Chess Secrets

Are you 100% sure you are going to heaven?

3 Opening Principles
Challenge the Trespasser
Chess Notation
Doubled Parked
Draws
Eliminate the Defender
Fool’s Mate
Forcing Moves
Gen. Sherman vs. Gen. Thomas
Greek Gift
Horses on the Cliff
Kings Bite
Lady-in-Waiting
Open and Closed
Opening Checklist
Opening Map
Pawn Forks
Pawn Groups
Public Enemy No. 1
Public Enemy No. 2
Public Enemy No. 3
Spend a Week at Work
Walls of Jericho

3 Opening Chess Principles

The following chess principles are considered "the rule",
though each one will have exceptions. Until a beginner learns
when and why he should deviate from them, these chess
principles should be adhered to religiously.

Develop your chess pieces! Beginning chess players need to
see their knights, bishops, rooks, and queen as soldiers
sleeping in the chess "barracks" on the back rank. Not until
they are moved off of the back row (or rank) will they be
able to fight the enemy.

Attack the center four squares of the chessboard! As you
learn how each of your chess pieces and pawns captures,
you need to be sure and attack e4, e5, d4, & d5 at least as
many times as your opponent does. Don't rush your chess
pieces to the outside files (a,b,g, & h) until the center of the
chess board is sufficiently threatened. The most frequent and
most violent attacks in chess will either come through the center
of the chess board or will come as a result of a center that
wasn't attacked enough times.

Protect your king! Always remember that despite all of the
many, many chess components that will demand your attention
during a game of chess, all of them are secondary to checking
your king's safety before every move. Normally, the king
needs to be removed from the center of the chessboard,
where the action is most furious, by a special move called
"castling". When castling in chess, the king moves two squares
toward either rook, and that rook "leap frogs" over the king
landing on the square next to him. This is the only time in
chess when the king can move two spaces in one turn on the
chessboard.

Several conditions must be met in chess before you can castle.
First, this must be the king's and rook's first move of the chess
game. Second, there can be no chess pieces sitting on the
squares between the king and the rook. Third, none of the
three chess squares involving the king (the square he starts
on, the square he passes over, and the square he lands on)
can be in check (threatened by an opposing piece).

Challenge the trespasser.

When a knight, bishop, or any enemy piece trespasses on
your half of the chessboard, especially in the center, you
must confront him soon by attacking him, trading with him,
or driving him away. Don't allow his threat to chess squares
in your camp to continue. As play goes on, your opponent
will try to infiltrate other chess pieces into your camp protected
by the first piece that trespassed. Stop this cancer from
spreading by opposing any and every piece that enters your
territory. Don’t give your opponent a foothold in your
domain by letting one of his pieces establish an outpost that
can be used as a springboard for an invasion.

Chess Notation

There are many types of chess notation, but the simplest
one is the one we will use. First, turn your chess (or checker)
board so that the right hand corner of the board, as you and
your opponent face it, is the light color square. If the squares
are white and green, then the right hand corner of the
chessboard is white. If the squares of the chessboard are red
and black, then the right hand corner is red. When setting up the
chessboard, right is light!

Next, set up your chess pieces. If you don't know how, I
recommend that you purchase a cheap chess set (usually
$5.00 from Wal-Mart) and follow the directions. You may
have a friend that can help, or you can borrow a chess book
from the library. When setting up your chess pieces, remember
to place the queen on her own color. This means the white
queen goes on the fourth square from the left on the back
row nearest to the person playing the white chess pieces.
This will be a white square. The black queen will be on the
fourth square from the right of the person playing the black
chess pieces - a black square.

We now have to label the ranks (rows of squares running
left to right) and the files (rows of squares running "up and
down" or from one chess player to the other) on the
chessboard. Ranks are labeled with numbers, and files are
labeled with letters. You can actually write the numbers and
letters on the chessboard much like the board game "Battleship".
Your ranks are numbered from the white side of the
chess board to the black side. The row with the white queen
and the other white chess pieces on it (not pawns) is rank #1.
The white pawns are on rank #2. The black queen and the
other chess pieces are on rank #8.

The chess files are lettered "a" through "h". As the chess
player playing the white pieces looks at the chess board, the
white queen is on the "d" file, while the white king is on the
"e" file.The bishop to the right of the king is on the "f" file,
while the bishop to the left of the queen is on the "c" file of
the chess board.

Just as in "Battleship", chess squares have a first name and
a last name. The first name of each chess square is the letter
of the file they're in, and their last name is the number of the
rank they are on. This helps us correctly identify the movements
of each chess piece. Since the letter is given first when naming
a chess square, what name would you give to the chess square
on which the white queen starts the game? That's right, d1,
because she sits on the intersection of the "d" file and the first
rank. The black queen sits on d8 to start the game. Chess
notation is dependent on this system.

When we notate or write down the moves of a chess game,
we simply write down the name of the square that the chess
piece WAS on and the name of the square that the chess
piece is GOING TO. If we were to move the white pawn in
front of the white king two spaces ahead, the move would
read e2 - e4. The hyphen means the word "to". This signifies
that whatever chess piece was on e2 now has moved to e4.
This system of chess notation has proven to be the least
confusing to my beginning chess students over the years.

A typical layout of a notated game will look like this:

Betty Jo Bob
White Black

1. e2 - e4       e7 - e5
2. f1 - c4        b8 - c6
3. d1 - h5       g8 - f6
4. h5 x f7 #

The "#" sign means checkmate (chess game over). Sometimes
a "++" sign is used and means "game over" also. A single
"+" means check (king is attacked by an enemy chess piece).
The white queen has checkmated the black king in the above
chess game. She has threatened to take the black king (check),
and he is unable to escape from his position on the chessboard
(mate). The king cannot take the white queen for the king
would then be in check (threatened) by the white bishop.
A king can never put himself in check in a game of chess!

In the short form of chess notation , we will add the letters
B, N, R, Q, and K before the chess notation to identify which
chess piece is being moved. Each letter replaces the first move
and hyphen in the chess notation. The bishop uses the letter B,
the knight uses N, the rook uses R, the queen uses Q, and the
king uses K. No capital letter in chess notation indicates a pawn
is being moved. Moving the white knight from g1 to f3 in chess
short form notation would read Nf3. When a capture takes place,
we use the letter "x". For example, exd5 means that the pawn
on e4 just took the piece or pawn on d5.

So, you should now be equipped to read and understand
the next lesson on chess, and begin writing down (notating)
your own chess games as you play them. Taking the time
and effort to write down your chess moves will accelerate
your learning tenfold!

When you notate a chess game, you can go over it by yourself,
with a friend, or pay to have it analyzed by an experienced
chess teacher. As your knowledge grows, you can review
your own chess games learning where your mistakes lay and
why they are mistakes. A notated chess game offers continual
lessons that otherwise would have been lost forever!

Double Parked

Did you ever have someone block your car with theirs?
Or have you ever known anyone to stop in the middle
of a doorway to start a conversation with someone
forcing you to stop and ask to be excused so that you
could get through? Then you can relate to this tip.

One of the most obvious signs of an inexperienced
player is the common blunder Bd3 before d4 for
the white pieces (Bd6 before d5 for the black pieces).

The bishop blocks the d pawn from developing and
requires a second move by the bishop before it can
be free - a needless loss of time.

The bishop can move to b5, c4, or e2 prior to playing
d4, but it shouldn't move to d3.

Be polite to your teammates! Don't get in each other's
way while rushing to develop your pieces!

Draws

There are three possible outcomes to a chess game:
win, lose, or draw. A draw means that the game was
tied and that neither player won.

Stalemate is one of the three kinds of draws. A player
can draw by any of the following ways:

1. stalemate 2. fifty-move rule 3. three fold repetition

Stalemate occurs when it is one player's turn to move
but he has no legal move. For example, if it is white's turn,
and he has only his king which is located on h1 while black
has a queen on f2 and a king on g8.

White is unable to move even though it is his turn. It is
against the rules of chess for the king to put himself into
check. So, this game is a draw, by stalemate, and neither
player wins despite black having a huge material advantage.

The fifty-move rule is achieved when there are no pawn
moves and no captures for fifty consecutive moves. If a
pawn move or a capture takes place, then the count resets
to zero and begins again. Upon reaching fifty - which must
be verified by writing down your moves or having a
tournament director witness it - either player may claim
a draw.

This usually takes place when two players have only a
piece or two left and are unable to achieve mate.

The three fold repetition rule says that if the exact same
position occurs on the board three times during a game,
either player may claim a draw.

Sometimes this situation is forced - perpetual check is one
example - and other times this is stumbled into. Again, this
situation must be documented to be enforced.

To better understand the application of this rule, you must
be able to take pictures of the board three different times
during a game and have the resulting pictures turn out identical
to each other.

Most often, this situation occurs after consecutive back
and forth moves where two players are trying to attack,
retreat, attack again with the same move, retreat again, etc.

Eliminate the defender.

Many times you can win a chess piece by first attacking it and
then attacking any piece defending it. When you take the
piece whose job was protecting the first piece, your play
results in leaving the first chess piece en prise, or unprotected.
You may now be able to capture the first piece free and clear.

Fool's Mate (Two-move mate)

This mate is aptly named as it ignores the basics of the
opening principles. It results in a two-move mate for
black. Here it is:

1. f4 e6 2. g4 Qh4#

Believe it or not, this really happens. I've seen it a number of
times in my lifetime.

The Scholar's Mate (four-move mate) is demonstrated in
article entitled “Chess Notation."

Forcing Moves

Forcing moves are those moves on your part which do
not allow your opponent the freedom to choose his
reply. Because of your threat or pending threat, your
opponent is limited in his responses.

This is good for you as your opponent may be absorbed
in his own plans and miss making the correct response to
your threat resulting in material, position, or time.

If you attack an opponent's undefended piece, you
force him to move, trade, or intervene with another
piece depending on the relative value of the pieces.
Should your opponent ignore your threat, he loses a
piece.

By making forcing moves, you give your opponent
an opportunity to respond incorrectly.

General Sherman vs. General Thomas

Most inexperienced players are quicker to go onto the
attack than they are to stay home and play defense. A
balance is necessary, of course, but with many players
the scales of time spent forming strategy are usually
tipped in favor of the attack.

While one must attack to have any hope of winning,
inexperienced players frequently leave gaping holes in their
defense while attacking, subjecting themselves to severe
counter attacks.

In the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman was
famous for cutting loose from his supply lines and going
on the attack (Sherman's March to the Sea). Living off
the land, he could advance an army of Union soldiers
without worrying about the enemy destroying his supply
lines. Yet, General Grant only allowed this march on
condition he send a respectable force back from Atlanta
to Nashville in order to defend the North from a Confederate
army on the loose.

General George Henry Thomas, however, was firstly
concerned about defense and protecting his inexperienced
recruits. Thomas' troops were never unprepared for a
surprise attack (Mills' Springs - first Union victory), were
never destroyed even when outnumbered (Chickamauga -
Thomas' men saved the Union army from total destruction),
and always prepared thoroughly before attacking (Nashville).

Though both styles have merit, Thomas' victory at Nashville,
was the only battle where a Confederate army was
annihilated, rendering it useless for the remainder of the
war. His crushing attack came only after his well-prepared
defense had allowed him the luxury of building up his resources
so that he could over power his foe and maintain his
attack once started.

Inexperienced players would do well to consider the
merits of resisting the fame that comes from being an
attacker, and cultivate a love for defense that paves the
way for balanced, secure attacks void of lethal enemy
counter attacks. Remember the age old quote, "Offense
sells the tickets; defense wins the game!"

Greek Gift (submitted by National Master Corey Russell)

Almost everyone has heard of the Trojan Horse which housed
soldiers, and a city took it in (they didn't have to).While the city,
Troy, was sleeping, it was overrun with enemy soldiers that
emerged from the giant horse.

In chess, the idea is similar. A "greek gift" move is a "gift" of
material (pawn, bishop, rook, queen, etc.) that isn't really a
gift at all. If a person takes a "greek gift", then the other person
gets more in compensation (a mating attack, long-lasting initiative,
etc.). Another chess term for a Greek gift is a "sham sacrifice".
A sham sacrifice is when one chess player sacrifices material,
but will get it back or mate shortly if the opponent takes.

Horses on the cliff.

Don't place your knights on the outside file of the chessboard
unless you have a specific need for such play. His usual power
of attacking eight squares on the chess board at one time is
cut in half on the outside of the board. Compare the number
of squares the knight can threaten from f3 as opposed to h3.
Play your horses away from the edge of the chess cliff.

Kings bite.

The king appears mighty weak in the early stages of chess
play because of his limited range of travel and his vulnerability
to the attack of other chess pieces. However, as play goes
on and pieces are removed from the board by out right capture
or trade, the king's ability to capture becomes more and more
important. We will see that even in the middle stages of a
chess game that the king can help turn an offensive threat
against him into a weak play by using his ability to capture.

Lady-in-Waiting

Develop your other chess pieces first before you send the
queen into combat. If you move her highness out before the
other pieces (in chess, pawns are not considered pieces, so
the word "pieces" refers to knights, bishops, and rooks), you
give your chess opponent an opportunity to develop with
tempo by attacking the lady general. You lose time trying
to develop your other chess pieces by having to relocate your
queen. Chess is a game of time, and wasted time leads to
missed opportunities. Just as in baseball you have only so
many chances (outs) to accomplish something (runs), in chess
you have only so many moves to gain control of squares on
the board that will limit your opponent's movement. Don't
fritter these opportunities away by letting your chess opponent
take pot shots at your queen with his knights, bishops, and
rooks forcing her to move again and again. Your queen should
come out after most of the other chess pieces are developed
and offer them support. Yes, she can be the powerful offensive
leader on the chess board, but often she is better off letting
the less valuable chess pieces go first into enemy territory
and give them her support from the home side of the chess
board. Let your chess queen be a lady-in-waiting.

Open and Closed

Paul Morphy championed the open game, characterized
by an exchange of some of the center pawns. Playing e4
on white's first move followed soon by d4, usually results
in pawn exchanges that open files. Open files tend to lead
to an action filled game with pieces deploying rapidly along
these open "roads".

The closed game normally results from white playing d4
first. If black follows with d5, white cannot answer with
e4 because the square isn't protected. Since the exchange
of pawns doesn't result, no lines ("roads") are opened and
pieces can't easily and freely move about. This restricted
set up is called a closed position.

Closed games are usually more complicated than open
games. Beginners would do well to cut their teeth on e4
openings until they acquire confidence handling chess
fundamentals. When ready for a more complicated test,
players can bite into games starting with d4.

Opening Checklist

Before you use the checklist, first play a game of chess and
notate your moves. With the following checklist you will be
able to do your own limited chess analysis of the beginning
portion of your chess game or someone else's.

In the first ten moves of your chess game you should accomplish
the following seven items: Move both center chess pawns
(d and e file) and move at least one of them two squares
(this will take you 2 moves); develop both knights (2 moves)
and bishops (2 moves) off of the back row of the chess board;
castle - usually with the rook on the "h" file (1 move).
Beginning chess players will do well to adhere to this checklist
legalistically. Eventually, they will encounter situations in chess
games that will teach them when it is necessary to forget this
approach, but these chess situations should be the exception
and not the rule. I still follow this checklist in my own chess
games and have now for over thirty years.

One example of an exception to this chess checklist is when
you have a chance to win an opponent's piece. Go ahead
and take the piece; then return to completing your chess
checklist. Another exception occurs when your chess
opponent tries to mount a quick mating attack. You must
make the necessary moves to defend against the threat
and resume your chess checklist when possible.

Opening Map (submitted by Candidate Master Daniel Waite)

One of my coaches encouraged me to develop an "Openings Map"
that would script out what I would do against various openings.
I would suggest the same.

My 1.e4 Opening Map is a simple to use format that allows me
to play solid but relatively off beat ideas.

Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 (or most other moves) 3. Bb5.

French 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 (I've also played with 3.exd5)

Caro-Kan 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 followed by
c3, Nd2, Bf4, Nf3, et. al.

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 and head for a King's Gambit. I play Bc4 first
because the idea is to get the other guy to commit before playing
f4. Thus, no pet KG defenses. Then again, if the Ruy Lopez is
working well, there is no reason to switch. The array of possible
defenses to the RL is almost infinite, so I never took the time
to learn it. Plus, it doesn't really fit my grind and slash style.

1.e4 d5 (You're on your own for this one. Since the Center Counter
is my favorite defense, I wouldn't want to give something away.
The one thing I can say is that every book I have on the subject
is full of too many holes. Lots of possibilities here for an enterprising
student.)

Pawn forks.

Look out when placing pieces in the pawn fork formation,
two spaces apart on the same rank (row of squares running
from left to right). Be sure a pawn won't move and attack
both pieces at the same time.

Consider the following:

1. e4, e5 2. Nf3, Nc6 3. Nc3, Nf6 4. Bc4

This scenario, where white's bishop is sitting directly in front
of its knight on c3, lends itself to a popular pawn fork. Black
now plays 4 ... Nxe4, apparently losing the knight for a pawn.
However, after 5. Nxe4, Black replies with the pawn fork d5!
Though this only regains material equality, the psychological
blow is real. White is taken out of his plan and forced to
improvise with a new game setting.

Throughout the game, be wary of these little land mines. They
can grind your attack to a halt and shift the advantage to your
opponent. Or, they can give you the sudden break you've
been looking for if your opponent steps into your pawn fork
trap.

The major threat from a pawn fork comes from forgetting
about it when you're dealing with weightier matters. Yet,
constantly looking for and successfully executing one pawn fork
can turn your chess play into victory.

Pawn Groups

After you have battled hard, traded pieces, and fought for
position, you often reach the end game even with your
opponent. You each have some pawns, a piece or two,
and your king. Or perhaps you simply have only your king
and several pawns.

Is there a way to gain an advantage with your pawns over
your opponent? The answer is yes. However, your seed
must be sowed AHEAD of time if you're going to reap the
benefits at the harvest.

In the end game, pawns create powerful advantages due to
their ability to promote, that is, turn into any piece (except
for a king or another pawn) upon reaching the 8th rank. If
you have more pawns than your opponent, if one of your
pawns is advanced along a file to the point where no enemy
pawn can stop him by capturing him, or if your pawns are
generally further advanced enabling them to reach promotion
quicker in a foot race, you have created an important advantage.

But there is also a lesser known way to ensure that your
pawns are of maximum value to you in the critical end game
stage.

Keep your pawns in as few groups as possible!

What in the world is a pawn group? Well, when you start
the game you have one row of eight connected pawns.
This is one group.

If a pawn is captured, then that file becomes "open", void of
any of your pawns. This open file creates two pawn groups,
one group on either side of the file.

Say that you are playing the white pieces, and your e pawn
captures your opponent's d pawn. It, in turn, is captured
by black's e pawn. Your open e file now divides your pawns
into two distinct groups: those on files a-d and those on files f-h.

The pawns within each group can move to protect another
pawn or two that is also in that group. The f pawn, for
example, can move to f3 to protect the g pawn should it
advance to g4.

Can the f pawn protect the d pawn in like fashion? No,
because there is an open e file that separates them.

Suppose that not only the e pawn was gone but the c pawn
was also gone. How many pawn groups would there be?

Three is correct! You have two pawns (a & b files), one
pawn (d file), and three pawns (f-h files). Additionally,
the d pawn is especially weak because it is all alone.
It is called an isolated pawn.

So what is the point here? What's the significance?

Okay. Let me use an illustration. As I am writing this, I
am at a zoo (near Orlando, Florida). I'm driving the bus
for our school's summer day camp field trip. I'm sitting
at a table in the outdoor eating area watching 26 kids try
to fend off three mooching peacocks running loose and
bent on joining the group for lunch.

Would it be easier for the workers to help guard the
children if they were all seated together or if they were
spread out over three separate locations?

Together, of course. The further apart they are, the harder
it is to keep running from one group to the next.

This is exactly the way it is in chess with pawn groups.
The more you have, the harder it is for the workers
(pieces) to protect them from the enemy pieces.

The secret to having as few pawn groups as possible
is to constantly check them throughout the game. Ask
yourself, "Will this move result in an increase in the
number of my pawn groups?"

Don't get radical and sacrifice a piece in order to
prevent creating an extra pawn group. Just add this to
your list of things to check every time you make a move,
and you'll find your pawn structures at the end of the
game will help you withstand enemy threats a little better
as you march your pawns to promotion and victory!

Public Enemy #1 - Running a Red Light!

Picture a traffic light in your mind. What color is the top light?
Red, right! And what color is immediately below that?
Yellow, correct! And, of course, green is the last color.
Now what do you do every time that you come to a red
light? You stop, of course. And that is exactly what you
should do every time your opponent makes a move in a chess
game - STOP! DON'T MAKE A MOVE until you have asked yourself
WHY DID HE MAKE THAT MOVE? The yellow light indicates that
caution should be taken when you play chess before you
plunge ahead with your next move. The green light in a
chess game indicates going ahead with your attack plan,
unless you need to use the next move first for defense in
order to stop your opponent's attack. When you play
chess, the traffic light is the number one requirement
to use after each and every move of every chess game.

This may seem elementary, but many good players ask
themselves these questions MOST BUT NOT ALL of the
time when they play chess, leaving a great feast available
for you on the few moves where they forget. Many an inroad
has been made into enemy territory by capitalizing on your
chess opponent's lack of concentration. To double the
strength of this chess tip, simply apply these questions to
your own chess game when it is your turn, and your opponent
will immediately have fewer opportunities to infiltrate your
territory and play chess on your half of the board. The last
of my chess tips says, "Discipline yourself to ask these three
questions after every move by your opponent:
1) Red Light - Stop! Why did he make that move?
2) Yellow Light - Caution; Be Careful! Is his move a threat
to me somehow?
3) Green Light - Go! Can I proceed with
my plan of attack or do I need to stop his threat with my next
move? "

Public Enemy #2 - All Offense and No Defense!

The old sports saying, "Offense sells the tickets; defense
wins the games," accurately portrays the trap that many
fall into as they play chess. Caught up with the "rush" that
comes from "going after the kill," many chess players forget
that the player which they are hunting also has a gun and is
out HUNTING THEM! You'll win many of your chess games
simply by playing defense against an offensive-minded
player and waiting for an opening to occur. You have to be
ready to switch quickly from defense to offense, but the
wait will be worth it. Thinking defense will help you win
games by taking advantage of the offensive-minded impatience
of others, it will help you to develop your own defensive
skills, and it will help curb any offensive impatience that you
may have, bringing your chess game into a strong and deadly
balance. Remember then the second of my chess tips: a chess
game is always made up of BOTH offensive and defensive
concerns, and that offensive strategies should be timed to
coordinate with a solid defense.

Public Enemy #3 - Lack of Development!

You have 7 pieces (plus 8 pawns) with which to do battle
when you play chess. They are soldiers that start the game
in the barracks, asleep on the back row of your chessboard.
GET THEM OFF OF THE BACK ROW! They need to be out on
the battlefield to be effective. Do your opponent's
pieces pose a threat to you in a chess game when they are
never moved off of the back row? Of course not! So, give
yourself an immediate advantage over many players by
heeding the first of my chess tips: take the time to develop
your pieces off of the back row BEFORE you mount an attack.

Spend a Week at Work

When you go grocery shopping, you usually end up
spending some of your hard earned money. After you
return home, you need to spend a week at work in order
to earn enough money to go shopping again.

This situation is so similar to capturing pieces on the
chessboard that it's almost eerie. Whenever I take an
opponent's piece, I usually "spend" some of the good
position that I've established. The capture requires me
to extend the capturing piece out away from the protection
of my other pieces, leaving it vulnerable to attack. Or,
it may double two of my pawns on the same file causing
awkward congestion.

Don't get me wrong; capturing an enemy piece outright is
worth the loss of position, temporarily, unless your
opponent has set you up to take the piece on purpose.
He could be removing a defender from your king by
offering a "sacrificial piece" in order to pave the way for
an attack. Be sure to double check this.

Now that the opposing piece is captured, check and see
if you have any other immediate attacking possibilities.
If not, return home and "spend a week at work in order
to earn enough money to go shopping again".

Your long term prospects have improved; your short term
prospects have worsened. Your opponent now has the
next move. He can press the attack for a while. You must
take some time and make sure that your defenses are not
left open for a counter attack as a result of your capture.

Bolster your defenses, finish developing your pieces, castle
your king, make sure all of your pieces are defended to
avoid forks by your opponent; these are ways to "spend
a week at work" so that when your position is again solid,
you may, again, go on the attack taking advantage of your
superior forces.

In a nut shell, capturing material may result in weakening
your position. Take the next few moves to play defense
and fix any weaknesses before resuming your attack. This
limits your opponent's counter attack possibilities while you
are in a weakened positional state.

Chess Walls of Jericho

Definition: chess "wall" pawns - the pawns at f2, g2, and h2
in front of white's castled king (0-0) on g1; pawns at a2, b2,
and c2 in front of white's castled king (0-0-0) on c1. Black
pawns of the same letter (f7, g7, etc.) on the 7th rank are
black's chess "wall" pawns. Don't move the chess "wall"
pawns in front of your castled king without strong reason.
The chess "wall" pawns are the line of defense closest to
your king and need to be intact in order to delay an assault
by your chess opponent.. Moving them out away from the
king creates empty chess squares between them and the
king, room that an enemy chess piece may occupy or influence.

Avoid capturing enemy chess pieces and pawns with these
chess "wall" pawns if the capture can be done with one of
your chess pieces (knights, bishops, rooks, or queen). If you
must capture with one of these pawns, remember that you
now have an open a file, or road, directly into your king's
chamber. You must now station chess pieces near enough
to this breach to prevent enemy infiltration. This may slow
down your attack having one less chess piece available for
offense.