Move-by-Move Guide to Chess Thinking

How to Use This Guide

Welcome to ChessPathways!
This guide consists of items to take into consideration on a move-by-move basis
while playing chess, and is separated into 4 categories:
 Questions to ask yourself after your opponent makes a move
 Coming up with a plan
 Selecting candidate moves
 Finalizing your decision
Before getting started, here are two considerations regarding the use of this
guide:
 If you are newer to chess, don’t get overwhelmed by the information in this
guide! I’m working on developing a comprehensive “Getting started” chess
course, completely free of charge, which can be found at
https://chesspathways.com/videos/. Feel free to get started there, and
with other resources around the web, before consulting this guide. As
always, don’t hesitate to e-mail me with questions if you ever feel stuck.
 When playing timed games, or casual games with friends where you’re
expected to move fairly quickly, it may not be practical to go through all of
these considerations on every single move. Playing correspondence games
online is one good way to practice going through this process. So is setting
up positions that challenged you from games you’ve played on a chess
board, and taking the time to go through this process. As you gain chess
experience, these considerations will become more and more internalized
and automatic.
 Questions to ask yourself after your opponent makes a move:
 Does my opponent’s move contain a threat?
 Why did my opponent make that move? What could their plan be?
 Is my opponent’s move safe? Does it allow me to take anything for free?
It’s entirely possible that our opponent’s move has no logic behind it and is simply
bad, but this is the case far less often than many players believe. Even beginner
opponents will usually have some sort of idea behind most of the moves they
make! It pays to take some time every turn to put ourselves in our opponent’s
shoes.
Of course, we should also look for downsides of our opponent’s moves. If they
make a move that allows us to win material, it’s crucial that we capitalize on the
opportunity.
 Coming up with a plan
A plan doesn’t have to be some ten-move-deep calculated sequence – this is a
common myth. Some positions may call for deep calculation, but a plan can be as
simple as improving a poorly-placed piece or seeking a favorable exchange!
In some positions, planning is easy. Many players know that in the opening, one
should be making moves seeking to control central space, develop their pieces,
and secure the safety of their king, for instance. But in the middlegame, it can
sometimes be difficult to come up with a plan – even for experts and masters of
the game! If you’re having trouble coming up with a plan, asking yourself the
following questions may help:
 Does my opponent have any undefended pieces that I can win?
 What is my worst-placed piece?
 How safe is my king? How safe is my opponent’s king?
 Does my opponent or I have an advantage in material?
o Are exchanges good for me, or do I need to take some risks here to
avoid a losing endgame?
 What is the pawn structure? Could I change the pawn structure to benefit
the scope of my pieces?
 Do I have a “dynamic advantage” (Lead in development in the opening,
“more activity,” etc.) that may evaporate if I don’t make use of it? How
can I make use of this advantage?
 Does my opponent have any weak pawns that I can attack?
Remember that even if you have a plan that spans several moves, your plan may
need to change from move to move. This is an advanced insight that took me a
long time to internalize. Don’t blindly follow plans you’ve made several moves
ago, or even one move ago, if the position has since changed! In high-level chess,
this is extremely common. Perhaps one player comes up with a plan to greatly
improve one of their pieces over the course of the next few moves, and their
opponent sees this idea and decides to make a move which sacrifices a pawn, but
grants their pieces a lot of activity and prevents the first player from executing
their plan. Now the first player’s plan will likely change from “improve my piece”
to “neutralize my opponent’s newfound piece activity and consolidate the
advantage of my extra pawn.”
 Selecting candidate moves
Once you’ve thought about the merits of your opponent’s last move, and
decided upon a plan, it’s time to start thinking about which move to make.
In chess, we call these moves that we are considering “Candidate moves.”

If you weren’t able to settle upon a plan, don’t worry! If all else fails, just
select one or two candidate moves that “look good,” and verify that they
are safe as described below. It’s far better to play safe moves that aren’t
part of any plan, than it is to have a plan and make an unsafe move.

For each candidate move:

 Is the move safe? Make sure that the move you’re considering doesn’t
allow your opponent to simply capture an undefended piece!
 If I play this move, how will my opponent respond? (Select candidate
moves from your opponent’s perspective that you would consider in
response to your move). Do I have a good response to all of their response?
o Most important to consider in highly tactical positions, where each
side is generating lots of threats, etc.
o Don’t drive yourself crazy trying to calculate too deeply in more
“calm” positions! Your feel for this will sharpen as you improve.
 Evaluate the position resulting from the candidate move, relative to the
other candidate moves on your list. Select the move you believe is best.
o This may be the most challenging step in the process, and
unfortunately there are no shortcuts here, because every position is
different and there are so many considerations which must be
weighed against each other in chess. Analyzing your games after you
play them with the help of a stronger player is one of the best ways
to improve your evaluation skills.
o If you still can’t decide on a move, don’t fret. There are many
positions in chess where several moves are of roughly equal merit.
Pick one, verify that it’s safe, and move on. Finding the absolute best
move in every position isn’t nearly as important as getting the big
things right, like making sure your move is safe.
 Finalizing your Decision
You’ve considered the ramifications of your opponent’s last move, decided upon
a plan, selected candidate moves that support your plan, and settled on the best
one. But before reaching out and making the move, there’s one thing left to do…
 Double check! Is the move you’re about to make a safe move?
I can’t tell you the number of times in my chess career that I’ve made a move,
started thinking about what my opponent should do now that it’s their turn…and
quickly find a move that gives them a winning position and that my last move was
terrible. Taking the extra time to put ourselves in our opponent’s shoes BEFORE
making our move on the board will save us from this heartache.
This “checking for safety” becomes more and more subconscious the more chess
experience you get, but ingraining the habit is crucial to your success. This is a
much more important step of the thinking process than selecting the right plan.
It’s possible to outplan, outthink, and outplay your opponent for 90% of the
game, but if you go on to make a move that costs you your queen, your opponent
will likely win. Avoiding these massive oversights whenever possible (and
capitalizing when our opponent commits them!) is a surefire way to quickly rise
through the chess ranks.