Tactical and Strategic Thinking in Chess
To learn to think like a professional or even a very skilled chess player, you must learn how they think. You must learn to use tactical and strategic thinking in chess. Playing online chess games or in your own home, it doesn’t matter – it’s always a game of strategy. Following are some tips to help you think in ways which will benefit your chess game.
Think from your opponenet’s point of view – Try and determine your opponent’s overall strategy by observing his moves. Often a chess player will broadcast his intentions without realizing. People play with different strategies, and if you can figure out how your opponent is thinking, you’ll be able to stay one step ahead of him/her by aggressively and strategically moving your pieces accordingly.
Keep your important and valuable players alive – if you must lose players (and you will), give up the lesser players first, such as pawns. Keep those you’ll need for strategic or protective moves later in the crucial plays of the game.
Think things through – even if you see a genius move, looks can sometimes be deceiving. Develop the habit of running through the potential consequences of several possible moves and then make the best decision you can. Learn to look ahead and ‘see’ the possible ways the game could go and you will improve your strategic thinking.
Control your thoughts and emotions – like in any game of importance, from poker to war, your emotions can get the best of you. Not only do you need control to play your best game, but it’s also important to keep your feelings close to your chest so that you don’t give away any excitement or nervousness to your opponent. Practice remaining calm in tense situations and work on developing detachment – meditation can be very good for this.
Keep your overall strategy in mind – do not get caught up in individual moves or pieces. Instead, keep your eyes on the goal and move all pieces accordingly.
The goal in chess, as mentioned above, is to ‘capture’ the other player’s king, and when you are one move from doing so, you declare ‘CHECK.’ This alerts the other player to the imminent danger of losing the game, and they may move to protect their king if they are able.