Skybound Chess
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Intermediate · 10 lessons

Piece Play

Where your pieces belong — knight outposts, good and bad bishops, the bishop pair, rooks on open files and the seventh, and how to fix your worst piece.

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  1. 1The knight outpostStart hereA square in enemy territory that no pawn can attack — park a knight there and it dominates.→
  2. 2Good bishop, bad bishopA bishop hemmed in by its own pawns is a bad piece — trade it, or free it with a pawn break.→
  3. 3The bishop pairTwo bishops sweep both colours — in an open position they're worth roughly half a pawn extra. Open lines for them.→
  4. 4Rook on the open fileRooks do nothing behind pawns — put them where the file is clear.→
  5. 5A rook on the seventhA rook on the seventh rank chews through pawns and pins the king to the back rank — 'a pig on the seventh'.→
  6. 6Doubling rooksTwo rooks stacked on one file force it open and crash through — the battering ram of the middlegame.→
  7. 7A knight on the rim"A knight on the rim is grim" — from the edge it covers half as many squares. Route it back toward the middle.→
  8. 8Trade when you're aheadUp material? Swap pieces, not pawns. Every trade brings the winning endgame closer and kills counterplay.→
  9. 9Improve your worst pieceWhen you don't have a forcing move, find your least useful piece and make it better. (Makogonov's rule.)→
  10. 10The king is a fighting pieceOnce the queens are off, the king belongs in the centre — marching it up is often the winning move.→