Albeit the title is a little misleading, no food will be given out after reading this blog but it will cover chess strategies such as skewers, forks, and more! These strategies help to gain material (opponent pieces) and improve a player’s position. Before one can utilize these strategies, he or she must put their pieces in a place to do that. By the end of this post, readers will be able to start playing and start playing well!
(“Chess Skewer” made by Michael Magnotti)
Previous blogs mentioned some famous games and explained how each piece moves, but what’s the point? Where do you move them to? What pieces do you move? It all boils down to one idea; development. Developing pieces means to navigate the board and maximize the potential of each piece. The main goal of developing is to control the center of the board, where there are more opportunities to attack.
Fortunately, some pieces like the pawns can move many spaces forward at a time, making it easier to get to reach the center before your opponent. After control of the center has been taken, pieces can start to capture or take the opponent’s pieces. If you remember anything from this blog, remember this: The number one rule when developing your pieces is to never move a piece twice. If you continue to develop multiple pieces, you can gain better control than if you move one piece again and again. The more pieces you have to work with the better off you will be! Chess is not won by trading material but by forcing the opponent to make choices. Luckily, many different strategies exist to aid us in our fight.
First and foremost, the skewer or pin; they both describe the same strategy of being able to attack a piece if the piece in front of it moves. This strategy literally pins the material for fear of losing a more or less valuable piece. In this example, the King is in check and therefor must move out of the way, allowing the Rook to take the Queen. Queens, Bishops, and Rooks can execute skewers or pins.
We also have the fork or double attack. It attacks two pieces at once, forcing the opponent to make a decision of which piece to lose and where to move the other.
Although a very stylistic image, the Knight demonstrates a fork by being able to attack both the King and the Queen. Specifically, a fork where the King is put in check adds quite a bit of pressure to the opponent as they have no choice but to move the King to safety, losing the other piece. Forks can even be executed pawns, as they are able to attack from both of their diagonals. Forks are a great strategy and usually easier to recognize for beginning players.
Start playing and playing with purpose by making it a goal to maintain control of the center, or at least try. If you can’t, then develop your pieces in a different way and attempt to set yourself up for some attacks like a fork or a skewer. Putting all of this together, your chess game will improve tenfold (if you haven’t learned how to play yet).
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Remember to Say It With Your Chess!
– Michael Magnotti
Part-time writer, Michael Magnotti, thrives on leading passionate people to see the world in different ways. Although Michael writes about very different topics, he uses them all as an easy-to-read guide for seeing what you didn’t know was there!
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Special Thank You:
I would like to thank YouTuber Tarun Kanyamarala for an example of a skewer. I am unsure if he makes money off of ads, but I am not sponsored by or affiliated with him in any way.
These moves are going to help me a lot to better my game when I decide to play! I like how you outlined the importance of controlling the center of the board to force the other player to make a decision! Also, the fork and skewer maneuvers seem super helpful if you can set them up properly! Thanks for the movement and strategy tips!