Aims
- Develop towards the centre
- Castle early and castle often
State
- When both sides have similarly active pieces it’s known as an even or balanced position
- Relative/absolute pins
Notation
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| + | Check |
| ++ | Double check |
| # | Checkmate |
| 0-0 | Castles kingside |
| 0-0-0 | Castles queenside |
| ! | Good move |
| ? | Bad move |
| !! | Brilliant move |
| ?? | Serious mistake |
Weakest pawns
- F2 and F7
- Only the kings are defenders
Piece weighting
- 1 pawn
- 3 knight
- 3 bishop
- 5 rook
- 9 queen
Pawn patrol
- Pawn islands
- Connected pawns
- Pawn structure
Phases of the game
Opening
All your opening moves should support these goals.
- Establish control of the centre: the most important part of the board
- Get your pieces onto active squares towards the centre
- Get your king to safety by castling
Middle game
TBD
End game
- Promote pawns and capture the opponent’s king
- Pawn races
Tactics
- Fork
- Discovered attack
- Pin
- Skewere
- Deflection