Chess is a tricky game. Besides learning the strategies, you need to be able to modify book moves artistically and also calculate the future moves ahead of your opponent. Probably that’s the reason why Anatoly Karpov said, “Chess is everything: art, science, and sport.” But, again, no matter how artistic, scientific, or sporting you’re, remember all that matters is winning the game. Now, to learn tips & tricks of chess, go there, and to learn how to always win in chess, stay right here with me.
Try 10 Proven Habits to Always Win in Chess
1. Vision the Middlegame in the Opening While opening strategies are essential, they can’t ensure a win. Keep in mind that the middlegame is where most of the action takes place in a chess game. So, to win a game, always vision the middlegame strategy in the opening. In fact, choose your opening, thinking about what kind of game you want to play.  For instance, if you want to attack with knights, then you should play Dutch defense, and to play bishop-revolving middlegames, begin with Ruy Lopez.
Learn How to Connect Rooks to Win in Chess Read 8 Chess Middlegame Strategies to learn how to do that. Explore now
2. Learn Defenses
When it’s about learning opening strategies, most beginners learn only White openings such as Evan's Gambit, Danish Gambit, the London System, etc. Some of them might also take the pain to learn aggressive openings like the Queen’s Gambit. This might look cool in the beginning. However, to be a chess pro, one must master the defenses as well and learn openings for Black. For example, if you’re learning Queen’s Gambit, make sure you also know how to decline it. Do not forget to learn chess openings for Black. Learn the defenses to ensure winning every game you play.
3. Learn Book Moves After becoming a Grandmaster at the age of 13, many accused Magnus Carlsen of memorizing moves/lines from the computer algorithm. But guess what? It wasn’t the computers behind his genius. He learned his chess from books. Also, it’s not always about learning complicated chess theories but also getting familiar with existing strategies and their possible lines. To learn more about book moves and why they’re important, check out what is a book move.
4. Play Previous Games Talking about Carlsen, did you know the World Champion can recognize middlegames from historical matches? Yep, he can. You can play out a few moves from an old game by Fischer or Botvinnik, and he will know exactly which game you’re playing and what are the next moves. While everybody doesn’t have a gifted memory like him, playing out previous games definitely strengthens your tactical skills. Therefore, along with learning book moves from chess books, it is also important to practice old games.
5. Analyze Your Games You may have often heard that chess is not always about winning; sometimes, it is also about learning. Well, this point is all about that. Analyzing your previous or lost games ( or every game) is a proven winning habit. Every grandmaster out there will suggest you study your games to learn from their mistakes. Sometimes, chess players have a losing streak, and that’s because they keep repeating similar mistakes game after game. Only by analyzing your moves like a hawk you can ensure winning the upcoming matches.
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6. Play Chess Online Gone are the days when playing at the local tournament was sufficient. Now, one must play chess online to keep updating themselves about new lines and tactics. Besides gaining information, playing online also provides extensive practice. Platforms like chess.com match players with similar ratings. This way you will always know your competitors and prepare yourself better.
7. Play Real-Time Blitz While playing online is a great opportunity to sharpen your skills, I would suggest gradually moving to play Blitz. Blitz chess or speed chess is a type of chess game that has limited time. That is, you have to keep your eye on the chess clock. As you can guess, the game happens really fast. The time limit varies between 3 to 5 minutes per player. Yep, it’s that fast. The faster a Blitz game is, the more exciting it is. You can play it from the comfort of your home on chess.com or chess24. It will not only help you with fast decision-making skills but also increase your rating. In 2022, the highest rated Blitz player is Magnus Carlsen, with 2830.
8. Think 6 Moves Ahead
Chess is nothing but a mental map. Think about it; both you and the opponent are making plans and traps in your minds. The one with a more realistic and elaborated map wins the game. Having said that, always, always think 6 moves ahead. For instance, if you’re playing Nf3, try to examine what move your enemy is going to play next and what are your next moves going to be. During such a drilling thought process, don’t jump to conclusions randomly. If you think the opponent is going to play Bc5, find reasons why they can do that. Along with thinking 6 moves ahead, it is also important to have at least two or three plans in your hand. For instance, if your plan to attack the enemy king gets sabotaged, what will you do next? Are you going to trade pieces or block enemy kingside? Never move ahead with having more than one plan.
9. Try to Understand Point Values of Chess Pieces Every player will tell you to exchange pieces to gain a material advantage. While I agree with it wholeheartedly, I don’t think you can do it fruitfully without learning about point values. Learning the point values of chess pieces is as important as knowing how the ranking system works. Check out the Point Values of Chess Pieces to learn about them in detail. Once you understand how the values of the pieces change according to position and momentum in the game, only then should you follow the advice of trading pieces for material advantage.
10. Make the Most of Every Piece/Pawn In chess, every chess piece and pawn is valuable depending on which square it is. Try to learn the special rules/moves of a particular piece, if there are any. For instance, Castling and En Passant. In the case of Castling, you can castle the king with a rook by moving them at the same time to gain a positional advantage. In addition to that, if you’re developing pieces on the kingside, you can castle on the queenside. This way, you move the king to the other side of the board and keep it safe. En Passant is a little more interesting chess strategy because it’s a pawn capture rule. Using this rule, a pawn can capture another pawn horizontally and gain control of the center. Dear beginner, if you intend to become an invincible chess player, try to learn about every pawn and piece in detail so that you can make the most out of them. Need more secrets from grandmasters? Here's a video of Carlsen giving tips to win chess games.
FAQs
Can you win chess in 2 moves? Yes, you can win chess in 2 moves using the Fool’s mate. The moves are 1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4#
How do you win chess in 4 moves as White? To win chess in 4 moves, the first move should be 1. e4 to hold the center of the board. Next, you should use your queen to attack the vulnerable f7-square. Before Black plans any counter-strategy, attack the same square from another direction using the light-squared bishop. Then, use the queen to capture the f7-pawn, and bam! It’s a checkmate. The moves to win as White in 4 moves are 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6?? 4. Qxf7#
Can you always win chess? No, it’s not possible to always win chess. However, if you get the proper chess training and practice like a Grandmaster, you can gain the skills to win most games. Playing book moves such as the London system, Queen's Gambit can increase chances for winning.
