Elementary Chess Tactics
The beginner who thinks they can play a good game of Chess after learning
the moves of the pieces is like a soldier who is confident of leading
an army after learning how to march.
You may have great strategical gifts but you will not be able to use
them to any advantage unless you are thoroughly conversant with the tactical
possibilities afforded by the cooperation of the different units of which
your army is composed and by the topography of the ground on which the
battle takes place.
The different conditions of the battle ground in war which make some
positions more easily accessible to infantry than to artillery and vice
versa have their equivalent on the Chess board in the different ways in
which the pieces move and which make certain squares accessible to some
of them which others cannot reach.
The first thing, then, for the beginner to do is to become thouroughly
acquainted with the characteristic features of each piece so that you
may know exactly how much work to expect from them. The best way to accomplish
this is the study of the elementary problems which are in end games, that
is, in positions where only a few pieces are left on each side.
From there we'll move on to a discussion of the relative values of each
piece. And then some examples of combinations and sacrifices. If you like
you can skip directly to these topics...
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