Key Takeaways
A clear subject
This piece is about beginner-to-intermediate chess fundamentals: how the game works, how moves get written down, and how simple plans grow from the opening into the endgame. [1][2][3]
A small, usable study path
Good notes do two jobs at once: they explain what is legal, and they show what is smart. Rules make moves possible; strategy and tactics make moves matter. [1][4]
Story & Details
Chess as a living sport
In December 2025, chess sits in the public spotlight again: Magnus Carlsen of Norway (Europe) won the World Rapid Championship in Qatar (Asia), a reminder that the same basic rules can produce drama at the highest level. [5] The game looks fast on stage, yet it is built from calm building blocks: an eight-by-eight board, two armies, and a single goal—checkmate. [1]
The board, the pieces, the one aim
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) defines chess as a game on a square board where players move in turns, with White moving first. [1] The board must be set so the nearest right-hand corner square is light. [1] Each side starts with sixteen pieces: king, queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. [1] Checkmate ends the game; a king is never captured. [1]
How a beginner packet usually unfolds
A strong starter packet often begins with the “what” and then adds the “why.” It explains the pieces and their movement, then shifts to how games end—win, loss by resignation, or draw. [1] It also introduces the chess clock: only one side’s time runs, and pressing the clock completes the move in tournament play. [1] That clock logic is not decoration; it shapes real decisions when time is short.
Three phases, three kinds of thinking
Most teaching divides the game into opening, middlegame, and endgame. The opening is about getting pieces out and making the king safer, often by castling. The middlegame is where plans collide, tactics appear, and pawn structure starts to lock in long-term truths. The endgame is the low-noise zone: fewer pieces, more space, and the king becomes a fighting piece, not only a target. This shift is a practical lesson: one phase rewards speed of development, another rewards calculation, and the last rewards precision and king activity. [4]
Tactics and strategy: the short punch and the long plan
Strategy is the plan for the next stretch of the road: improving pieces, choosing targets, trading pieces when it helps, and shaping pawn structure. Tactics are the forced moments inside that plan—short sequences that win material, win time, or win the game. Common examples fit on one page: the fork (a double attack), the pin (a piece cannot move without losing something more valuable), and deflection (pulling a defender away). Tactics often finish what strategy starts.
Why piece value is a guide, not a law
Beginner material values are a useful compass: a pawn as one unit; bishop and knight as about three; rook as about five; queen as about nine; the king as priceless because the game ends if it is checkmated. [6] Yet value changes with position. Open lines can make bishops shine. Locked pawn chains can make knights feel at home. The notes’ quiet lesson is this: a “three-point” piece that cannot move is often worse than a “one-point” pawn that is about to become a queen.
Static edges and dynamic chances
A practical way to read any position is to separate what lasts from what fades. A lasting edge can be extra material, weak squares that cannot be repaired, a passed pawn, open lines that belong to one side, or the bishop pair when the board is open. [7] A fading edge can be a lead in development, a temporary initiative, or a brief lack of coordination in the opponent’s pieces. [7] Good play often turns fading chances into lasting edges, then converts the lasting edge into a win.
Beginner mistakes that repeat everywhere
New players often push too many pawns and forget development, bring the queen out too early, move the same piece again and again in the opening, and delay castling until the king sits in the center with open lines around it. They also miss special rules at the worst time: castling, en passant, and the way draws can happen even without agreement. A clean packet names these traps plainly because naming a trap is the first defense.
How games end: not only checkmate
Tournament rules describe several clear draw roads. A draw can happen by agreement. [1] It can happen by stalemate, when the side to move has no legal move and is not in check. [1] It can happen when no checkmate is possible by any series of legal moves—a dead position. [1] Many beginner notes also stress repetition and the “fifty-move” idea as common drawing tools in practice, alongside the simple truth that running out of time loses the game if the opponent can still mate. [1]
Writing moves: the small code that makes learning faster
Algebraic notation is the global way to record chess moves, using coordinates like e4 or Nf3. [3] Files run from a to h, ranks from one to eight, and every square has a unique name. [3] Piece letters in English notation are K, Q, R, B, and N; pawns use no letter, only the destination square. [3] Captures add an “x,” checks add “+,” and checkmate is often “#.” [3] Castling is written as O-O or O-O-O. [3] This simple code unlocks study: it lets a player replay games, spot patterns, and build flashcards that do not depend on diagrams.
A tiny Dutch corner for chess life
A beginner packet can also support real daily practice: naming what is happening at the board, even in another language.
This short sentence is used to say it is someone’s turn to move:
Ik ben aan zet.
Word-by-word: Ik = I; ben = am; aan = on; zet = move/turn.
A natural variation heard at the board is also common: Jij bent aan zet.
This short sentence is used to name the final goal:
Schaakmat.
Word-by-word: Schaak = check; mat = mate.
A simple way to turn the packet into action
One quiet method works well. Take one short game and write each move in algebraic notation. [3] After every few moves, ask one steady question: what is the plan, and is there a tactic right now? Then look for lasting edges—material, weak squares, passed pawns, open lines—and decide whether the position asks for calm improvement or fast calculation. [7] That single habit ties rules, notation, strategy, and tactics into one practice loop.
Conclusions
Chess stays modern because it is simple at the base and deep in the middle. In December 2025, the headlines still come from the same eight-by-eight grid. [5] A good beginner-to-intermediate packet respects that truth: it teaches the legal moves, then teaches the thinking that makes legal moves useful. With notation in place, phases understood, and advantages named, study becomes lighter, and play becomes steadier. [1][3][7]
Selected References
Core rules and competitive play
[1] https://rcc.fide.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Laws_of_Chess-2023.pdf
[2] https://rcc.fide.com/2023-laws-of-chess/
Notation and basic overview
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_notation_%28chess%29
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess
Strategy framing and advantages
[4] https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Chess_Strategy
[7] https://en.chessbase.com/post/understanding-before-moving-127-chess-history-in-a-nutshell-9
A timely chess moment and one video
[5] https://www.reuters.com/sports/chess-norways-carlsen-claims-sixth-world-rapid-chess-title-qatar-2025-12-28/
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeB-1F-UKO0
Appendix
Algebraic Notation: A standard system for writing moves using square names like e4 and piece letters like N for knight, so games can be recorded and replayed. [3]
Bishop Pair: Having both bishops, often valued because bishops can work well together on open lines and long diagonals. [7]
Blitz: A very fast time control where decisions must be made quickly, often with only a few minutes per player.
Castling: A special king move that also moves a rook, used to improve king safety and connect rooks; written as O-O or O-O-O. [3]
Check: A position where the king is under attack and must be answered immediately by a legal defense. [1]
Checkmate: A position where the king is attacked and there is no legal move to escape; the game ends at once. [1]
Development: Bringing pieces from their starting squares to active squares, usually most important in the opening.
Draw: A game result with no winner, which can happen by agreement, stalemate, or positions where checkmate is not possible. [1]
En Passant: A special pawn capture that can occur right after a pawn moves two squares and passes an enemy pawn’s capture square.
Endgame: The phase with fewer pieces where king activity and precise tempi become central to winning. [4]
File: A vertical column of squares, labeled a through h, used for square names and for describing open lines. [3]
Fork: A tactical move that attacks two targets at once, often winning material if one target cannot be saved.
Initiative: The feeling that one side must respond to threats, giving the other side control of the action.
Middlegame: The phase where pieces are developed and plans, attacks, and tactical sequences are most common.
Passed Pawn: A pawn with no enemy pawn able to stop it on its file or adjacent files, often powerful because it can advance toward promotion. [7]
Pin: A tactic where a piece cannot move because moving would expose a more valuable piece or the king.
Stalemate: A draw where the side to move has no legal move and is not in check. [1]
Strategy: Long-range planning that improves pieces, targets weaknesses, and creates positions where tactics can work.
Tactic: A short, often forced sequence that wins material, wins time, or ends the game.
Tempo: A unit of time in chess, often described as a move; losing tempi can mean falling behind in development.
Time Control: The rule for how much time each player has on the clock, shaping the pace and the kind of mistakes that appear. [1]
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 