Being Familiar with a Chess Board Online

A good way of learning to strategize on an online chess board is to know its various areas. Beginners should know the strengths and weaknesses that can result from too much concentration on a particular area on the board.

The online board, as in the case of a traditional board, has 64 squares all usable for chess. There are 8 rows and 8 columns. We should be aware of the imaginary dividing lines that divide the board into two equal parts. Horizontally the dividing line is between coordinates 4 and 5 while vertically the dividing line is between coordinates d and e.

Horizontally, we need the imaginary dividing line to gauge the distance of pawn pieces from their conversion line. This is where pawns convert into queens or other major pieces upon reaching it. Conversion line for black pieces is the row that touches coordinate 1. For white pieces it's the row touching coordinate 8.

The vertical dividing line is used to see where the enemy is concentrating territorial strength or an attack against our territory. This division is also called the half portion of our king and half portion of our queen. When we are assaulting the enemy we refer to the halves as the half portion of the enemy king and the half portion of the enemy queen. Being aware of these imaginary divisions makes it easy for us to build strategies on the online chess board on the spot.

If the enemy king side is well fortified we may opt to re-route through the enemy queen side, especially when the enemy queen is on the enemy king area. If the opponent is gearing up for an attack to our king side we must be able to castle to our queen side at the right moment. The right moment is when all the enemy strong pieces are positioned to our king's side ready to check. When we castle, all the opponent's positions come to nothing. The enemy is then forced to recoup and re-strategize to our queen side.

Finally, we should time the movements of our pawn. By mid-play we should have at least 2 to 3 of them on or beyond the middle horizontal line on the board. If the opponent has more pawns already past the middle horizontal line and in our territory we must be forewarned.

When we have this perception of the online chess board we easily form good and timely strategies on the spot. We are able to think ahead of the enemy.