What is Your Opponent Trying to do?

This is a question that you should ask yourself each and every time your opponent makes a move in a chess game. Too often players will overlook this simple question and focus far too much on what he or she is trying to do, not what their opponent is trying to do. Ignoring the strategy that your opponent is trying to implement is similar to going to war and only focusing on your army's goals while ignoring the goals of the enemy.

You are trying to capture your opponent's queen in these next few moves because it appears to be weakly guarded. This can be a good or bad strategy depending on what your opponent is trying to do. If your opponent is attempting to lure you into focusing all of your attention on that poorly guarded queen while setting you up for checkmate, then your attention is focused in the wrong place. Of course you are not a mind reader and do not always know what your opponents strategy is, or if he or she even has a strategy in mind. However, it is critical that you consider what you believe your opponent is trying to do.

When playing chess your goals in the game need to become somewhat secondary to countering the goals that your opponent has. If you see that in two moves you can place your opponent in checkmate, but fail to realize that in one move he or she can capture your attacking pieces, then you have failed to examine what your opponent is trying to do. Once again it is the all-important balance between offense and defense that you are working towards in the game of chess. Focusing all of your attention on one area or the other is a mistake. Find a good balance between the two styles.



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1. Offense or Defense
2. God Save The Queen
3. Bluffing
4. Keep from Blocking Yourself
5. Middle or sides
6. Skewering and Pinning
7. Castling
8. Put your Pieces to Work
9. The Power of the Pawn
10. The Double Threat

21. End Game Ideas
22. Doubled Pawns
23. End Game Goals
24. Middle Game Tactics
25. Chart Your Progress
26. Deflection
27. Master An Opening
28. Chess Notation Part 1
29. Chess Notation Part 2
30. Chess Notation Part 3

41. The Classic Kings Pawn Opening
42. Chess Variants
43. Checkmate
44. Defend Yourself
45. Simplicity
46. Attack on the Kings Side
47. Play Against a Computer
48. Zwischenzug
49. Do Not Fret
50. Take Advantage of Your Opponents Doubled Pawns

61. Memorizing Openings
62. Winning a Won Game
63. You Are Going to Lose
64. Castling Ideas
65. A Winning Attitude
66. Develop Your Pieces
67. The Best Move
68. Ways to Protect an Attacked Piece
69. What is Your Opponent Trying to do?
70. When to Capture a Promoting Piece

81. Pinning
82. Plan Ahead
83. Retreat
84. Take a Risk
85. The Best Move 2
86. The Center of the Game
87. The Problem With Pawns
88. The Skewer
89. The Unopposed Bishop
90. Two Weaknesses

(more coming)

Other Chess Resources
11. The Trade Off
12. Three Types of Draws
13. The Strategic Sacrifice
14. Hidden Attacks
15. Understanding The Three Stages of a Chess Game
16. Four Move Checkmate
17. Use Your Moves Wisely
18. Utilizing Your Bishops
19. King Of The World
20. Pony Up


31. Join a Chess Club
32. Chess Etiquette
33. Pay Attention
34. Gambits
35. Have Your Game Analyzed
36. Long Term Thinking
37. Think Ahead
38. Watch Others
39. Learn from Grandmasters
40. The Spike or Grob Opening

51. The King as an Offensive Piece
52. Blockades
53. Chasing
54. Study Chess Problem Diagrams
55. Exchanging Pieces
56. Exploit Weaknesses
57. Learning About Bishops
58. Play the Board
59. The Lone Pawn
60. Why Play Speed Chess

71. When to Capture the Pinned Piece
72. Doing Nothing
73. Which Forked Piece to Capture
74. Explore Variety
75. Studying is Hard Work
76. Activity
77. Center Domination
78. Development
79. Pawns on the Third Rank
80. Piece Values

91. What is your opponent doing?
92. Chess History
93. Lack of Tempo

Books:
Chess History And Reminiscences
Chess Strategy