Sergio X. Madrigal, Ph.D.

A Pithy Primer of Chess

Your Move

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7

The Phases of the Game

A chess game is divided into three phases to be able to best discuss how to play a game. The three phases are: 1) the Opening, 2) the Middle Game, and 3) the Endgame. This seems obvious and simplistic but it turns out that this makes sense because each phase has different needs and there- fore different objectives. The rationale and logic of these three phases will be introduced in this chapter and explored in more detail in its own later chapter.

Phase One: The Opening

The need in the opening is to prepare your side for the coming chess battle. Since there is a lot of space between the White side and the Black side at the start of the game (that is, thirty-two vacant squares, which is half the board), it is not possible to attack the other side immediately. Another con- sideration is that if you got one of your strongest pieces, for example, the Queen or a Rook out fast (by moving a pawn to let them out) and moved your Queen or Rook to the other side near the opponent’s King to check their King, your opponent could easily capture your Queen or Rook when it got close to their King. So, you would need at least one other piece to “support” your Queen or Rook and keep your Queen or Rook from getting captured. But then your opponent could see what pieces you are using to attack, so your opponent could probably capture at least one of your attacking pieces because you have only brought two pieces to attack their King and they have eight pieces and eight pawns over on their side. That is like if you and a friend of yours (thus, just two of you) walked over to an unfriendly neighbor’s house where sixteen people live and picked a fight with them. It is obvious who would have the advantage. The point is that it takes some moving and preparing of forces (for both sides) before some serious battles can happen.

So, there are only two famous games that are very short. They are short because one side makes very bad moves that help the other side. One game is finished in two moves and is called Fool’s Mate. The moves for Fool’s Mate were shown at the end of Chapter 6 – The Written Record. The second short game is over in three and a half moves and is called Scholar’s Mate (shown below). The moves thru White’s second move are an actually recognized opening called Bishop’s Opening. But in Scholar’s Mate, Black follows up with two very bad moves.

The moves for Scholar’s Mate are:

White Black

1. e4 e5

2. Bc4 Nc6?

3. Qh5 Nf6??

4. Qxf7#

The final position is shown in Diagram 7.1. Interestingly, Black would have avoided mate if Black had made its third move as its second move, so this goes to show that timing matters. This mate also reveals the f-file pawns as the weakest of the eight pawns. This is true for both sides actually.

So, the point is that one of the necessary things that you need to do in the opening is to bring out your chessmen without wasted moves to places where they will be ready for the coming battle, because the other side is trying to do the same thing! This is called “developing your chessmen”.

And if you can develop your pieces and pawns faster than your opponent, then you can probably attack sooner before the other side is fully prepared, and so you will have a better chance to get an advantage. But it’s also a fact that both sides are starting out with the same number of chessmen. So, before you can attack and checkmate the opponent’s King, you will have a better chance to do that if you have more chessmen or a more advantageous position than the opponent. So, part of the battle in the game is to attack other chessmen besides the King and try can get an advantage in material or position. The opening known as the Semi-Slav Defense, in Diagram 7.2, shows exemplary opening moves for both sides: a few pawns out in the center and the Knights also out. This is a very strong opening for both sides. Additional goals and ideas for the opening will be discussed further in Chapter 12 – The Opening.

Phase Two: The Middle Game

The middle game is the portion of a chess game between the opening and the endgame; it is not possible to define the middle game in exactly defined terms (but typically from move 10 to move 30) because it describes the portion of the game after the goals of the opening are mostly achieved but before the game has progressed to the endgame, which is when at least one side (and usually both sides) have greatly reduced forces. In some games, the opposing forces have begun to be reduced in the opening and more exchanges quickly follow, leading to a very shortened middle game. In other games, the jockeying of the White and Black forces continues in the middle game for a while without many exchanges and the endgame is not reached for a significant number of moves. Nevertheless, the middle game is usually when the initial preparation to do battle on the chessboard is done and the further parrying and threatening and exchanging of chessmen continues in earnest.

Diagram 7.3 shows the Semi-Slav Defense further developed from the position seen in the earlier Diagram 7.2. Both sides have developed well and have not incurred any mate- rial disadvantage, as it can be seen that both sides have only given up one pawn each and are still equal in material forces. Both sides have brought out some pawns and pieces to their second and third ranks; both sides also have one pawn each on their respective fourth rank. Each side has also castled and thus made their King more secure. Basically, this is a typical example of the beginning of the Middle Game, where both sides have developed a number of their chessmen and are closer to engaging in attacks and exchanges and strive for advantages.

One way to achieve a material advantage is to attack an opponent’s piece or pawn that is not protected by a fellow piece or pawn. Then you can just capture it. But your opponent is probably also trying to protect their chessmen (as you should also be trying to protect your chessmen), so it may be hard to find such a chessman. Sometimes, though, an opponent will overlook one of their unprotected chessmen, so be ever vigilant.

Another way to gain a material advantage is to attack two of the opponent’s unprotected chessmen with one move, a maneuver called a fork or double attack. Your opponent will usually only be able to move or protect one of the two attacked chessmen, which lets you capture the other chessman that you threatened. Such a tactic is shown in Diagram 7.4, which shows a Pawn fork. Detailed exposition of many other tactics will be discussed in Chapter 10 – The Middle Game, though it should be kept in mind that tactics can be used in any phase of the game.

Phase Three: The Endgame

The Endgame, like the Middle Game, does not have an exactly defined beginning. Basically, it is the final portion of a game and is characterized by the much smaller number of chessmen on the board. Thus, a game could end with a checkmate or resignation in the Middle Game, when there are still plenty of chessman on the board; that is, a game could terminate without having had an endgame phase.

But, when a game has progressed to the situation where there are many less chessmen on the board than the thirty- two original chessmen that commenced the game, the game has reached the Endgame. Thus, a general rule of thumb is that a game can be considered to have entered the Endgame phase when there are less than half the chessmen, in total, remaining on the board.

A position that has progressed into the late Endgame phase is shown in Diagram 7.5. Black can mate in a single move, by moving the Black Queen to b2, where it could check and mate because the Black Queen would be protected by its Black pawn on c3. On the other hand, White is at a disadvantage, having only a Queen and a Knight, whereas Black has a Queen, Rook, and three pawns. But the game changer is that it is White to move and in a very advantageous position, from which White can achieve checkmate in three moves, thus:

White Black

1. Na6++ Ka8

Starting from the position in Diagram 7.5, White’s move (1. Na6++) puts the Black King in double check, from both the White Knight and the White Queen. The only option that the Black King has is to move out of check (1. … Ka8), because Black cannot capture or block both pieces with only one move. Then the White Queen makes a surprising but incon- trovertible move (2. Qb8+) that leaves Black, once again, with a single option: capture of the Queen (2. … Rxb8).

2. Qb8+ Rxb8

3. Nc7# (see Diagram 7.6)

Now White wins the game with the Knight move (3. Nc7#) which is checkmate. This is called a smothered mate, since the Black King is smothered (immobilized) by its own fellow chessmen. It appears the King is caught between a Rook and a hard place.

Moves like these show how fascinating chess can be, where some elements like position and having the move can overcome a seeming disadvantage in material forces. The elements of chess will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 11 – The Elements of Chess.

Like the Opening, where a very large number of opening strategies have been developed over the centuries, there are similarly a very large number of strategies to analyze the Ending. But this large number of strategies becomes unmanageable for most players, so these are only studied extensively by the most dedicated grandmasters. Fortunately, a large number of these Endgame possibilities can be summarized into a few manageable number of simplified categories, which will be discussed in detail in Chapter 8 – The Endgame.

Rationale for sequence of exposition

It may seem puzzling to consider and analyze the three phases of a chess game in reverse order, as is done in the next few chapters of this book. The rationale for considering first the Endgame, followed by the Middle Game, and finishing with the Opening is that it is useful to know where one is headed before commencing the journey. For example, you would not want to reach an Endgame where you do not have the appropriate pieces to finish the game with a win.

That is, if you see that you do not have the appropriate chessmen to accomplish checkmate, your first recourse is to check to see if your opponent does have the appropriate chessmen to force checkmate. If your opponent also does not have the appropriate chessmen to force checkmate, the best recourse is to agree on a draw. If your opponent does have the appropriate chessmen to accomplish checkmate, your only alternative to resigning the game is to play on valiantly in hopes that your opponent makes an error sufficiently severe that it prevents a forced checkmate and leads to a draw or even equalizes the opposing forces where either side may win. In any case, it is best to know the minimum requirements necessary to force a checkmate. This knowledge will help you make the best decision at any point in the game.