Chess for Beginners

Category: Tactics

  • When You See A Tactic…

    When You See A Tactic…

    You see a tactical combination on the board and you have the opportunity to play it…you become excited, after all this is your moment to play like Tal, but chances are that you do not play  like Tal. While you have spotted a tactical opportunity,  it may not be the best move, it might even be a bad move.  Chances are that your opponent has a refutation for the tactic you have spotted that may either weaken your position or cause you to lose the game.

    When you see a tactic, there is no better moment to stop, and thoroughly analyze your combination. If you have found a winning move, then spending the time to properly analyze the combination is a good investment since you will have a winning position, and time should not be a factor. If the move is not winning, then the time spent on analysis will at least maintain the status quo.

    Most of the time when I rush to play a tactical move, one of the following negative things occur:

    1. The opponent has a killer in-between move that causes me to lose material or the game.

    2. The combination or sacrifice is flawed, and the opponent can easily refute it,usually at a material cost to me.

    3. The move is easily parried, and all it has a achieved is a positional weakening of my position, which my opponent if they are stronger will exploit for a win.

    So when you see a tactic, don’t rush to play it. Stop for a moment, and analyze the position as you would any critical moment .

  • When Solving for Tactics

    When Solving for Tactics


    1. Look at the whole board.

    2. Look for immediate opponent threats.

    3. Narrate tactical themes (Hanging bishop, skewerable or forkable pieces, etc.).

    4. Look at more than one candidate (when you find a good move look for a better one).

    5. Calculate at least 6 ply (3 moves) deep.

    6. Look for in-between moves.

    7. Examine forcing moves first in the order of checks, captures and threats.

    8. When all seems lost, look for stalemate possibilities.

    9. If you feel you are on the right track, but your are not finding the winning move, then try to reverse the move order.

    10. Blundercheck.

     

  • Connecting the Dots in Chess

    I have made an observation while solving puzzles, that I feel will improve my tactical puzzle solving skills, and might have direct application during actual games.

    When solving a tactical puzzle of intermediate to advanced level I either:

    1. Have no clue how to go about solving it and get it wrong.

    2. Have multiple ideas that look promising, but after further analysis don’t win {usually end up playing one of the two and get the answer wrong}.

    3. Solve the puzzle correctly.

    This post is going to focus on solving the 2nd category above. I have found that you will get many more puzzles correct by combining ideas that arise by analyzing different candidate moves. Unfortunately, by not making a link between the two, or forgetting about your first idea when looking at the second, I mainly fail to connect the dots and only after reviewing the correct answer do I see that I had been on the right track and would have answered correctly  if I had combined my candidates.

    You might want to solve this puzzles on your own before reading the answers below taking into account your thought process while doing so and then see if you encountered the same issues as I did.

    Here’s the first position we will look at:


    White to move and win

    The first candidate that came to mind was 1.Bb6 attacking the Queen. I analyzed the response 1…Nxb6 2.axb6 Qxb6 which loses a pawn for White and the Black Queen lives on. So I abandoned this candidate and looked for a better move.

    I then found that Qh6 looked promising and I began to analyze 1.Bh5 with the idea of Bh8 and then getting my Queen to h6. But I soon found that 1.Bh5 was a slow since it allows 1…Kh7 and White is out of gas. What I missed, and where I think there is room for improvement, is if I would have combined both moves. Attacking the Black Queen with 1.Bb6 with the idea of freeing the diagonal for my Queen to get to h6 with mate was the winning combination and one I failed to see by not connecting the dots.

    Let’s look at another example, and one which occurred right after I had attempted to solve example #1 above.

    White to move and win

    In this position quickly saw that both the White rook and Queen were attacking the Black d8 rook, and that there might be a tactical opportunity if the Queen were deflected from its defense. The candidate that came to mind was 1. b4 but after further analysis I saw that the Queen could seek shelter by moving to 1…Qc7.  The other candidate that stood out was 1.Qf6+ but the King can easily get out of the way with 1…Kg8 and there aren’t enough White pieces in the vicinity to force the issue. The third candidate I analyzed was attacking the undefended bishop with 1.Qe7 but I found that the bishop can get out of harms way via 1…Bc8. If I would have combined the two ideas or even looked a few ply deeper  I would have found the answer 1.Qe7 attacking the bishop and preventing the Queen from seeking shelter at c7 after deflecting her with b4. 1…Bc8 2.b4! and Black resigned.

  • Tactics Tuesday #1

    White to move from Spielmann – Tartakower, 1925
    Alburt_135

    Highlight for answer: 1.Qh6! Qxe1+ 2.Bf1 (2.Kg2? Ne3+), and Black must give away his Queen with 2. …Qe#+

  • Position for Study #1

    Chess Position 1White to move

    1. Material: White is up a pawn, that is about to Queen. But White cannot defend it.

    2. King safety. White’s King is pinned to the light squared bishop. Black’s King is in no immediate danger.

    3. Activity: Black’s rook is more active, and his bishop is not pinned like White’s.

    4. Pawn structure. White has the better pawn structure on the Kingside, and has a passed pawn on the Qside.

    Biggest threat for White is 1…Rxa7 losing the passed pawn and heading into a draw.

    Problem is that White cannot defend the pawn with the rook since the rook is lost with either 1.Ra8 or 1.Rc7.

    Candidates:

    Highlight text for answer:

    1. Rxc6+ {the most forcing move} Kxc6 2.a8=Q Rxa8 3.Be4+ {Wins the Black rook due to the skewering of the King and the Rook}

  • Tactics Online

    Chess Tempo is a new online tactics site, it is still in testing, but it is definetly worth a visit. It is similar to the Chess Tactics Server, but you do not have the time penalties CTS has, so you can think about the position a bit longer.

  • Looking for Tactical Opportunities

    When do you know to look for a tactical combination? According to Dan Heisman in his Novice Nook Article The Seeds of Tactical Destruction
    a tactical opportunity might exist when any of the following conditions exist:
    (more…)

  • Looking for Tactical Combinations

    The following serve as signposts for possible tactical combinations:

    1) Weakened or undefended King.

    2) Undefended pieces.

    3) Trapped king.

    4) Pieces along the same rank, file or diagonal.

    5) Open ranks, files or diagonals.

    6) Weak back rank

    Read The Seeds of Tactical Destruction by Dan Heisman for a great article on finding and taking advantage of tactical opportunities.

    Remember that all tactics are based on undefended pieces, a weakened King, and / or a double attack. – Kotov

  • The Smothered Mate

    A smothered mate occurs when a Knight gives checkmate because the opponent’s
    pieces block their own King’s escape.

    Smothered Mate

    This is the starting position for the Smothered Mate.

    Smothered Mate

    White is in double check from the White Queen and
    the White Knight.

    Smothered Mate

    The Queen sacrifices herself to force the Rook to
    g8 removing any possible escape routes for the Black King.

    Smothered Mate

    The White Knight returns to f7 to give Checkmate.

  • The Arabian Mate

    A corner based mate delivered by the Rook and the Knight working in tandem, the Arabian Mate is one of the earliest on record.