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What is Positional Play?
Positional play is very crucial aspect of chess that requires a lot of deep understanding of elements of chess strategies. It includes that how you move your pieces to restrict the movement of your opponent and how you use your pieces to control the central key squares. All levels of chess players need to improve their positional chess either they are beginner or expert.
In this article, we’ll explore the famous 5 tips that will really helpful to improve your positional play and gain advantage as compare to your opponent.
5 Tips to Improve Positional Play
1. Control Center of Chess Board
Control over center of chess board is one of most basic and important chess strategy. The most important central squares on chess board according to strategic point of view are –d4, d5, e4, and e5–. If you have gained controlled over these squares, you can gain more space, limit your opponent’s options and create a more effective position.
Why Chess Center is Most Important?
There are several reasons behind the importance of chess center. Some of them are following:
· By having control on the center of chess board, you can dominate more space on the board. That will help you create more positions for yourself and restrict the movement of your opponent.
· Control over center allows you to move your pieces more freely with better coordination.
· You can create effective defenses and attacks by placing your pieces in central squares.
· Controlling the center can help to launch attacks on the positions of your opponents.
Chess grandmasters know very well that how to use their chess pieces, how to place them in best position to make efficient move and how to give chess pieces more life. By studying the games of Grandmasters, you can analyze motives of their games and then use their strategies in your games to make them more successful.
3. Avoid to Create Weak Pawn Structures
All the chess players are familiar with importance of pawns. Although pawns are very small pieces but their role in game is really big. In order to improve positional play, players must avoid creating weak pawns. Weak pawn is isolated, backward or doubles and making it more vulnerable for attacks form opponent. Creation of weak pawn can cause serious weakness in your chess positions and your pieces become easy and most vulnerable targets from opponent and result in restricted mobility of your chess pieces.
There are some tips that can help to avoid the creation of weak pawns.
· Protect Your Pawns
When your pawns are under attack, it is very important to save them. You can defend your pawns by capturing the attacking piece or blocking the way of attack.
· Make Careful Pawn Movement
Pawns are not very mobile chess pieces. So you should think twice before making pawn movement because if it done once, it will not be easy to undo the move. Before making move, consider the consequences that either your move will leave any weak pawn in your position or not.
· Avoid to Create Pawn Island
Pawn island mean group of pawns that are nit coordinated with other pawns that can make them more vulnerable for attacks and can restrict the mobility of your pieces.
4. Control Key Squares on Board
In order to improve your positional play, control over key squares of chess board can give you a high advantage. Key squares on chess board are very important to launch attacks, controlling the chess center, limit opponent’s movement and create more opportunities for your chess pieces. There are some tricks to control key squares.
· Build Coordination among Your Pieces
Your chess pieces are more effective when they work in coordination. By coordinating your pieces, you can create threats that your opponent must respond to and control key squares.
· Identify Weak Squares
Weak Square means those squares that are not defended very well and can be easily attacked by opponent. By identifying weak squares in your opponent’s position, you can create attacks and threats and force your opponent to defend them.
5. Create a Plan to Improve Positional Play
Creating a plan is essential to improve positional play. A plan is a set of strategies and goals that you can use to achieve your goals. By creating effective plan, you can focus on specific areas of the chess board and make more solid decisions.
While creating a plan, try to think about weaknesses of your opponent and how you can use them. Think about your own strengths and how you can use them to gain more advantages. You can create a more solid position and improve your decision-making by creating plans.
Conclusion
Improving positional play is important for chess players of all levels. By controlling the center of the board, studying quality games, controlling key squares, understanding typical pawn structures, avoiding weak pawns, analyzing games with your opponent, creating a plan, and relying on your own thinking rather than computer engines, you can improve your positional understanding and gain more advantages over your opponent.