Don't forget about Backward Moves!
Step back to leap forwardWe tend to think of progress in chess as moving forward on the board. Think about core chess principles like attacking the opponent king, gaining space and promoting pawns in the endgame. They all revolve around advancing on the board. But of course not every good move need follows this direction, and sometimes hidden gold is found when we move our pieces backwards.
I found something interesting when I tested my students in the following simple position:
Introductory Example: White to play
My students all immediately pointed out the Queen fork Qe7, winning a piece. But what about Qe1? It is the exact same fork but was not suggested by any! I think this highlights a common blind spot for many:
Backward moves are counterintuitive, and we are almost programmed not to look for them when searching for winning ideas. Our focus is drawn to forward momentum, and retreating moves are often dismissed as “passive.” Over time this can create gaps in our tactical and strategic vision. We might miss strong backward moves simply because they go the “wrong” way.
As we will see in the examples I collected, backward moves can be useful resources for rerouting pieces to better squares. They can even introduce unexpected tactical shots. I’ve compiled an example for each major and minor piece, where a backward move is the best in the position. The first 2 examples are from my own games and the remaining are from Grandmaster games.
Position 1: White to play. White’s Queen has infiltrated blacks kingside, but how we bring in reinforcements?
The way to make progress is to regroup! White will not make more progress by advancing further. Be3 needs to get on the a3-f8 diagonal for the kill and going forward, therefore going backwards with Bc1 is the winning idea.
Position 2: White to play. The position looks level. Is there a backward move lurking?
Not an obvious move at all, especially since the queen retreat seems “unprovoked”. But the retreat serves a very specific purpose and the Queen will not stay on the off side square on a2 for long.
A few weeks ago in my article GM Ding Liren and I played a very similar game, I showed a game Ding played which interestingly featured eerily similar attacking themes to a game I played myself, and in both examples the winning idea were also backward queen moves (Qh1!). Check it out in the link for more examples of this motif.
The third example is from Game 11 of the recent 2024 Classical Chess championship. Gukesh won this game tactically as Ding blundered on move 28, but strategically it starts with a backwards rerouting of whites worst piece on move 25:
Position 3A: White to play.
Retreating to Na1 seems strange at first, but the knight re-enters the game quickly to head to the powerful c5-square. A similar rerouting of the knight was famously played by Nimzowitsch a century ago in Nimzowitsch-Rubenstein, Dresden 1926:
Position 3B: White to play
Ng3 was badly placed, so Nimzowitsch simply finds a plan to manoeuvre it to a good square (g5) via the backwards h1 square, where the knight will suddenly become very strong in blacks camp.
Finally I want to show the most famous backward move that was never played (Karpov – Taimanov, Leningrad 1977), as Karpov resigned the move before! But the motif and sequence that Taimanov played stuck with me and is the inspiration of this article:
Position 4: Black to play
Taimanov sets up a beautiful mating net with Ng3!! and the plan is simply the quiet retreat Ra1-a8-h8+. It is definitely something you’d remember when you’ve seen it once and it really showcases we must never forget the backward moves.
I hope you are enjoying this article! If you’d like to explore more bite-sized chess lessons, do visit my personal blog at www.chessinprogress.com, where I’m working on a collection of 100 tactical and strategic articles. While some are posted here on Lichess, the majority—along with insights into chess psychology and my own chess journey—can be found exclusively on my blog. Hope to see you there!
Final Thoughts: One step back to leap forward
Other than for pawns, chess isn’t a one-way street. Forward motion dominates our thinking, but as these examples hopefully show, backward moves can be just as decisive. The key is to train yourself to spot them. One way to get moves like these on our radars is to identify the squares where our pieces are best placed and imagine how to get there, including via backward moves. Its easy to dismiss a move like Na1 because it looks awkward, but our piece is not staying there for long. Think of the backward move as an intermediate square en route to the final destination. Thinking of it like that helps me make these backward moves more on my radar.
Just like in life, sometimes a step back is needed to leap forward!
