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What are some 'rules of thumb' you've found most useful for chess? (feddit.uk)

submitted 1 week ago by pirc_lover@feddit.uk to c/chess@lemmy.ml

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Inspired by a comment on another post, thought it might be nice to aggregate lemmy’s chess wisdom when it comes to general rules.

Could be related to the chess itself (e.g. rooks belong behind passed pawns) or more general (e.g. in classical think about concrete variations on your move, and plans on your opponent’s).

None of these are ever hard and fast, but are often useful if you’re at a loose end in a position.

A couple I’ve found helpful:

the bishop pair together is generally worth about 7 pawns, rather than 6. Useful when evaluating exchange sacs quickly in blitz
in closed positions, your play is generally in the direction the pawn chain is pointing for you (so in the French, black’s play is on the queenside and white’s on the kingside
in a closed position, plans generally revolve around engineering a pawn break. Look for them and check each. No pawn breaks; no plan
when in doubt, push the a/h pawn

Any more for any more?

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[–] Luvs2Spuj@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Developing your pieces and contesting the centre instead of capturing pawns in the opening will always give you a playable position. Sometimes a pawn is actually free, but in general you can focus on development without being worse off. Get it wrong and that extra pawn might make the rest of the game an uphill battle.

[–] pirc_lover@feddit.uk 2 points 1 week ago

I like this one. I mean, I’m a filthy little pawn grabber who will throw away any positional advantage in favour of clinging grimly to cold hard material, but I do aspire to this level of restraint.