I think that for each of these elements there are different levels of understanding e.g. bad Bishop
I suspect we're all OK at (1) but aren't all at (4) yet. (3) is a fair goal.
Please see also: Opening guidelines, Middle game guidelines, and Endgame guidelines.
(Fuller - Sakurai, Haifa, 1976 [B07) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Nbd7
5.f4 h6 6.Bh4 Bg7 7.e5 Nh5 8.Nh3 dxe5 9.dxe5 Nb6 10.Qxd8+ Kxd8 11.0-0-0+ Ke8
DIAGRAM 12.Nb5 1-0 The last rank is also vulnerable, making the fork unstoppable.
L
- last rank
"Feet of clay..."
(Adams - Torre): 18.Qg4 Qb5 19.Qc4 Qd7 20.Qc7 Qb5 21.a4 Qxa4 22.Re4 Qb5
23.Qxb7 1-0. A striking display which has the appearance of a study.
M
- mating pattern
"The game is won by the player who has checkmated his opponent's king."
- FIDE rules
(Plachetka - Zinn, Decin, 1974 [A04]) 1.Nf3 c5 2.b3 Nf6 3.Bb2 Nc6 4.e3 d5
5.Bb5 e6 6.Ne5 Qc7 7.0-0 Bd6 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.f4 0-0 10.Rf3 Nd7 11.Rh3 g6
DIAGRAM 12.Qh5 1-0.
N
- network nobbled (Nterference)
"Parting is such sweet sorrow" - Shakespeare
(Crotto - Hindle, Haifa, 1976 [B71]) 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 g6 6.f4 Bg7 7.e5 dxe5 8.fxe5 Ng4 DIAGRAM 9.Bb5+ Bd7? 10.Qxg4 ...
1-0.
O
- overloading
"The straw that broke the camel's back" - Proverbial
17.Rxf7 Kh8 18.Rxd7 1-0.
"The pin is mightier than the sword" - Reinfeld
(Alekhine - Nimzovitch, San Remo, 1930 [C17]) 30...Qe8 31.b5 1-0.
"Every Pawn is a potential Queen" - Mason
1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.d5 Ne5 5.Qd4 Ng6 6.Nxe4 e6? 7.Bb5+ c6
DIAGRAM 8.dxc6 Qxd4 9.cxb7+ Kd8 10.bxa8Q 1-0.
"What is immobile must suffer violence" - Lasker
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 exd4 7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Qxd4?
c5 9.Qd5 Be6 10.Qc6+ Bd7 11.Qd5 c4 0-1. The Noah's Ark trap.
S
- sacrifice at castle gates
"Examine moves that smite!" - Purdy
(Blackburne - Blanchard (London) 1891 [C30])
1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.Nf3 exf4 ? 5.d4 Bb4 6.Bxf4 d5 7.e5 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3
Be6 9.Bd3 h6 10.0-0 Nge7 11.Rb1 b6 12.Qd2 0-0 DIAGRAM13.Bxh6! gxh6
14.Qxh6 Ng6 15.Ng5 Re8 16.Rxf7 Bxf7 17.Qh7+ Kf8 18.Qxf7# 1-0.
"All combinations are based on a double attack" - Fine
U
- undermining (removing the guard)
(Christiansen - Karpov, 1993 [E12]) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Ba6 5.Qc2
Bb7 6.Nc3 c5 7.e4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Nxc6 Bxc6 10.Bf4 Nh5 11.Be3 Bd6
DIAGRAM 12.Qd1 1-0.
"For the want of a horse a rider was lost..." - Franklin.
(Legueltel - Studev, Kuortane, 1976 [D60]) 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7
5.e3 Nbd7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Re8 9.Qc2 c5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Bxf6 Nxd3+
12.Qxd3 Bxf6 DIAGRAM 13.Qxd5?? 13...Bxc3+ 0-1.
"Behind you!"
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 0-0 8.Nc3
Ne4 9.Qc2! DIAGRAM 9...Nxc3 10.Ng5! Ne4 11.Bxe4 Bxe4 12.Qxe4 Qxg5
13.Qxa8 1-0.
"The Achilles' Heel of a chess position..."
(Paul Roberts - NN, East Devon, 1996 [C23]) 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Be7 3.Qh5 ...
1-0.
"Castles built of sand..."
(Tarrasch - Mieses (3) (Berlin m.) 1916 [C10]) 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4
4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0-0 Nxe4 8.Bxe4 Nf6 9.Bd3 b6 10.Ne5 0-0
11.Nc6 Qd6 12.Qf3 Bd7 13.Nxe7+ Qxe7 14.Bg5 Rac8 15.Rfe1 Rfe8 DIAGRAM
16.Qh3 Qd6 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Qh6 f5? 19.Re3 Qxd4 20.c3 1-0.
"Stap me vitals..."
Y
- your move! (defensive play)
Skewer frenzy in a Rinck study: 1.Ra8! Qa2! 2. Rxa4! Qg8! 3. Ra8 Qh7 4. Bg6!
1-0.
"A man does not die of threats" - Proverb
(Robatsch - Jansa, Sochi, 1974 [A10]) 1.c4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.b3 Bg7 5.Bb2
0-0 6.Bg2 d6 7.d4 c6 8.0-0 Kh8 [8...Qc7] 9.d5 Qa5 10.Nc3 DIAGRAM
10...Nxd5? 11.cxd5 Bxc3 12.Qd2 Qxd5 13.Qxc3+ e5 14.Nxe5 1-0.
"When you see a good move, stop - there may be a better one" - Lasker
(Spassov - Kritiansen, Kringsja, 1976 [E91]) 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7
4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be2 c5 7.0-0 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Nc6 9.Be3 Ng4 10.Bxg4 Bxg4
DIAGRAM(10.Qxg4 Nxd4) 11.Nxc6 Qd7 12.Nxe7+ Kh8 13.f3
1-0.
(Rubinstein - Schlechter, San Sebastian, 1912): White's active pieces give him the advantage.
B
- better pieces - bad bishop bishop vs knight, offside piece, coordination
"Quality, not quantity"
Tarrasch - Noa, Hamburg, 1885 [C11]
White's great Knight and Black's dismal Bishop are the key to this position.
38.g5 h5 39.Rcf1 Kg8 40.g6 f6 41.Re2 Bc6 42.Rfe1 Rd8 43.Kf4 fxe5+ 44.Rxe5
Kf8 45.Nf7 Re8 46.Ng5 Rce7 47.Nh7+ 1-0.
"I'm the King of the castle..."
(Georgadze - Kupreichik, 1979)
An extraordinary piece of centralisation: despite the exchane less, and the King's-side attack, White soon won.
name="RTFToC25">D
- development
"The early bird catches the King!"
E
- exchanges
F
- files, ranks, diagonals (lines)
G
- good and bad pawns
H
- holes and weak complexes
J
- jumping-off points (outposts)
[There are a few others like coordination which you may come to later,
and through Nimzovitch we learn about themes like overprotection and prophylaxis] This document (abc2.html) was last modified on 21 Nov 1996
by
(Spielmann - Flamberg, Mannheim, 1914 [C29]) 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5
4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Qe2 6...Nc5 ? [6...Nxc3] 7.d4 Bxf3 8.Qxf3
Qh4+ 9.g3 Qxd4 10.Be3 Qxe5 11.0-0-0 c6 DIAGRAM
Black is fighting with only half the army. Sortez les pieces!
12. Nxd5 cxd5 13.Rxd5 Qe6
14.Bc4 Qe4 15.Bxc5 1-0.
"Fair exchange is no robbery"
(Fischer - Petrosian, seventh match game, 1971) 16. Bc5!
Not an easy one to spot, but once seen, easy to appreciate: White removes the defender of the dark squares, leaving Black with a crummy light-squared Bishop.
"Let a Lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens!" - Pope
(Anderssen - Zukertort, Barmen, 1869): the file
(Fischer - Petrosian, seventh match game, 1971): the rank
(Fischer - Anderssen, Siegen, 1970): the diagonal
"Pawns are the soul of chess" - Philidor
(Deep Blue - Kasparov, m1, 1996): just hideous: every Black Pawn is isolated and most doubled! Black tried a King's-side hack but it was desparation and he knew it.
"Perils of both wind and limb" - Butler
(Bernstein - Mieses, 1921) - That is, perils of both the dark-square holes and
the backward Pawns on White squares.
""Thou shalt not shilly-shally!" - Nimzo
(Alekhine - Poindle (simul.) 1936) 9.Ng5! White plays the one move that stops Black getting on with normal development.
"Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth" - Archimedes
(Pegaroro - Scheipel) The Knights are worth a Rook each, I reckon!