Editing Chess strategy (section)

=== Defending pieces ===
It is important to defend one's pieces even if they are not directly threatened. This helps stop possible future campaigns from the opponent. If a defender must be added at a later time, this may cost a [[Tempo (chess)|tempo]] or even be impossible due to a fork or discovered attack. The approach of always defending one's pieces has an antecedent in the theory of [[Aron Nimzowitsch]] who referred to it as "overprotection." Similarly, if one spots undefended enemy pieces, one should immediately take advantage of those pieces' weakness.

Even a defended piece can be vulnerable. If the defending piece is also defending something else, it is called an overworked piece, and may not be able to fulfill its task. When there is more than one attacking piece, the number of defenders must also be increased, and their values taken into account. In addition to defending pieces, it is also often necessary to defend key squares, open files, and the {{chessgloss|back rank}}. These situations can easily occur if the [[pawn structure]] is weak.