Basic Tactics In The Game Of Chess

Tactics in chess refers to a sequence of moves that cuts down the other player's choices. Chess strategy and tactics are not the same things. Tactics are at a more defined, local level than strategy, which is more global and is the overall design of how we intend to win.

In tactics, we can either attack or defend - doing nothing is not an option, (as in real life!) I like to think of the competition between human beings as '2 player chess', as more and more games are played with machines as the opponent.

A piece is attacking if it can capture an opponent's piece in the next move. A piece is said to be defending when it is in such a position that it could take the opponent's piece, if that piece followed through with the attack. Usually, the two players will study the respective value of the pieces involved, and determine how to proceed. This all depends on the place the pieces have in the general strategy. possibly one opponent expects to sacrifice this piece as part of his strategy. Sacrificing certain pieces in the overall interest of victory is one of the fundamental tactics of chess.

When the opponent attacks, we can use various tactics, depending on the board layout and our overall strategy. We can try to seize the attacking piece, or take our piece out of harm's way. Could we place one of our pieces between the two, and end the attack that way? Maybe we can launch a prompt counter attack to divert the opponent from his tactic. There are numerous ways in which we can defend or attack, but tactics have defined categories. A beginner chess player would do well to study one of the many first-class books about chess tactics and gradually develop the ideas into their own games. Let's take a quick look at just two standard categories of tactics.

Discovered attack

This is a tactic which permits an attack by the opponent, by moving one of our pieces out of the way of the attack. (If the piece under attack is our king, the tactic is referred to as a discovered check). This is a potent tactic, as the piece that was moved out of the way could then be employed in a surprise counter attack. In this way you develop a second attack, which has the effect of putting your opponent off guard and back on the defensive.

The Fork

This is a nice tactic and tends to be a favorite of mine, particularly if carried out by a knight. It can be carried out when the other player doesn't pay attention the set up, while concentrating on a false offensive somewhere else on the board, for example. In essence, a piece gets into a place where it can capture any one of two opponent pieces nearby by. Usually, the opponent can only save one piece by moving it out of harm's way, and he must decide which one to lose. Bear in mind, if one of the pieces is a King, then he is obligated by the rules of chess to move it away from this check position. Queens are also great pieces to use in a fork tactic, moving as they can in eight different directions.

Fork attacks are named 'Relative', when the pieces under attack are Rooks, Pawns, Knights, Bishops or Queen. The fork tactic is called 'Absolute', when one of the attacked pieces includes the King.