Learn Tips to Play Chess & Win

One of the most important chess tips is that a chess player should know the rules of any game before actually starting to play. This chess tip might sound very basic, yet it is the one that is frequently missed as players straight-up jump to competing before familiarising themselves with the rules of chess. E.g., the pawn moves straight ahead; a knight can move in an L shape, the rook moves only in a straight line but can go forward, back, and sides. Traditional chess has many rules: from the pawn move to the piece movements to arranging them on the board to even unique rules like castling.

Furthermore, before playing online chess on MPL, it is wise to understand the basics of its variation ‘Speed Chess’, as it is a variant that rewards how fast you make your move. On the other hand, it can even cost you the game if you're too slow with your decision making.

One of the other crucial chess tips is that an opening move for a chess player essentially lays the foundation for the perfect chess gameplay. Whether you aim to set a trap for your opponent's pieces or to attack the opponent's king head-on, your opening move is what sets the tempo of the game. Chess openings define the eventual outcome of the game. A weak opening move will allow the opponent to take advantage and potentially checkmate you in no time.

A general tip is to use the pawn first to free lines (paths) for the ranked pieces, such as the knights and bishops you plan to use to set up your attack. In addition, don't waste time making too many moves with your pawn or in trying to kick off your opponent's pawns.

Controlling the center of the board during the initial play is probably one of the most important chess tips that we can give. The chess players who gain the center controls are the ones who usually dominate the game as it gives them more room to move the pieces, making it harder for the opponent to find good attacking positions.

This, however, doesn’t mean that the remaining pieces should be ignored altogether. Chess success is all about having your pieces occupy different areas on the board that will help you attack the opponent from all sides.

Protecting the King should be the No.1 priority to win chess games. This by far tops the list when it comes to chess tips and tricks. Once all the squares surrounding the king are free, it is important to move the king to the corner to protect it from a quick opposition attack. Make sure to castle early as it is the only time that the player can move two pieces in one turn. This will move the king away from the centre (where the most action takes place) and bring the rook into play.

In addition, if your opponent neglects to castle, this will allow you to attack his king and get yourself into a winning position.

Developing a piece is moving it from the starting position to a space where it can cause the most damage to the opposing piece. A key chess tip is that players should always develop more than one piece to attack the opponent king. And anyway, the piece would be of no use if it is rooted in one spot from the beginning to the end. You should always make sure to use the lose pieces wisely and keep all your possibilities open.

The Queen is considered to be the most valuable piece in the game. This means it will be not only your key asset but also a quick elimination target for your opponent. Beginners tend to make the mistake of using especially the queen, too early to attack the opposition. This leaves the player vulnerable with no backup to protect the queen should the attack fail.

In an ideal scenario, this is how an opening move would generally look like when setting up the queen.

How will you win the game if you don’t have pieces to checkmate? This is one of the most important chess tips that you should keep in mind. Players need to be extremely careful before losing a piece as it weakens their attacking options and significantly weakens the defence. You really can't win a battle with just a few men.

Based on their value to the game, chess pieces have been assigned certain points. The chess point system is the general blueprint to follow when you need to sacrifice one piece to save another. This also helps when you have more than one option to capture an opponent piece.

A pawn is the most restricted piece when it comes to movement; it cannot move backwards. Hence, you must think well before moving the pawn to a new position, as a wrong move cannot be rectified later. While the pawn may not be the most significant piece in your attack, they serve a valuable role when it comes to using them as a decoy or during the latter stages to promote into a ranked piece.