The Entire Board:

This is a very simple theory that doesn’t take much explaining but is also one of the most important things to realize.

The theory is that when you make a move you look at the entire board.

But there’s a little more to it then just that, when you look at the entire board you're looking for things, your looking for checks, checkmates, pins, forks and all that type of stuff.

Of course, you may already do this, looking for traps and all, but, when you look at the board it’s very important to not get caught up in a trap you're developing and to not focus on just one thing.

Try the puzzle below to test what you learned.

These puzzles are not interactive, you have to solve them all by mind.

Take a look at this image, white is obviously winning, but, what is the best move?

Did you calculate it? Because this is a mate in 5, yes, Ra3 is also good as it wins the queen but why win the queen over king?

A: Qxh7+ with later mate

This puzzle is just the beginning, when playing for real… well then its for real!

This one should be a little harder.

White is winning but what is whites best move.

Rg1 traps the queen, but after 1. Rg1 Qxg1+ 2. Nxg1 Rxg7 then black is up a rook.

Qxd7+ is futile because after 1. Qxd7+ Nxd7 2. Rg1 Qxg1 then white is basically equal to black and white lost their advantage.

The only variation that’s good for white is Qxh8+ because after that black retreats and white is up a rook.

Then white goes exd4 taking the knight and later the bishop then white will eventually be up +10.

Actually Rg1 was never an option because of Nxf3+ forking the rook and king.

After those exercises you should now understand the simple theory.

You can practice more on the puzzles page.