easy because of you

  44. it works nice tips

  45. it was so good

  46. Billy de Vilar // November 28, 2019 at 10:39 pm // Reply

    so wonderfull tips and are working verry well since it’s my firrt day to play

  47. the tips are so wonderfull and making sense since its my first time to play

  48. I LOVE IT ,I MEAN THE TIPS

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