The tendency
Aries chess players often exhibit traits similar to the pawns they maneuver. Like ancient Roman foot soldiers, they can terrorize an opponent or defend their fortress and block the enemy path. Once promoted to knight, bishop, rook, or queen, they may struggle with the newfound grandeur, which often leads them to charge recklessly into battle and meet their demise.
The style is aggressive and the mentality is warlike. Opponents who underestimate an Aries get caught off guard by the pace. Aries players are strong in the opening and the end game, but their best work is the middle game, where the combativeness shines.
The Aries chess life
Aries players typically start in their early to mid twenties and keep playing for about seventeen years, twice a week, often with two family members who also play.
Pieces Aries favors and fears
Early on they favor knights, rooks, and pawns. As they mature they bring in the queen and knight, while staying wary of an opponent using those same pieces. On promotion they ask for a queen or a knight.
How to play against a Aries
Slow the pace of the game down. Aries aggression depends on tempo, and disrupting it is where the advantage lives. Stay alert and composed, and work on the self assuredness, because the aggression can be a cover for insecurity. They trade pieces of equal value freely but rarely sacrifice, and if they sense the game slipping they play for a stalemate.