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DISCOVER HOW TO VALUE THE PIECES…..
One of the essential skills that distinguish a good player from a freshman is the proper understanding of the relative value of the pieces. The value of a chessman is determined by its range, by the number of squares it can cross in a single move, by the number of squares it can control, by the number of captures it makes and finally by how it behaves as a threat to the opponent. Taking the pawn as the unit, the knight is worth 3; the bishop 3; the rook 5; and the queen 9.Thus we see that two minor piece gives better value than a rook and two rooks better than a queen and so on. The queen is considered to be the strongest. It controls 27 squares from the centre and 21 squares from a corner. It can make diagonal moves as well. The rook moves horizontally and vertically and controls 14 squares from wherever it is on the board. The bishop with its diagonal strikes controls 13 squares from the centre and only 3 from a corner. The knights with its jumping ability and L shaped attacks controls 8 from the centre and only 2 squares from a corner.
The bishop can attack only the nearby enemies but the knights can attack enemies on both colored squares. The knights and bishops are both given the same value. The bishop is weaker than the rook because it can move only on squares of one color and cannot threaten enemies on the other color. The pawns with their forward only movements are assigned low value. The king has not been valued by any authority on account of his not being liable to capture or exchange. The king controls 8 squares from the centre where as from the corner it controls only 3 squares. The value of the king is not determined by its strength .The king must be safe guarded in the opening of the game. The king gains power at the end of the game when it is not in the danger of being checkmated by the opponent. A player gains advantage when the value of the enemy pieces captured by him is more than the pieces surrendered in exchange.
The general guideline offers lower value to a pawn. Its value can change during the course of the game. Once a pawn reaches eighth file, it can be transformed into a knight or a bishop or a rook. Therefore pawns on the seventh file and guarded by a rook behind are worth more than a point. The value of a knight changes in a closed game. In such a game the lines of attack are blocked by pawns and it is difficult to bring pieces with more value into the play. At this point, the knight with its jumping ability leaps over pieces that block the game. Hence the value increases. In an open game, where lines of attack are open, bishops play a useful role. This is true when most of the pieces have been captures. The bishop’s value is increased when it pairs with the counterpart of the opposite color.
While playing a game it is necessary that the relative values are kept in mind. However the final goal to be achieved is to checkmate the opponent’s king.
WIN MORE CHESS GAMES BY MEDITATION
Meditation is one of the best techniques of mental preparation and it has to be followed by everyone. This will give freshness to everyone’s mind and helps to feel free from the surroundings. Meditation will also help to train the brain to think in a fast and tactical way. As all these qualities are much needed for a chess player if one follows this and try to use it in an efficient way then that person can shine in this field. These qualities when related to chess and how it is used here are explained in detail in the latter part.
Meditation is not about giving super natural powers to human or something like that it’s simply a matter of fact that it helps our brain to function properly and at the best level. Also it’s not about indicating what to move next, it just helps to relax our mind and helps to forget about other thinking and making a quick decision with out any dilemma.
Meditation in general deals with relaxing and focusing of mind towards the emptiness and thus making the brainwaves to circulate at Alpha level and not at the Beta level. Beta level is a mental state when our brainwaves will circulate with high tension and will be busy.
There are various stages of cycle of brainwaves found during the past using EEG machines by the brain researchers. They include Alpha, Beta, Theta and Delta. Beta is the brainwave which many suppose to exist during normal conditions and Theta for rhythm and Delta for Deep sleep and finally Alpha for Relaxation and in this state people are awake and concentrate on one thing.
Entering a Meditative state of Alpha is not much easier and this is only possible if we practice for long time. The procedures to do that are by just concentrating on anything like your breathing and making yourself steady by sitting in an open place in fresh air, which will helps in concentrating on your breathing and reaching the Alpha state easier. By repeatedly doing this we can become expert of this and can control our brain at any time of stress and it also helps to keep your mind fresh and makes it to think always in a positive attitude.
These kind of qualities helps in being more inspirational to insights and having these kinds of qualities is essential for basic life and also it helps in chess game. If we develop a quality of attaining the Alpha state, at whatever time it is needed it will be very helpful in terms of chess game. So that while playing chess, if we are under stress or in tension we can easily eliminate this by going to Alpha level and thinking of it in usual manner by relaxing our mind and focusing on the game and gaining good tactical knowledge will help us to succeed in the game. Also in taking last minute decision this will help by eliminating tension and feel free to the situation to handle the pressure.
Thus Meditation helps in winning more chess games and this is not only applicable for chess game but also for any difficult situations in life. |
