The Art of Chess War

Brian Roche sent me a copy of the following article he wrote for Chess Life Magazine back in the 80's. According to Brian, "It's basically a translation of The Art of War by Sun Tzu (500 B.C.), geared for chess players." Do any of the ideas resonate with you?

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Strategies for Chessplayers and Other Warriors
by Brian Roche
(From “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, 500 B.C.)

Assessment

Each new position should be assessed quickly in terms of: 1. Development, 2. Mobility, 3. Material superiority, 4. Tempo and 5. Space.
Strategy consists of shaping some advantage in terms of these five points. Whichever side wins more “points” in these areas will probably win the game.

The Art of Deceit

When able, seem to be unable.
When close, seem to be far off.
If opponent is seeking an advantage, entice them toward it.
If opponent is in disorder, attack.
If opponent is strong, prepare your defense.
Attack undefended, unprepared areas.
Never attack fortresses.
Develop in unexpected ways (i.e. change move order).

Time

Make moves as quickly as possible. “I have heard of foolish haste, but I have yet to see a case of cleverly dragging on hostilities.”
Learn to assess positions quickly and use clock time only when you need it.

Planning

“It is best to keep one’s own side intact; to crush the opponent’s position is only second best. The highest excellence is to subdue the attacker without fighting at all.”

Types of Attack

1. Attacking opponent’s strategy
2. Attacking a menacing combination
3. Attacking individual pieces
4. Attacking a strong point

Of these four, the first is the most effective, the fourth is the least. Resort to attacking a strong point only when there is no other choice. Do not attack until pieces are aligned (supporting each other) and ready (developed). Similarly, do not retreat from a good position. Always ask what each piece (on both sides) is “doing.”

Strategic Positions

Make your own position invincible, then look for opponent’s vulnerable spots. You can always fortify your position; you cannot guarantee an opponent’s vulnerability. “The battle of the expert is seldom an exceptional victory. The expert only enters battles that are already won!.”
Practice playing with and without an advantage. Understand both perspectives. Practice offensive and defensive play, according to circumstances.
Use surprise and straightforward operations. “When used in combination, they provide inexhaustible possibilities.”
One must always adapt to changing circumstances, “There are no fixed strategic advantages or invariable positions.”

Strong and Weak Points

Attack areas where the opponent must hasten to defend.
“Against the expert of attack, the opponent does not know where to defend. Against the expert of defense, the opponent doesn’t know where to attack.”
“To be prepared everywhere is to be weak everywhere. One is weak while making preparations; strong while forcing the opponent to prepare.”

General Strategies

Strive for a “formless” position. A winning position more often arises from “no-form” than from an obvious strategy.
Out and out attack is always difficult and dangerous. Try luring your opponent into easy gains (gambits), thereby anticipating the position.
It is a great advantage to secure and fortify squares that are precisely important points in your opponent’s strategy.
“Do not depend on your opponent not attacking; depend rather on having a position that can’t be attacked.”
It is when your opponent is not attacking or changing position that you must be cautious.
Material inferiority is not necessarily a disadvantage. Advance carefully, consolidate pieces and anticipate attacks.
Always look at the advantage and disadvantages of every move (on both sides).
Try to use opponent’s pieces and position to your advantage.
“Command of a position involves wisdom, integrity, humanity, courage and discipline.”

Different vocabulary, similar concepts

Yehuda returned to chess after many years of not playing. Since in the interim he had been focused on other types of abstract strategy games (he calls them "Euro-games"), he decided to apply principles from those games to chess.

Now, when you come back to chess after playing hundreds of Euro-games, you approach the game quite differently. Instead of seeing the game of chess as "chess", which has its own rules, patterns, and history, you approach the game like you approach any other tactical, area-control game.

Actually, not area-control. I approached the game as a resource game. Each turn I had one action resource, and I had sixteen meeples to play with, each with its own movement actions. The game ends when someone is about to lose their king meeple.

So my approach to the game was from an action point point-of-view. I figured that whenever I had more meeples, and more available actions from which to choose, then I was probably winning. And that meant that I could exchange pieces so long as I kept the upper-hand. Furthermore, when my opponent had less actions available, they were more likely to make bad ones.

Fascinating, really. When you cut through the new vocabulary, what he's taking about is material superiority and Temposhlucker's favorite piece activity. No mention of tactics though I suppose that might be implicit in achieving a material advantage.