Playing Multiplayer Chess Online: How to Win Chess Games

Chess is known for its beautiful tactics, checkmates, and elaborate strategies. You don’t have to be a grandmaster to win chess games—anybody can learn and enjoy this elegant game. If you want to improve your skills and win chess multiplayer games, you’re in the right place.

Chess is easy to learn but can take time to master. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, these five simple strategies can improve your game

Your first moves can affect the rest of the game. Develop your repertoire of opening moves to gain a competitive edge. There are options for players of the white pieces and players of the black pieces.

For the White, here are a few opening moves:

• Spanish Opening. Also known as Ruy Lopez, the Spanish opening (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6) is favored by modern grandmasters like Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana.
• Queen’s Gambit. This classical opening (1. d4 d5 2. c4) attacks the center and sets up the queenside pieces for rapid development.
• Italian Game. Also known as Giuoco Piano, this opening (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4) is ideal for beginners as White takes aim at the weakest point in Black’s position, the f7 square.

For the Black, here are a few opening moves:

• Sicilian Defense. A sharp opening for Black (1. e4 c5), this opening is a defense against 1. E4 and frees the queen for an attack.

• Queen’s Gambit Accepted. This opening (1. d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4) accepts White’s gambit and then fights for the center.

• King’s Indian Defense. This flank opening (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6) lets White occupy the center temporarily and then works to destroy it for long-term advantage.

As you can see, White’s goal in the opening is to dominate the center, while Black attempts to undermine his efforts and take control himself.

Checkmates often occur at the end of the game, but they can happen at any time. Stay alert and take advantage of any mistakes when delivering your checkmate. Common checkmate patterns include:

• Kiss of Death. The queen places herself next to the enemy king, taking away all possible squares for escape.
• Anastasia’s Mate. The knights and the rooks or queen trap the enemy king on the corner of the board.
• Arabian Mate. The rook and the knight work together to give checkmate to an enemy king.
• Boden’s Mate. This exquisite checkmate pattern uses the two bishops to finish off the enemy king.
• Back Rank Mate. The powerful rooks use their long range to deliver checkmate, usually in the endgame.

Endgames are crucial for scoring a win. Often, aspiring players master the opening and neglect the final stages of the game. However, knowing how to marshal your pieces in the endgame can help you secure a win or even turn around a worse position.

Endgame strategies include creating a passed pawn, promoting a queen, and opposing the enemy king. Defensive endgame strategies include creating stalemate traps, playing for a draw, or creating a fortress to run down your opponent’s time.

Another key strategy to improve your chess play is to practice visualizing two or three moves ahead.

Remember Beth Harmon’s scene in The Queen’s Gambit? She would often imagine the chessboard and pieces moving upside down on the ceiling. You don’t have to imagine the chessboard in the same way but try to move the pieces in your mind when you are considering a candidate move. This helps you evaluate the outcome of your planned move and find other or better moves for continuation.

Magnus Carlsen (five-time world chess champion and considered the strongest chess player in history) tells the story of how he learned to be patient as a young chess player. According to him, his early teachers made him and his classmates sit on their hands and count to ten before playing a move on the chessboard. Staying patient is key to winning chess games and finding possibilities that impatient opponents might overlook.

You can play chess at your home, in chess clubs or tournaments. All you need is a chessboard and an opponent. However, these are not always available when you have the urge to play chess games.

Thankfully, the modern age has digitized chess games on multiplayer platforms and arenas. This means you can play anytime, anywhere, on your computer or mobile devices. You can play with friends or complete strangers across the world—even against chess bots and engines.

The grandmasters of the past can only dream of the convenience modern multiplayer chess platforms now provide aspiring players. Put the chess strategies you have learned above and beat your opponents in your next chess games.

Test your skills and improve your strategy on Arkadium. Simply open our browser-based chess game and make your move. Challenge friends, foes, and fellow enthusiasts today.

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