Horde chess is beautiful but very hard to figure out. From the opening, through the middlegame, and later on to the endgame, mastering the strategies can be a challenge. Here are 10 general but decent tips for the game. This is not a complete guide, but using these Horde Chess tips will help you to play better and have more fun.

Make sure to play several games with these tips in mind. As you go along, you will adapt to think in terms of Horde Chess and apply the correct rules for every position.

Horde Chess Tips

1. Fight on the extreme files

The h-file and the a-file are very important in Horde Chess. For using the intrusion tactic, black usually break through one of them. For that reason, white should protect those files and pay attention not to leave them undefended. While playing with the black pieces, you should aim for a breakthrough mainly with those files.

2. Keep an eye on undefended pawns

Undefended pawns, or even pawns that are defended only once, play a major role in most beneficial tactics. As the player with the pieces, spot those pawns. Can you make a threat on any of them? As the player with the pawns tries to leave the least amount of undefended pawns possible.

3. Pay attention to advancement options

Pawns worth nearly nothing when they are static. The only power of pawns comes from their ability to move forward, storming together, and eventually achieving promotion. Hence, as the player with the pawns, you want to ensure you have advancement options. As the player with the pieces, on the other hand, you will want to pin pawns to the place, hopefully blocking all of them and achieving a blockade.

4. Beware of promotion threats

A pawn on the 7th row is many times stronger than a pawn on the 6th row. When you have a pawn that can have a promotion in the next move, you are pinning an enemy piece to always look after him. And this is, literally, a game changer.

5. Avoid automatic moves

This tip is true for classic chess, and is even more true in Horde Chess: Wait a second before automatic moves. Such a move occurs when the opponent just captured one of your pieces and you can recapture, or when you started a maneuver of several moves with a piece.

So many times an intermediate move could make the position far better, or a plan change is required. Be sure to think, not only play instinctively.

6. Make smart piece-for-pawns exchanges

With white stating with 36 pawns, it is no surprise black is forced to exchange his pieces for pawns. But with what price?

Generally, a minor piece (bishop or knight) is worth more than a pawn but less than two. That means black will favor exchanging a knight for two pawns, and white will try to avoid such exchanges. A rook is worth more than that and will be sacrificed almost solely to allow an intrusion or save from a sure promotion. It is rare for black to sacrifice his queen, and in most cases that this is required black lose.

Make good exchanges, avoid bad ones, and you will have an edge.

7. Form long pawn chains

Pawns protect each other diagonally. That makes a pawns chain when several pawns form a long diagonal, a particularly strong structure. Long pawn chains in the endgame will survive as long as the base (the most backward pawn) is retained.

8. Hack your way into a stalemate

While playing with the white pawns, there is one trick you can use to rescue yourself from lost positions: stalemate hacking. If you can get to have one blocked pawn, when all of the others are gone, you come out from the game with half a point you didn’t have. Most of the time it requires a mistake of the opponent, but who doesn’t make mistakes from time to time? There are some situations, however, that it is forced by the position. See for example the blog post on a case of a forced stalemate.

9. Analyze your games

After finishing a game go over it and analyze it. Go over the position when you pondered several options. Which one was the best? On Lichess you can request a computer analysis, which I recommend. Know your mistakes and understand how you could do better.

Analyzing your games and other people’s games is the best way to learn and advance. This is why I have so many Game Analysis posts on that blog.

10. The best horde chess tip: Follow the blog!

Through the games analysis and other posts, you can get a better understanding of the game. Make sure to subscribe to new posts, follow the blog on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.