1Think about the entire game from the opening moves on. A game of chess is generally considered to have three stages, all of which are deeply linked. The best chess players are always 10-12 moves ahead in their brain, developing 3-4 strategies simultaneously depending on the moves of their opponent. They know that moves and pieces traded in the early stages will profoundly affect the end of the game, and they plan accordingly.Opening: This is where you set the tone of the game. Your first 4-5 moves develop a lot of pieces quickly and begin fighting for the center of the board. You can go offensive, taking the fight to them, or defensive, holding back and waiting to for them to make the first move.The Midgame: This exists purely to set up your endgame. You trade pieces, seize control of the middle of the board and set up 1-2 lines of attack that you can spring into motion at any time. A trade-off now may be beneficial, but you have to know how losing a piece effects your chances to win at the end.Endgame: There are only a few pieces left, and they are all incredibly valuable. The Endgame seems like it is the most dramatic stage, but really most of the work has already been done -- the player who "won" the Midgame and ended up with the best material should wrap it up with checkmate.2Choose Bishops over Knights in the Endgame. Early on, Bishops and Knights are roughly even strength. In the Endgame, however, Bishops can quickly move across the entire, much emptier board, while Knights are still slow. Remember this when trading pieces -- the Bishop may not help as much in the short-term, but they'll be an asset at the end.3Utilize your pawn's strength in numbers on an empty board. Pawns may seem useless, but they are critical pieces as the game winds down. They can support stronger pieces, push up the board to create pressure, and are a wonderful shield for your King. This benefit, however, is lost if you start doubling them early on (put two pawns in the same vertical line). Keep your pawns close together and let them support each other horizontally. When there are very few pieces left on the board, a push upward to promote into a Queen can win you the game.4Know when to push for a draw. If you're down material, and you know you have no chance of getting checkmate with what you have left, it's time to push for the draw. In competitive chess, you need to realize when you've lost the chance to win (you're down to a King, a pawn, and maybe 1-2 other pieces, they have you on the run, etc.) and should instead go for a tie. There are several ways to cut your loses and grab a draw, even when things seem hopeless:Perpetual Check is when you force the opponent into a position where they cannot avoid going into check. Note, you don't actually have them in checkmate, you just have them in a position where they are not in check, but cannot move in a way that doesn't put them in check. Frequently done with a last-ditch attack on the King, leaving the opponent stuck between attack and defense.Stalemating: When a King is not in check, but cannot move without going into check. Since a player cannot willingly enter check, the game is a draw.Repetition or Useless Moves: If 50 moves have occurred without a piece being captured or a player in check, you can ask for a draw. If both players only make the same exact move 3 times in a row (because they are forced to move back and forth) it is also a draw.Lack of material. There are a few scenarios where winning is physically impossible:Just two Kings on the board.King and Bishop against a KingKing and Knight against a KingKing and two Knights against a King.5Practice some chess problems in your spare time. You can vastly increase your chess skills without ever facing an opponent. Chess problems are sample boards that ask you to get checkmate with just 1 or 2 moves. You can practice on 100's of them in books, against any computer (the one with Windows 7 has 10 levels), or online, and over time you'll start to learn great piece positions and unexpectedly sneaky modes of attack. While you will, more likely than not, never see the exact situation on the board, chess problems develop your ability to see all potential angles of attack and how to best set up pieces.Look online for problem sets, or check out a book on chess strategy at the library, as they will all have practice problems.
