Chess educator · Author · Creator

Learn Chess.
Think Ahead.
Play Your Principles.

15 principles. A lifetime of chess passion. From 2001 to 2026 and beyond.

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Leonard "L3nnyB23" Barr

♛ Control the center♛ Develop every piece before attacking♛ Castle early — protect your king♛ Always check for checks, captures, and threats♛ Never move without a reason♛ Skewers, pins, and x-rays win material♛ Calculate before you commit♛ Recognize the opponent's mistakes♛ Trade when ahead, fight when behind♛ Control the center♛ Develop every piece before attacking♛ Castle early — protect your king♛ Always check for checks, captures, and threats♛ Never move without a reason♛ Skewers, pins, and x-rays win material♛ Calculate before you commit♛ Recognize the opponent's mistakes♛ Trade when ahead, fight when behind

Game Strategy · The Rules

How to play — and what to look for

Chess is a game of principles and patterns. Learn the rules, train your eye for tactics, and the moves start to play themselves. The full guide — every principle, every pattern, every worked example — lives inside the book.

Forks

One piece attacks two or more targets at once — forcing your opponent to lose material.

Skewers

A valuable piece is hit first and forced to move, exposing the piece behind it to capture.

Captures

Always scan the board for free pieces and favorable trades before every move.

Checks

A check forces the king to respond — a powerful way to dictate the flow of the game.

Threats

Quiet moves that menace material or mate, building pressure your opponent must answer.

Traps

Set bait that looks tempting, then punish the capture with a tactic that wins material.

Remember the set

Forks · Skewers · Captures · Checks · Threats · Traps

Scan for all six on every move — the heart of the CCTTS method taught in the book.

Think it through

What would you do here, as Black?

A knight forks the king and queen — but every move has a counter-threat. This is the CCTTS method in action: scan for checks, captures, and threats before you commit.

Don't trade for no reason

Every exchange should serve a plan. Trading pieces just to trade hands tempo back to your opponent and erodes your edge.

Develop early

Bring your knights and bishops into the game before pushing pawns or launching attacks. Active pieces win positions.

Castle instead

Tuck your king to safety early. A castled king survives the middlegame storms that wreck an uncastled one.

The complete "how to play" lives in the book

Rules, openings, the full CCTTS method, and every one of the 15 principles — with diagrams and worked examples — are collected in Leonard Barr's book.

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