What is Chess Tempo?

In chess, every move you make can be thought of as a tempo, or a unit of time.

Imagine you spend your first three moves moving a knight back and forth. Your position would not improve and your opponent would develop their pieces, quickly taking the advantage. This would be a waste of tempo. Time you could have spent improving your position was lost in pointless moves.

Seeing chess moves as tempi is a fascinating new lens through which to understand the game. It emphasizes the importance of each move and affects strategy in openings, middlegames, and endgames.

Let’s discuss in more detail what chess tempo is and how it can be utilized to improve your play.

A casual chess game with an open position. Credits: Pexels/Tima Miroshnichenko

Defining Chess Tempo

A tempo is a unit of time in chess corresponding to a move or turn. Making purposeful, considered moves can give you tempo, while pointless or repeated moves can give it to your opponent.

Gaining tempo usually means improving your position while creating a threat your opponent has to deal with. For example, forcing your opponent to move a piece twice, in effect, gives you an extra move. 

Conversely, losing tempo happens when your moves do not contribute to your position and open you up to attacks. For example, your opponent may move a rook into an open file, attacking an undefended piece. This forces you to waste time moving the piece, while your opponent gains a positional advantage. 

Here’s a simple example of what gaining a tempo looks like. 

Here, the black knight has moved to g4 too early without any feasible attack – all white has to do is play h3 and “kick” the knight. It is forced to return to its square on f6 or move to the even worse square on h6. Black has wasted a move while white has improved its position.

Chess Tempo in Action

Chess tempo can be used strategically to help you control the flow of the game. In openings, it can provide quicker development. Middlegames give you the opportunity to take the initiative and activate all of your pieces with tempo. In endgames, when pawns are often racing to the end of the board, gaining tempo can be the difference between winning and losing. 

While tempo is a very different concept from time controls in chess, it is another way to put your opponent under pressure. The psychological effect of being behind in tempo can make a big difference in the outcome of the game.

Let’s take a closer look at how tempo can be utilized in each stage of the game.

Gaining Tempo in the Opening

Openings are a key moment when players fight to gain a tempo advantage. Here are a few examples showing how tempo plays a part in a couple of tricky openings.

Scholar’s Mate Refuted

The best moves in chess often do more than one thing. For example, a fork attacks two pieces at once. Moves “with tempo” do the same thing, taking time away from your opponent while finding the optimal squares for your pieces.

The Scholar’s Mate is one of the quickest possible checkmates, making it a favorite among beginners, and in blitz and bullet games. It starts 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5 … and on the fourth move, white is threatening checkmate on f7.

Winning by checkmate in four moves is a tempting prospect, but this opening is rarely played by experienced players. Why? Because black can defend against checkmate and gain tempo by attacking the queen. Look at the position after the moves 3. … g6, 4. Qf3 Nf6 5. d3 Nd4, this time from black’s perspective. 

By attacking the queen, black has gained two tempi. The queen has to move back to d1 to prevent a fork on c2. Black has a much better position with more developed pieces, good control of the center, and a knight attacking the maximum of 8 squares. 

Related: A Complete Guide to Countering Offbeat Openings by Andrew Greet and Richard Palliser

The Danish Gambit

Gambit openings sacrifice a piece (or pieces) in exchange for another kind of advantage. In the case of the Danish Gambit, white sacrifices one or two pawns to create early threats on black’s kingside. 

The opening starts with 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3. 

White invites black to take a second pawn. If black accepts, white can recapture the knight or develop the light square bishop to c4 and sacrifice another pawn!

In both cases, white gives away material in favor of tempo. Black may be up one or two pawns, but white has had more time to develop, allowing it to control the center and attack black’s kingside.

Related: Back to Basics - Chess Openings by Carsten Hansen

Gaining Tempo in the Middle and Endgame 

In middlegames, there are often opportunities to threaten pieces and find checks, providing a tempo advantage. The principles of winning an endgame, like mobilizing the king and promoting pawns, are also closely tied to the concept of chess tempo.

Castling With Check

In this middlegame example, the queens have been exchanged and black has had to move its king into the center. However, the black bishop is pinning the knight to the king and the position is fairly equal. 

Long-castling (O-O-O+) does several things for white: it removes the pin on the knight, protects the king, and delivers a check with the rook. This additional tempo allows white to protect its pieces and launch an attack against the king. Delivering checks is an excellent way to improve your position and take time away from your opponent.

Zugzwang 

Here is a position in which white can force a bad move from black by controlling the tempo. This concept is known as Zugzwang, which is a German word meaning “compulsion to move.” Can you find the winning moves?

White plays Rd1+ and black blocks with Rg1. Now, white plays Rf1, forcing black to take Rxf1. Now, black has no moves except a5. White simply captures the pawn and advances along the a-file to become a queen and deliver checkmate in the same move. 

Related: Endgame Labyrinths by Jacob Aagaard and Steffen Nielsen

Strategic Insights

Understanding how to gain tempo in chess is something that comes with practice. Here are some insights that can help you develop your strategy using tempo. 

• Avoid moving pieces unnecessarily: When developing make sure your pieces are protected or have good squares to escape to. If your opponent can force them to undevelop, they can gain a tempo advantage. 

• Make moves with multiple purposes: Look for moves that threaten your opponent’s pieces and put yours in the most active positions. 

• Look for checks and use them effectively: Moves with check create a threat that your opponent has to respond to, but that doesn’t always make them the best option. Consider how you can use the check to create a better position.

• Experiment with gambits: Learning a gambit opening is a great way to explore how tempo can give you an advantage. 

• Activate your king in the endgame: Tempo is crucial in the endgame for winning pawn races and forcing bad moves from your opponent. Activating your king quickly can give you a tempo advantage.

Tempo is just one of the dimensions of chess that make it fascinating. Getting to grips with the concept can not only help you win but also give you a deeper appreciation for the subtlety and skill of the world’s oldest game.