FREE STUFF! 

One of the biggest mistakes made by beginning chess players is to leave their own pieces hanging (leaving your piece vulnerable to capture or, in chess terms, en prise (French)), or not realizing that their opponent has left a piece or pieces hanging. “free stuff” is the term that relates to the situation on the chess board when a piece is attacked more times than it is defended.  Counting the number of times a piece is attacked and defended is one of the most important concepts in chess!   

This concept also extends to key empty squares…sometimes the battle is to see who has the advantage to finally land a piece on a key empty square. The most common form of “free stuff” at the beginner level is a piece that is attacked once and undefended, making it vulnerable to capture.  Since chess originated as a game of military strategy, I often use the analogy of the fighter pilot and his wing man.  Chess pieces, much like fighter planes, work better in tandem than separately, and they really work better when they gang up on their victims!  Just think how we practice in sports the concept of two-on-one drills.  Two pieces attacking another piece defended only once, or not at all, will overwhelm your opponent. 

This concept really speaks to the heart of moving your chess pieces…you should never make a move for the sake of moving!  You should carefully consider what moves you can make, which are the best ones, and then, before you make your move, consider what moves your opponent might make.  Just like life, you must consider the results of your actions (your chess moves) in the world, just like you consider what the actions (your opponents moves) of other people will have against you.

Chess rewards those who take their time and think!

In order to make successful calculations regarding free stuff, chess players must first be aware of the value of the pieces on the board.  This is important, because once a player is faced with a situation involving more than one capture/recapture, they must be able to successfully calculate whether they will gain advantage after a series of captures/recaptures.  For instance, let’s say I can capture a pawn with a pawn, but then my opponent can recapture my pawn with a knight.  Then let’s say I can capture that knight with a bishop with no potential for recapture of my bishop by my opponent.  Is that a worthwhile move on my part?  Most likely yes, because I gained an advantage of three points by capturing the knight, and executing a pawn exchange.A general rule of thumb when involved in an exchange of pieces, which will help ensure you get the most free stuff, is to capture with your least valuable pieces first so that you have the most material remaining at the end of the capture/recapture sequence.

For instance, using the same example above, let’s say I would’ve captured that pawn with my bishop first.  Then my opponent would’ve captured my bishop with his knight, and then I would’ve captured his knight with my pawn.  My advantage is now only that of one pawn versus the three pawn advantage I gained by capturing with my pawn first.

The other important thing for chess players to be successful with the concept of free stuff is to learn tactics, tactics, and more tactics.  Using forks, skewers, pins, nets, etc., provides valuable tools to the player to put themselves in positive free stuff situations.

Last updated 10/30/08