Chess theory

Chess theory is the analyzed body of principles, positions, and move sequences used to evaluate chess positions and guide strategic and tactical decisions.

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Chess strategy: Long-term planning in chess, focused on improving positions and exploiting enduring features. Strategic principles turn positional evaluation into plans that unfold over many moves.
Minimax: A decision method that chooses a move by assuming an opponent will make the strongest available reply. It formalizes the adversarial logic behind calculating a chess variation.
Opening preparation: The study of likely opening lines before a chess game, often tailored to an opponent or repertoire. Players use established opening analysis to reach positions they understand and trust.
Greco's chess manuscripts: Seventeenth-century collections of chess games and tactical positions attributed to Gioachino Greco. Greco's published analysis helped establish the tradition of recording and circulating opening ideas.
Positional chess: A style of chess that emphasizes long-term advantages such as structure, space, and piece placement. It applies general principles where no immediate tactical sequence decides the position.
Chess tactics: Short forcing sequences that exploit immediate threats, captures, and combinations. Tactical calculation tests whether a strategic idea survives concrete threats.
Alpha-beta pruning: A search optimization that skips branches unable to change a minimax result. It lets chess engines examine deeper variations without evaluating every continuation.
Chess opening repertoire: A player's selected set of opening lines for playing as White and Black. A repertoire turns shared opening theory into a practical, repeatable choice of moves.
Philidor's Defence: A chess opening beginning 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6, named after François-André Danican Philidor. Philidor's analysis linked opening play to his influential ideas about pawn structure.
Combinational chess: A style of chess centered on forcing tactical sequences and concrete calculation. It contrasts with plans whose value depends on enduring positional features.