21 Positional Chess Concepts

Summary

This video script offers 21 crucial positional chess concepts to enhance a player's game. Starting with fundamental principles like avoiding bad bishops and targeting isolated pawns, it progresses to intermediate strategies such as utilizing open files with rooks and trading pieces advantageously. Advanced ideas include creating protected passed pawns and exploiting weak color complexes. The script emphasizes patience, strategic piece placement, and understanding pawn structures to gain a positional edge, concluding with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content.

Takeaways

• 🏰 Avoid creating 'bad bishops' by not restricting their movement with your own pawns.
• 👑 Isolated pawns are vulnerable targets as they lack support from adjacent pawns.
• 👥 Double isolated pawns are even weaker because they can't move without exposing themselves to capture.
• 🚀 Rooks are powerful on open files, providing flexibility in attack and defense.
• 🏹 Do not trade a valuable bishop for a less impactful knight.
• 🐎 A strong knight on an outpost can be a formidable asset, sometimes even surpassing the value of a rook.
• 🔄 Look for opportunities to exchange your less effective pieces for your opponent's stronger ones.
• 🛑 Be cautious when moving pawns forward as it creates irreversible weaknesses.
• 🔝 Place rooks on the seventh or second rank to exert pressure and control key areas of the board.
• 🏁 A single pawn can effectively blockade the advancement of multiple opponent pawns.

Q & A

What are the top 21 positional chess concepts mentioned in the video?

The video outlines 21 key concepts to improve at positional chess, starting from basic principles to intermediate and advanced strategies. These include avoiding bad bishops, targeting isolated pawns, controlling open files with rooks, and many more.

What is a bad bishop in chess?

A bad bishop is one that is stuck behind your own pawn structure, limiting its mobility and options for making effective moves.

Why are isolated pawns considered good targets in chess?

Isolated pawns do not have adjacent pawns to support them, making them vulnerable to attacks and less able to be defended effectively.

How can controlling open files benefit a player?

Controlling open files allows rooks to have more mobility and attacking options, which can lead to creating threats and gaining positional advantages.

Why should you avoid trading a good bishop for a bad knight?

Exchanging a powerful, centrally controlling bishop for a less active knight would diminish your control over the board and potentially leave you with a weaker position.

What is the significance of the seventh and second ranks in relation to rooks?

Placing rooks on the seventh or second rank can be very advantageous as it allows them to exert pressure on the opponent's position, particularly affecting the back rank and potentially threatening the opponent's king.

How can a pawn stopping two opponent's pawns be beneficial?

By stopping two opponent's pawns with a single pawn, you can immobilize them, preventing them from creating threats or supporting other pieces.

What is the strategy behind blockade and attacking backward pawns?

Blockading a backward pawn restricts its movement, and then preparing to attack it can lead to winning material, as the pawn is isolated and harder to defend.

Why are protected passed pawns advantageous in endgames?

Protected passed pawns are pawns that are not easily stopped from queening due to lack of opposing pawns and are defended, making them very hard for the opponent to capture without significant material investment.

How can creating a battery help against an opponent's fianchettoed bishop?

Creating a battery with a queen and bishop can allow you to trade off the annoying fianchettoed bishop, removing its influence from the game and potentially creating weaknesses in your opponent's position.

What is the concept of baiting your opponent into moving pawns forward?

Baiting involves enticing your opponent to move their pawns forward, which can create weaknesses in their position that you can exploit, especially if it limits their piece development.

How can a knight on an outpost be as valuable as a rook?

A knight on an outpost can control key squares and restrict the opponent's piece activity so effectively that its influence might outweigh that of a rook.

Why might sacrificing a rook to eliminate a strong knight be a good move?

If a knight is causing significant disruption to your position, sacrificing a rook to eliminate it might free up your position and allow your other pieces to become more active.

What is the minority attack in chess?

The minority attack is a strategy where you push your pawns against an opponent's stronger pawn chain to create weaknesses and targets, even if you have fewer pawns on that side of the board.

What is a weak color complex in chess?

A weak color complex refers to a collection of weaknesses on squares of one color, often resulting from pawn structure or piece placement that leaves certain squares poorly defended.

How can blockades hinder an opponent's development?

Blockades can prevent an opponent's pawns from moving, which in turn restricts the development of their pieces, particularly if the blockaded pawn is on a central file or near the opponent's back rank.

What bonus tip is given for improving at positional chess?

The bonus tip is to engage with the video content, such as liking the video, to reinforce what you've learned and to help the content reach a wider audience.

Outlines

00:00

🏰 Basic Principles of Positional Chess

The paragraph introduces the concept of positional chess and lists the top 21 principles that the speaker has gathered from over 30 years of experience. It emphasizes the importance of understanding these principles, starting from basic to intermediate and advanced levels. The speaker advises not to skip any of these principles as they are all crucial. The first principle discussed is to avoid creating bad bishops, which are bishops stuck behind one's own pawns, limiting their mobility. The speaker suggests better piece placement to avoid this. The second principle is targeting isolated pawns, which have no adjacent pawns for support, making them vulnerable. The third principle extends this idea to double isolated pawns, which are even weaker. The fourth principle is about rooks controlling open files to maximize their potential for attack and defense.

05:00

🛡️ Avoiding Piece Trade Mistakes

This section discusses the importance of not trading valuable pieces for less valuable ones. It advises against trading a good bishop for a bad knight, as the bishop often controls key central squares and is well-protected. Similarly, one should not trade a good knight for a bad bishop. The speaker also suggests looking for opportunities to trade one's bad pieces for the opponent's good pieces to gain an advantage. The paragraph also touches on the importance of being cautious when moving pawns forward, as pawns cannot move backward and doing so can create lasting weaknesses in one's position.

10:01

👑 Advanced Positional Strategies

The paragraph delves into more advanced strategies, such as placing rooks on the seventh or second rank to exert pressure on the opponent. It also discusses how a single pawn can stop the advancement of two opponent's pawns, which can be a powerful strategic move. The speaker then talks about blocking backward pawns and preparing to attack them, using the Sicilian Defense as an example. The concept of creating protected passed pawns is introduced as a strong endgame strategy. The paragraph also explains how to deal with annoying bishops by creating a battery with the queen and another bishop to trade off the opponent's piece.

15:02

🔄 Baiting and Piece Maneuvering

Here, the speaker explains how to bait opponents into making pawn moves that create weaknesses. Using the Alekhine Defense as an example, the paragraph shows how to lure pawns forward and then exploit the resulting vulnerabilities. The speaker also discusses the value of a well-placed knight on an outpost, which can be as powerful as a rook. Conversely, it mentions that sometimes it's better to sacrifice a rook to remove such a strong knight. The paragraph also advises on the general strategy of placing pawns on the opposite color of one's bishops to maximize their effectiveness and protect them from enemy knights.

20:03

🌟 Special Endgame Strategies and Minority Attack

The final paragraph focuses on endgame strategies, such as using a pawn to defend a bishop of the same color, creating a weak color complex by trading bishops, and exploiting the weaknesses that result. It also introduces the concept of blockades to hinder the opponent's development and the minority attack, which involves pushing pawns forward to create weaknesses in the opponent's position. The speaker provides an example from the Queen's Gambit to illustrate how a minority attack can be executed effectively. The paragraph concludes with a bonus tip to engage with the video content to reinforce learning.

Keywords

💡Positional Chess

Positional chess refers to the aspect of the game where players strategically place their pieces and pawns to optimize their position on the board. It's not about tactics or immediate gains but about setting up a strong position that can lead to an advantage. The video script emphasizes understanding these concepts as crucial for improving at chess.

💡Bad Bishop

A 'bad bishop' is one that is restricted in its movement due to being behind the player's own pawns, limiting its ability to contribute effectively to the game. The script uses the example of a bishop stuck behind a pawn on d3, illustrating how it can become passive and less influential in the game.

💡Isolated Pawns

Isolated pawns are pawns that have no other pawns on adjacent files, making them vulnerable targets as they lack support from fellow pawns. The script points out that isolated pawns, especially double isolated pawns, are weaker and can be exploited by opponents.

💡Open Files

Open files are columns on the chessboard that have no pawns, providing rooks with greater mobility and influence. The video script stresses the importance of controlling open files as it gives rooks more options to attack or defend, which is particularly advantageous in endgames.

💡Outpost

An outpost is a square that is well-defended and from which a piece can exert control over key areas. The script uses the example of a knight on d6 being extremely strong because it controls several squares and cannot be easily dislodged, illustrating the concept of an outpost.

💡Protected Pass Pawn

A protected pass pawn is a pawn that has no opposing pawns blocking its path to promotion and is defended by another pawn, making it difficult for the opponent to capture. The video script explains how creating such pawns can be advantageous, especially in endgames.

💡Battery

A battery in chess consists of two or more pieces of the same type that work together to exert pressure on a particular square or line. The script gives an example of creating a battery with a queen and bishop to trade off an opponent's annoying bishop, neutralizing its threat.

💡Fianchetto

Fianchetto refers to the development of a bishop to a square that is one step diagonally forward from where the pawn has moved to. The script mentions how trading off a fianchettoed bishop can be beneficial, especially when creating a battery to capture it.

💡Weak Color Complex

A weak color complex is a situation where there are multiple weaknesses on squares of the same color, often due to pawn structure. The video script uses an example of a fianchettoed bishop being traded off, leaving weaknesses on the same color squares that can be exploited.

💡Minority Attack

A minority attack is a strategy used when you have fewer pawns on one wing of the board compared to your opponent. The script explains how pushing these pawns forward can create weaknesses in the opponent's position, allowing you to capitalize on these vulnerabilities.

💡Blockade

Blockading in chess involves placing a piece in front of an opponent's pawn, preventing its advance. The video script illustrates how blockading can hinder an opponent's development and create positional advantages, particularly when it restricts key pawns like the d- or e-pawns.

Highlights

Avoid bad bishops stuck behind your own pawns.

Isolated pawns make good targets as they lack support from adjacent pawns.

Double isolated pawns are even weaker because they can't move or be defended.

Rooks are powerful on open files, providing various attacking and defending options.

Don't trade a valuable bishop for a less useful knight.

Similarly, avoid trading a strong knight for a weak bishop.

Seek opportunities to trade your less effective pieces for your opponent's stronger ones.

Be cautious when moving pawns forward as it creates irreversible weaknesses.

Rooks are particularly effective on the seventh or second rank, attacking enemy pawns.

A single pawn can sometimes halt the progress of two opposing pawns.

Blockading a backward pawn is a strategic move to limit your opponent's options.

Creating protected passed pawns can be a decisive advantage, especially in endgames.

Trade off a fianchetto bishop by setting up a battery with your queen and bishop.

Encourage your opponent to advance pawns, creating weaknesses in their position.

A well-placed knight on an outpost can be as valuable as a rook.

Sometimes sacrificing a rook to eliminate a powerful knight is strategically beneficial.

Generally, position your pawns on the opposite color of your bishops for maximum effectiveness.

In endgames, consider placing your bishop on the same color as your pawn for mutual protection.

Weaknesses on a specific color square, known as weak color complex, can be exploited.

Blockading opponent's pawns can hinder their development and create positional advantages.

Minority attack involves pushing pawns to create weaknesses in the opponent's pawn structure.

Engage with the video by liking it to support the channel and help more people learn about positional chess.

Transcripts

one of the most common questions that i

get asked on my channel is how do you

get better at positional chess on this

video i'm going to give you the top 21

positional chess concepts that you need

to understand these are things that i

have gathered from over 30 years of

playing chess and i'm putting them all

together in one video just for you guys

they're gonna start off with the basic

positional principles and we're gonna

get to some more intermediate and

advanced ones as the video goes on

there's gonna be timestamps in the

description below so feel free to jump

around if you need to although i highly

recommend that you don't skip any of

these because they are all extremely

important let's jump right in

the first positional concept is that you

want to avoid bad bishops and chess a

bad bishop is a bishop that's stuck

behind

your own pawn so in this position if i

were to play the move d3 i've created

what's called a bad bishop this bishop

now has only one legal move doesn't have

a lot of good options a much better idea

would be to play bishop to c4 and then

play d3 because now my bishop has lots

of options and it's a good bishop not a

bad bishop so avoid bad bishops the

second positional concept is that

isolated pawns can be very good targets

an isolated pawn is a pawn that has no

pawns on the adjacent file so this is an

isolated pawn this is an isolated pawn

this is an isolated pawn and these are

called double isolated pawns they're

very good targets because they can't be

protected by another pawn this pawn is

well defended by this one if this one

gets attacked you can move it here and

now it's defended by this one and you

can see how they can really help each

other isolated pawns cannot do that so

they make very good targets the third

principle is very similar but double

isolated pawns like this when they're

two pawns on the same file are even

better targets because not only can this

pawn for example not be defended it also

can't even move because it's being

blocked by its own pawn so they're even

worse and that can be a very good

strategy not just in an end game like

this but even during the middle game if

you see double isolated pawns or

isolated pawns you can probably try to

attack those and they're going to be

very weak the next principle is that

rooks should strive to control open

files you see in this position white is

controlling this e file black is

controlling this d file the reason

controlling open files is so good is

because it gives your rook all sorts of

options we can come down here on the

seventh rank if we want we can come over

here and try to come over here to attack

maybe some of these pawns

lots of options black can also do the

same thing go to wherever they want to

go so whoever controls the open file

usually has the advantage this is

particularly true in end games and this

is what you want to be paying attention

to with your rooks the next principle is

that you should never trade one of your

good bishops for your opponent's bad

nights in this example this is a very

strong bishop it's being kettled and

it's controlling a lot of these

important central squares it's also very

nicely hidden behind the pawns and can't

really be harassed if you were to trade

that bishop for this night that would be

a crucial mistake not only are you

losing your very powerful bishop which

was controlling so many squares you're

taking it for black snipe which wasn't

really doing a whole lot and

additionally you've now

have blacks annoying bishop that you

really have no way to deal with because

you've gotten rid of your bishop that

was controlling that diagonal so don't

trade a good bishop like this for a bad

knight that's not really doing a lot the

next principle is very similar but it's

kind of the opposite of that never trade

a good night for a bad bishop in this

case our knight on d6 is extremely

strong it is an outpost so it's defended

by these pawns it can't be attacked by

any of black's pawns because they've

already been moved forward and if we

were to trade this knight for this

bishop that would be a terrible mistake

our knight is doing so much and black's

bishop is hardly doing anything so do

not make a move like this or you're just

handing the advantage back to your

opponent

always want to keep those really strong

nights don't trade them off and while

we're talking about trading the next

principle is that you should always look

to trade your bad pieces for your

opponent's good pieces in this position

black's knight on d4 is very strong it's

well defended we can't harass it with

our pawns because they've already been

moved forward and it's controlling a lot

of squares on our side of the board we

also have this knight here though that's

not really doing a whole lot it's on the

back rank it's kind of not very good so

if we could trade those two pieces off

guess who that's going to benefit it's

going to benefit us of course so if we

move knight to c2 and then take the

knight or even knight to f3 and then

take the knight in a knight f3 we could

get pinned so that's probably not the

move i would play but knight c2 looks

like a really good move traded off and

we have successfully traded our bad

night for black's good night that's the

kind of opportunities that you want to

look for throughout the game the next

principle is you want to be careful

moving your pawns forward why do we care

about moving pawns forward because they

cannot move backwards so if you ever

played against somebody who when they

start the game they just kind of throw

their pawns forward

and they just keep moving pawns forward

and they just kind of keep pushing them

forward they don't really care what

they're doing every time you move a pawn

forward you create some weaknesses so in

this position these holes for example

now the knight can just hop in there

over here same thing knights can hop in

bishops can hop in the queen can hop in

and you are never going to be able to

control

those squares

with a pawn because you've any pawn that

could potentially control these squares

you've already moved forward right see

that and so you create weaknesses that

you cannot fix when you move pawns

forward in chess so be very careful

moving pawns forward make sure you have

a really good reason to do it all right

the next principle is that rooks are

very good on the seventh or the second

rank so if you're playing as white the

seventh rank is here if you're playing

as black the second rank would be here

and if you can get your rooks there it's

very very very good for you most of the

time so if i'm playing his whiteness

position i'm gonna play rook to d7

i'm immediately attacking this pawn

let's say black tries to defend the next

thing that i'm probably going to do is

play rogue here and my goal is to be to

get both rooks here so we'll say black

plays h6 i come down here and now look

at how strong this is i'm attacking this

pawn so these pieces are basically tied

if they want to defend it i'm also

attacking this pawn

which is only defended once if black

let's say moves it well then i'm taking

this i still have the pressure here i

have the option to go here to go here i

can basically do whatever i want because

i've got my rooks in such a good

position on the seventh rank so always

look out for that and again if you're

black

look to get them on the second rank all

right the next positional idea is that

sometimes one pawn can actually stop two

of your opponent's pawns so in this

position white has an extra pawn here we

got four against three but on the other

side black has two against one and so if

it's my move as white i'm going to play

the move a5 and the reason this is such

a good move is because i'm stopping this

pawn from moving and i'm also stopping

this bomb from moving because if it

tries to move here i'm just going to

take it and if it tries to move here i'm

also going to take it with on pissant

and go get a queen so this one little

pawn

is stopping both of these pawns from

moving that's really good because if i

did something else like random king move

now black can play b5 takes takes and

guess what i have to bring my king over

to stop this pawn i have to otherwise

it's just gonna get a queen but when i

do that what do you think black's king

is gonna do probably come here forward

push these pawns and start taking my

pawns over here and i'm probably going

to lose the game

so crucial to remember that sometimes

you can just use one of your pawns and

stop two of your opponent's pawns taking

advantage of the fact that on passant is

a move that you can you can play so keep

that in mind all right the next

principle is that you want to blockade

backward pawns and then prepare to

attack them so this is an example of the

bishop b5 sicilian this is fairly common

where black plays the move e5 to kind of

chase away the queen but by playing e5

they create what's called a backward

pawn as a reminder a backward pawn is

when the pawns on the side of it have

already moved forward far enough that

they can no longer help support that

pawn okay so this pawn is gone

and then this pawn is advanced to where

this guy basically has no help so

whenever you have a backward pawn

usually the first step is to blockade it

so we already have it somewhat blockaded

with a queen and a pawn but you know a

couple other options would be play

knight c3 and then knight to d5 to put

the knight in there as a blockader you

could also play the move c4 first and

really solidify it as a target and once

you've done that

then your goal can shift to okay now

we've blockaded it it's not going to go

anywhere it's not going to move and get

away now we can start figuring out how

to attack it so

you know uh bringing the rook over is

probably how i would start

um you know you could follow up with

maybe b3 and then bring the bishop over

here to line up on it you could even at

some point consider maneuvering a knight

around so if i can maybe get my knight

on f5 at some point in the future

even

this and get three pieces lined up and

eventually you're probably gonna have

enough pieces that you can win the pawn

and it's it's a relatively easy way to

win a pawn if you just take your time be

patient blockade it and then attack it

all right the next idea and this is

super important especially at endgames

but try to create protected past pawns

whenever you can so in this position

it's our move we could just trade this

pawn off takes takes and then we have

pretty even position here you know we

gotta the kings are probably gonna try

to come up and who knows what's gonna

happen but a better option for us is to

play the move a5 and what we have done

is created this little guy over here

which is called a protected pass pawn so

it's a pass pawn because there's no

opponent's pawns that can stop it from

becoming a queen and it's protected

because it's got a pawn over here that's

protecting it

really really good because now black's

king is forced to come this way and by

the way the king actually can't catch it

because you can make this little

box here and the king

is not going to be able to enter the box

but let's just say you know we'll waste

a move here we'll give black

an extra move now the king can stop it

but even so

the king is basically stuck guarding

this pawn and our king can run over here

and do whatever we like probably just

gobble up all these pawns and if black

ever tries to come over here and and you

know stop us well then we're like okay

i'll go get a queen so protected past

pawns extremely good especially at the

end of the game now it is important that

it's protected because if it's not

protected and you try to do that well

then

you know your opponent's probably just

going to run the king over and take your

pawn and then you have to deal with a

pawn or something so it's important that

it's protected but that's really really

important okay the next idea you want to

keep in mind is that you can trade off a

fianchetto bishop by creating your own

battery say what nelson what does that

even mean so

here's an example of the perk defense

and this is where black usually will fee

and kettle their bishop on g7 over here

and this can be a very annoying bishop

if you've ever played against an opening

like this or against like the king's

indian defense this bishop once he gets

active later in the game can basically

win the game for for your opponent right

if you make a mistake or if they do some

clever things that bishop is just so

annoying so a very easy thing you can do

is create a battery with your queen and

bishop so you put your bishop on e3 you

put your queen on d2 and you've created

this battery and then all you have to do

is bring the bishop down here

and take their bishop and you just trade

off the bishop and you don't have to

worry about that anymore and if they try

to go back here usually the rook is

there you take the rook so that's not

really an option if they take you you

take them it's pretty straightforward

and once that's gone you no longer have

to worry about that also

their king is usually over there and now

they have weaknesses along those dark

squares because that bishop is gone so

this is a really simple and easy thing

to do to get rid of that annoying bishop

so keep that in mind alright the next

idea is that sometimes you can bait your

opponent into moving pawns forward which

then creates weaknesses in their

position a really good example of this

is the opening called the alakins

defense so white plays e4 and we can

play the move knight f6 so we're

attacking this pawn we're kind of

baiting them to move forward and then we

can hop over to d5 and now a lot of

players will play like c4 and then we

can hop back to b6 we're kind of baiting

them again to say come on go ahead you

know push it if you want and then we can

go back to d5

and yes white got a bunch of moves for

free all right white got four moves

there and all we did was kind of hop our

knight around

but white also created some weaknesses

remember what i talked about earlier in

the video when you move pawns forward

there's no going back so these pawns

can never control this square now right

they've moved past it which means this

for the rest of the game this is going

to be an outpost for our knight where we

can just sit there if we want um

and so there's a trade-off i mean

obviously white has a little more space

than we do but the weaknesses are are

real and we can take advantage of if we

know what we're doing so this is just

one example this can come up in a lot of

different ways but look for ways to bait

your opponent to moving their pawns

forward and then take advantage of the

weaknesses that are left behind after

those pawns move all right the next

principle is that a good knight on an

outpost a lot of times can be worth a

rook so as you know knights are three

points and rooks are five points but if

you get your knight in the right spot at

the right time

sometimes it's actually as good if not

better than a rook and here's a good

example this knight is extremely

powerful look how it's blocking off both

of black's rooks

it's also controlling the square that

the rook might like to go to to control

this file it's putting pressure on two

different pawns

and it's just sitting there defended by

this pawn and black's kind of like what

what am i going to do right what can i

even

black and hardly move any pieces because

that that one night there

so if you can ever get your knight on an

outpost and this is an outpost because

there's no pawns that can attack it okay

so the way you would you would figure

this out is first you want to look at

the board and see okay where could there

be a potential outpost so for example

the square g5 is not an outpost because

this after the knight moves this pawn

could move forward and attack your

knight let's say so that would not uh

would not work

this square not really an outpost

because this pawn could move forward now

in this case it can't but um you have to

be careful with that one here would be a

good place for your knight right because

there's no pawns

that could control it and then obviously

on d6 where it's at right now is a great

outpost but if you find squares like

that when you're playing a game see if

you can maneuver your knights around

um to get them there and so you know in

this case black could actually play

knight to d5 which is a good move for

black because that's an outpost for

black there's no pawns uh no white pawns

that can attack it so that's what you

want to be looking out for so because of

the principle that we just talked about

how good a knight is the next principle

is that sometimes it's actually better

for you to sacrifice a rook to get rid

of that knight so in this case black

let's say white moves the king over

black could sacrifice for that night get

a knight in a pawn

and a lot of times that's actually a

smart thing to do if the knight is going

to be that strong right because if you

know there's nothing black could do

black couldn't even move any pieces at

least this way you have a knight in a

pawn which okay it's not as good as a

rogue but now you can do stuff now you

can move your pieces around you can hop

your knight in maybe you can try to win

this pawn

your rook has the ability to come down

and do some things from a practical

standpoint okay from a practical

standpoint a lot of times

it's better to just go ahead and

sacrifice a rook if you can get a night

in a pawn

rather than let that knight just sit

there and prevent you from doing

anything so keep that in mind even if

you lose a little bit of material

practically speaking it's usually worth

it alright the next principle is that

generally speaking you want most of your

pawns to be on the opposite color of

your bishops now obviously that depends

on the situation but a good example of

this is when you feed cattle your bishop

that's exactly what you're doing you're

putting your pawns on the opposite color

of your bishop and this is really good

because then the bishop can still be

completely

effective because the pawns aren't going

to block it but it also kind of acts as

some shelter and it protects the bishop

from knights that want to attack it so

you know knights could only attack this

bishop on one of these three squares and

they're all covered by your pawns and so

by putting your pawns on the opposite

color of your bishops it just works out

nicely so look for ways to do that fee

and keto is just one example there are

other situations as well but keep that

in mind now the next principle is a

little bit different from the last one

we just talked about how normally you

want your palms to be on the opposite

color of your bishops but sometimes

especially at the end of the game if you

only have one bishop and a couple of

random pawns one thing that i like to do

and works out very nice is actually

putting it on the same color as your

pawn right in front of the pawn and so

the pawn defends the bishop the bishop

defends the pawn

and this can be a good way to kind of

keep your bishops protected at all times

at the same time

you can kind of defend some of your

pawns as well so this is just a good

thing to keep in mind especially at the

end of the game

or if you're trying to a lot of times

you can block off files where rooks

might be trying to get in with the

bishop or something with the pawn

defending it that's just a good thing to

keep in mind alright the next principle

has to do with something that's called

weak color complex it's a it's a phrase

that gets thrown around but it's very

simple all it means is that there are

weaknesses on a certain color of of the

board so

for example this is a very silly example

that i created just to prove the point

here but when you fianchetto your bishop

okay like

here and black would do it here and that

bishop gets traded off somehow we looked

at an example earlier how you can do

that you now have a weakness on those

particular color squares so for example

white

has some serious weaknesses along these

white squares because of where the pawns

are placed there's no bishop to fill in

those gaps and black has an immediate

checkmate threat because the bishop is

controlling here the knight can come in

that's just checkmate black has the

exact same problem the bishop that would

normally be sitting there and kind of

controlling some of these squares is

gone and we can see white has this

battery

and if it's white's turn it's just

checkmate immediately because of the

weaknesses along those squares so when

you're playing your games if you ever

notice a bunch of pawns on the same

color

like in this example you want to be

trying to look out for ways to take

advantage of the weak squares and a lot

of times you have to do some maneuvering

to make this happen right this example

just everything is perfectly placed

usually you have to maneuver your pieces

around but once you can get them set up

in something like this it can be very

very strong and open up a lot of really

nice tactics for you so be aware of

weaknesses on a particular color square

all right the next principle when i

first kind of figured it out from

playing was kind of life-changing for me

so pay attention to this one and i'm

going to show you a practical example

here from an opening that that i've

played before so i like to play the

bishop b5 sicilian and there's a

particular line g6 castles where you

play c3 you're trying to set up d4 and

black plays e5 to try to stop you okay

and you can do this one little it's kind

of like a gambit because you're giving

away a pawn here but you play d4 anyway

you let black capture it

and then you play the move bishop to f4

now here is the principle that this move

um kind of illustrates this is what

you're going to go for after black plays

something normal like knight g7 you're

going to play the move bishop to d6 okay

this is what you want to remember the

principle is this if you can blockade

your opponent's pawns

to hinder their development

it's usually really really really good

from a positional standpoint okay so so

here's a position where there's no

immediate tactical advantage for white

white has no tactics that are just going

to win the game or anything like that

but what white does have

is a positional advantage in the fact

that

black really wants to develop this

bishop black would like to play this

pawn forward maybe to d5

and then get this bishop out and and

kind of continue playing normal chess

but they can't do that because this

bishop is just sitting there being

really annoying right stopping the pawn

which is stopping the bishop which is

stopping the rook now black maybe could

try to come around this this way and

develop the bishop but it's not that

easy if black tries to castle there's

this annoying pin on the night it's just

really really annoying having that

bishop sitting there blockading a pawn

so keep that in mind whenever you have

an opportunity sometimes it's a bishop

sometimes it's a night um to blockade a

pawn

it's ju it's usually really really good

okay so just keep that in mind and and

look for opportunities now sometimes

it's even better like for example let's

just let's just make a bad move for

black here like knight h6 just to

illustrate the concept

now when we play bishop d6 it's even

better because now we're actually

preventing black from castling remember

you can't castle through check so

sometimes this this happens as well

and like i said it's even better so just

keep an eye out for those there's lots

of opportunities where this happens

particularly if you can blockade a d or

an e pawn before the opponent gets a

chance to move it

it's usually really bad because the

bishop ends up getting stuck back there

right so keep that in mind all right now

the last positional idea that i'm going

to give you guys is what's called the

minority attack i'm going to actually

show you an example of this out of the

queen's gambit it's extremely common so

queen's gambit that's not the queen's

campaign uh queen's gambit is d4 d5 c4

and then when you have queen's gambit

declined uh the pawn structure that

arises a very often is something like

this okay where you capture black

recaptures with the pawn and black has

these four pawns here and you just have

two pawns over here uh you know on the

queen side and then the game you know

might go something like this okay

minority attack happens in a case like

this where you decide you're going to

push these two pawns forward

and try to create a weakness

in black's camp and the way it works is

like this

if

let's just say hypothetically you had

unlimited time you would go here you'd

go here you would go here and then you

would trade

blackwood recapture and now you have a

backward pawn okay so i'm gonna just

make it real easy um

on myself here i'm not going to do

anything for black except just make some

random moves let's i don't know we'll

move

yeah we'll say h6 we take and then we

trade okay

so what we have done is traded this pawn

for this pawn and now this if you

remember is a backward pawn and now we

can pile up on it probably remember

blockade the backward pawn first

bring our rook over

uh i don't know what black's gonna do

line up on it and eventually try to win

that pawn probably the knight can come

in and we're just gonna try to take that

pawn okay and we created that backward

pawn by pushing our b-pawn up and

capturing now i wasn't making the best

moves for black obviously sometimes

black can make our life a little more

difficult like when we play b4 they

might play a6 to try to stop us but then

we can play a4 and we're still

threatening to do kind of the same thing

and the point is that even if we have to

you know sacrifice a pawn over here to

mess up

um black's pawn structure

it's usually worth it because now we

have a bunch of targets okay so that's

what a minority attack is you take those

two pawns

you push them forward and you try to

create some sort of weakness that you

can take advantage of all right so keep

that in mind especially if you're a

queen's gambit player that's the most

common situation that this is actually

going to be useful to you all right one

final bonus tip if you want to become

better at positional chess hit the

thumbs up on this video and you'll

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entirely true but it does let youtube

know that this is a good video they

should show it to more people and it

really helps me out a lot so if you did

learn something i would really

appreciate it as always thanks for

watching stay sharp play smart and take

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