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To make the most of your king's position, you should make sure that your king is safe at the beginning of your game and activate your king as a fighting unit only when it is safe to do so. A popular move to keep the king safe is known as castling (the king and rook switch places) but in some games, it isn't necessary to castle. Other important moves are pushing a pawn in front of your king to give the king some breathing room and keeping some pieces around your king for protection.

In an open game, a game in which the centre of the board is open, it's a very good idea to castle. The reason is that if the king remains in the centre of the board, the king will be very exposed and thus very vulnerable to an enemy attack. By castling, the king moves into the corner of the board and the rook is centralized. Castling can take place on either the kingside or the queenside. In kingside castling, the king moves two spaces towards the rook and the rook moves over two squares so that it lands on the square closest to the king on the other side of the board. In queenside castling, the king moves two squares towards the rook but this time the rook moves three squares so that it lands on the square closest to the king on the other side of the board.

Keeping pieces such as bishops and knights close to your king is good when your opponent is attacking your king. If you can defend your king well, you have a good chance of stopping your opponent's attack.

In a closed game, a game in which the centre of the board has so many pieces that movement is difficult, it may not be necessary to castle. When the centre is very crowded, players often initiate attacks on the wings. If this is the case, it might be safer for the king to remain in the centre.

Many players who castle keep their king behind a wall of three pawns. The problem with not moving those pawns, though, is that it can make the king vulnerable to a backrank mate. This means that a rook or queen can mate the king by landing on the last row on the board. The rows of the chessboard are known as ranks. In order to prevent this type of mate, moving one of the pawns forward one square is useful. If the king is checked, then it can just move to one of the squares in front of it which was vacated by a pawn.

In the endgame, the final stage of a chessgame in which most pieces are off the board, the king can usually move around more safely because there are fewer pieces to worry about. If there are only pawns left, the king can become especially useful because it can move one square in any direction. Many beginners forget to use their king at this stage of the game.

To make the most of the king's position, make sure that your king is safe early in the game. To prevent a mate on the backrank, consider pushing one of the pawns in front of your king forward one square. Finally, when you reach the endgame, use your king as a fighting unit to give yourself an advantage.

Learn more about this author, Les Zsoldos.
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