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to bring out first (in some cases - certainly not all) are the knights and bishops. This is for a few reasons. One is that they are not as crucial to keep, so if you misstep and lose one it's not a horrible loss. But these pieces also make great assassins as the knight can jump over other pieces and the bishop can move diagonally between diagonally oriented pieces (such as those pawn chains, sometimes). You may want to save your rooks for last as they can be used for castling if you also avoid moving your king. Whether you deploy your queen early or late is up to you and I'd say decide depending on how badly you need her out there. If you're playing a competent opponent and they bring out their queen into the action, you'll probably want yours too. On the other hand, if your opponent is somewhat reserved or not so aggressive in their moves, it may benefit you to keep the queen sitting back next to the king for a while. Whatever you do with her, keep her safe if you can, as described earlier.

9. Remember that even the king has offensive powers. If (and this scenario typically occurs when the board is getting thin later in a particularly "bloody" game) there's an opponent's piece advancing unguarded towards your side of the board (particularly a pawn), don't be afraid to threatten, block, or capture the piece with your king if the coast is clear (don't let yourself get set up - a lot of times these advances are made with the intention of trapping you so watch out before you take this tip's advice).

10. Most checkmates occur by forcing your opponent's king into a corner of some sort - whether of the actual board or among the pieces on the board - to limit his available spaces for escape from a check. Be sure to approach the king with attacking spaces in ways that force him into dead ends (e.g. back against other pieces of your opponent). This is especially easy when you've eliminated several of your opponents more useful pieces so they can't put up much defense to prevent your advances. One you have kingy on the run, keep on him! Do so with caution, but follow one check with another, and another, and another until you have the sucker trapped with nowhere to go (checkmate!).

11. To avoid stalemate (when there's no check but the player whose turn it is has no available move to make - as in they're blocked in every regard), remember a few things. First, try not to lose many of your power pieces, as they're the ones that can move more than one space and in multiple

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