h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think this site needs some chess tactics. Please add stuff in here so we can have a big chess book. I'll start, control the center is the most important part of the game. Moving the knights out in the opening and guarding the center is a very strong opening.

Alex v2.2

Developing pieces is very important. You need to advance pieces and have them protected one or more layers deep. You should not bring the queen out too early in the game. Making a pawn wing is also beneficial. The Bishops are slightly more important that the knights. Know your endgames so that you can force a checkmate if you have suffiecient force. Force a draw by stalemate or perpetual check if you can, and are losing badly. Pay attention to what your opponent is doing, try to figure out why he is doing that, and what you can do to stop it. If your opponent seems to make a mistake, check it carefully, for it may be a trap. It is good to make you opponent retreat, it gains you an extra move. One of black's best defenses is the dragon opening. It may be beneficial to sacrifice a pawn for rapid development. Pay attention to your pawns, so that you do not lose them unneccisarlily.if you control over half of the board, you will most likely win the game.

These are somewhat random advices I have given, but they may be helpful.

--meek

As mentioned earlier, it is very complicated. I usually find it helps to castle sharpish, swap off as many pieces as possible whilst trying to pinch a pawn. Simple but effective...I agree about the middle of the board and that other stuff too.

Cheers mate...

Good points. To add to some of these tips:
Memorize at least a few openings. Saving a few minutes in beginning game will make a difference in competition play. There are arguments for non-traditional openings, but these (at least for the casual enthusiasts) are eclipsed by the benefits of book moves.
Castle early. Try not to move the guard pawns until K can help with the attack at endgame.
Be wary of trading too quickly. A knight in endgame could be near useless. Bishops shine on the sparsely populated endgame board.

Most importantly, study all your games. If you record the game and later play it back but are unable to figure out why you moved a certain way, then the move was not optimal. What was your strategy? Did each move advance that strategy?

First, I'd like to point out these are two different things, and the bulk of what's been given probably fits better into the realm of strategy (i.e., general aims and goals tending to lead to wins). For example:

Put rooks on open files, behind passed pawns if possible
Block pawn advances with knights or bishops if possible
try not to make pawn "holes" (two pawns advanced with a backward pawn in between) -- this is the best place for your enemy to put a knight

I would recommend Aron Nimzovich's MY SYSTEM and Emanuel Lasker's seminal book (which I forget the name of, but probably has "chess" in the title) for learning strategy.

For tactics, the best thing is to learn the patterns. Pins, discovered and double attacks, skewers, interference -- these are the types of moves to learn to really begin becoming a skilled chess player. They are surprisingly easy to learn when they are presented clearly in a book such as Bobby Fischer teaches Chess or some such similar basic tactical book. One of the greatest World Champions, Raoul Capablanca, once said "It takes no intelligence to play chess". He wasn't kidding; the bulk of chess is visual and to beat perhaps 80% of all chessplayers you don't have to look more than ONE move ahead IF you know the patterns well enough.