Basic Play
Opening Theory
Middlegame Strategy
Endgame Strategy
Basic Play
The basic play plan is designed for students who are completely new or have just started playing chess.
The following topics are covered:
- Understanding of the board and naming squares
- Naming files
- Naming ranks
- Naming diagonals
- Movement of the pieces
- Value of the pieces
- En Passant rule
- Pawn promotions
- How to attack and capture a piece
- Defending attacks by blocking
- Defending attacks by capture
- Defending attacks by escape
- Being checked and giving check
- Basic checkmates including; Queen & King vs King, Rook & King vs King, Queen and Knight v King
- Stalemate
- When is a piece exchange profitable and when is it unprofitable
- Basic opening strategy and the 3 golden rules
Opening Theory
The opening theory plan covers all openings. However the openings below can be covered in more specific detail:
- French defence
- Kings Indian attack
- Pirc defence
- Modern defence
- Budapest gambit
- Larsen opening
- Sicillian dragon
- C3 Sicillian
- Grunfeld
- Kings Indian defence
- Reti opening
- Bird’s opening
- Trompovsky attack
- Alekhine’s defence
- Queens gambit declined
- Bb5 Sicillian
- Caro Kan
- English opening
- Queens gambit declined
Middlegame strategy
The middle game plan tailors for all levels from beginner to expert.
Topics covered are:
- Double attacks
- Discovered attacks
- Discovered checks
- X-ray attacks
- Pinning and winning
- Defence against pins
- Looking for forks and skewers
- Knights on the rim are dim
- Basic checkmates in 2 leading to more complex mating patterns.
- How to recognise and defend a mating attack
- Seventh rank
- Eighth rank
- Open files
- The centre
- Looking for opening advantage
- Mini plans
- How to determine weakness and move to exploit it
- Long term plans
- Luring and interference
- Eliminating the defence
- Identifying the threat
- Weak pawn structure
- Strong pawn structure
- The pawn chain
- Weakening a strong pawn structure
- Passed pawns
- Protected passed pawns
- Double pawns
- Isolated pawns
- Strong squares and weak squares
- Nimzowitsch blockade
- Exchanging pieces
- Theoretical drawn positions
- Mating attacks
- Material vs development
- Sacrificial attack and judgement
- Sacrifice for position
- Exchange Sacrifices
- Greek gift Bxh7 sacrifice
- Nf7 smothered checkmate Queen sacrifice
- Boden’s sacrifice
- Anastasia’s mate sacrifice
- Hanging on by the skin of your teeth
- Defensive sacrifices
- Defence by counter
Endgame strategy
The endgame plan covers all levels from very simple to complex endgame strategies.
Topics covered are:
- Rook and one v rook and one
- Rook and pawn endings with pawns on 3rd to 7th ranks where king is cut off
- Rook and 2 pawns v rook and one
- Rook v rook and equal pawns
- Rook endings with connected pawns and disconnected pawns
- Rook endings with material equality and positional advantage
- Lucena position
- Philidor position
- Magic position
- Saavedra position
- Horowitz position
- Rook activation
- Two rook endings
- Rook and minor piece endings
- Rook v queen
- Mate with bishop and knight
- Mate with knight and knight
- Bishop and pawn
- Knight and pawn
- Bishop v knight
- Bishop or knight v rook
- Bishops v bishops endings
- Queen v queen and pawn
- Queens and pawns
- Centralisation of the king
- Pawn against pawn
- Pawn squares
- Opposition
- Triangulation
- Looking for a waiting move
- Middlegame to endgame transition
- Looking for stalemates