Inspiration Chess Academy

• If you avoid moving a chess piece several times during the opening. This means that when you have developed a piece, it should not be moved again until the other pieces have been developed.

• If you have castled, don´t permit the opponent to open a file on your king.

• Develope pieces to coordinate well with one another. Unless you do this, you may find your attack to lose steam and that may put you at a disadvantage.

• Seize control of the center, as this will give you more play and better attacks.

• Cut off communication between opponent´s pieces.

• Avoid premature attacks on the opponent. It is probable that more games are lost by beginners through disregard of this principle than from any other cause. An attack should never be launched until there is sufficient force in the field to carry it to a successful conclusion, and a premature attack almost inevitably recoils on the head of the attacker.

• Seek a weak spot in opponent´s position. The ability to detect opponent weakness and then take full advantage of it is one of the most important abilities in chess.

• Exchanging an inactive piece with a similar but active piece of the opponent.

• Avoid making exchanges which develop another piece for the opponent.

• Don’t be greedy! Sometimes you may find an easy pawn to pick up but it may be a trap (´poisoned pawn´). Accepting it will often allow the opponent to launch a powerful attack and often the best way to neutralize is to return that material instead of trying to hold on to it.