1Watch your opponent's moves carefully. What pieces are they developing, and what sides of the board are they favoring? If you were them, what sort of long-term strategy would you be planning? Once you have the basics of your own play down, you should be constantly adjusting to your opponent's. If she's holding back, setting up pieces near her side for an attack, ask yourself what her end-goal is. Are there ways you can disrupt or put her plan on hold? Does he have the advantage, and do you need to fall back and defend some units to prevent a serious loss of material, or can you put some pressure on him?2Know when to trade pieces. Trading pieces is obvious when you end up with the material advantage, such as giving up a Knight in order to get their Queen, but it is much trickier when you're trading off similar pieces. In general, you do not want to trade pieces when:You have the advantage in position, center control, and development. The fewer pieces are on the board in total, the less of an advantage you have and the easier you are to defend against.The opponent is cramped or stuck in a corner. When you have them locked in it is more difficult for them to move or maneuver many pieces, but fewer pieces can get them out of the jam and free again.You have fewer pieces than your opponent. If you have more pieces than them and the advantages are otherwise similar, start taking pieces. You'll open up new attacking lanes.You would double up pawns. A doubled pawn is when you have one pawn in front of the other. This makes them both much less useful and clogs up your side of the board. However, if you can make your opponent double pawns as a side-effect of an even trade then this could be useful move.3Develop 5-6 moves in advance every time. It is easier said than done, but you need to be thinking long-term in order to win chess games with any regularity. Each piece you move should be done with three common goals in mind. If you keep these points in your head, you'll find you can easily start improvising multi-move plans to win the game:Develop multiple pieces (Rooks, Knights, Queen, Bishop) early and often. Get them out of their starting spots to open up your options.Control the center. The center of the board is where the action happens.Protect the King. You can have the best offense in the world, but leaving your King open is a sure-fire way to lose at the last minute.4Hold your advantage until you can get the most out of it instead of rushing in.Chess is about momentum, and if you have it, you need to keep it. If your opponent is purely reacting to you, moving pieces out of the way frequently and unable to mount any attack, take your time and whittle them down. Remember, you can win a match-up and still lose the game. Don't move in if you're opening up to a counter attack. Instead, pick off their defending pieces, take full control of the middle of the board, and wait to hit them until it really hurts.5Learn to pin pieces. Pinning is when you trap a piece or hold it hostage, keeping your opponent from effectively using it without losing the piece. This passive sort of warfare is a great way to control the game, and it will help you master your opponents. To do it, look where a piece can move. Usually, pieces with limited options are your best bet. Then, instead of attacking, position your piece so that you could take them no matter where the move, effectively making the piece useless for a period of time.Taking hostages is when you give your opponent the opportunity to take your piece. The only catch is knowing that you can take their piece right back. They may take it, they may not -- the important thing is that you're in control.6Evaluate each move objectively. You need to be looking at the entire board, evaluating every possible move you have. Don't make a move just because you have to -- take the time instead to look for the best possible move every turn. What makes a good move depends purely on context, but there are a few questions you can ask yourself before every move to see if it is the right one:Am I safer than where I was before?Do I expose this piece, the King, or another important piece?Can the enemy quickly put my piece in danger, making me move back and "lose" a turn?Does this move put the enemy under pressure to react to me?7Take out your opponent's pieces as a unit. You want to maintain control of the center, but you also want to attack as a unit. Your pieces are like the parts of orchestra, they each serve a unique purpose, but work the best together. By eliminating your opponent's pieces you have a greater chance at putting his King in check without a piece to hide behind, and by doing it with 2-3 units as support you ensure that you keep the advantage in material.8Protect your Queen at all times with a Bishop or Rook. It is the most powerful piece on the board for a reason, and there are rarely good times to trade it in for an opponent's piece, even their Queen. Your Queen is your most versatile attacker and needs to be used as such. Always protect and support the Queen, as the most players will sacrifice just about any piece (other than their own Queen) to take her down.Queens only reach their full potential with support. Most players instinctively watch the opponent's Queen, so use yours to force pieces into the line of your Rooks, Bishops, and Knights.9Don't close in your Bishops with your pawns. Bishops strike from long-range, and using the two of them to control the board is vital, especially in the early game. There are many opening strategies that you can learn, but the overall goal is to quickly open up space for your higher value pieces to move freely.Moving your Pawns to either d4/d5, or e4/e5 opens up your Bishops to move and helps you claim the center squares. Get the bishops out early and use their long range to your advantage while developing Rook and the Queen
