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[fen ""]

1. e4 {0} c6 {0} 2. d4 {4} d5 {0} 3. Nc3 {3} dxe4 {0} 4. Nxe4 {1} Bf5 {1} 5. Ng3 {3} Bg6 {0} 6. Nf3 {6} e6 {0} 7. c4 {9} Nd7 {0} 8. Be2 {5} Ne7 {0} 9. Bg5 f6 {0} 10. Bf4 {7} e5 {0} 11. dxe5 {2} Qc7 {0} 12. e6 {9} Ne5 {0} 13. h3 Rd8 {0} 14. Qc1 {11} Bf5 {0} 15. O-O {5} Bxe6 {0} 16. Bxe5 {2} fxe5 {0} 17. Qe3 {5} Ng6 {0} 18. b3 {8} Ba3 {0} 19. Ng5 {56} Qd6 {0} 20. Nxe6 {3} Qxe6 21. Ne4 {26} Qf5 {0} 22. Bg4 {11} Qf4 {0} 23. g3 {5} Qxe3 {0} 24. fxe3 {2} Be7 {0} 25. Rad1 {15} Rf8 {0} 26. Rxf8+ {8} Kxf8 {0} 27. Rxd8+ {1} Bxd8 {0} 28. Bf5 {11} Be7 {0} 29. Bxg6 {1} hxg6 {0} 30. g4 {2} a6 {0} 31. a4 {8} Kf7 {0} 32. Kg2 Ke6 {0} 33. Kf3 {1} b5 {0} 34. axb5 {13} cxb5 {0} 35. cxb5 {2} axb5 {0} 36. Ke2 {4} b4 {0} 37. Kd3 {1} Bd8 {0} 38. Kc4 {3} Bb6 {0} 39. Kxb4 {5} Kd7 {0} 40. Kb5 {1} Bxe3 {0} 41. b4 {1} Bg1 {0} 42. Ka6 {3} Kc6 {0} 43. b5+ {1} Kc7 {0} 44. h4 {13} Bb6 {0} 45. h5 {2} gxh5 {0} 46. gxh5 {1} Bd4 {0} 47. Nd2 {32} Kd6 48. b6 {3} Kc6 {0} 49. b7 {4} Kc7 {0} 50. Ne4 {11} Be3 {0} 51. Ng5 {25} Kb8 52. Ne6 {11} Bh6 {0} 53. Nc5 {12} Kc7 {0} 54. Ka7 {3} Kc6 {0} 55. b8=Q {2} Kxc5 56. Qb6+ {6} Kc4 {0} 57. Qc7+ {5} Kd4 {0} 58. Qd7+ {15} Kc4 {0} 59. Kb6 e4 {0} 60. Qe6+ {6} Kd4 {0} 61. Qd6+ {5} Ke3 {0} 62. Kb5 {3} Kf3 {0} 63. Qd1+ Kf2 {0} 64. Kb4 {13} e3 {0} 65. Qd8 {17} (65. Qd4 Kf3 66. Kc3 Kg3 67. Kd3 Kf3) 65... e2 {0} 66. Qf8+ {2} Kg2 {0} 67. Qa8+ {6} Kf2 {0} 68. Qf8+ {4} Kg2 69. Qe8 {20} Bd2+ {0} 70. Kc4 {12} e1=Q {0} 71. Qg6+ {6} Qg3 {0} 72. Qc6+ Kf1 {0} 73. Qg6 {15} Qc7+ {0} 74. Kd3 {3} Qc3+ {0} 75. Ke4 {2} Kf2 {0} 76. Qf5+ {4} Kg3 {0} 77. Qg6+ {5} Kh4 {0} 78. Kf5 {6} Qh3+ {0} 79. Ke5 {5} Qc3+ 80. Kf5 {1} Qd4 {0} 81. Ke6 {7} Qc4+ {0} 82. Kf5 {1} Qd5# {0} 0-1

I am White here.

I know every tactical theme-pin, fork, weak backrank, deflection, etc. But upon analyzing this game, I couldn't find any. How can I improve my recognition of tactics?

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3
  • 2
    Knowing about tactical patterns and becoming so familiar with them that you can easily identify them at a glance is not the same. While you may be familiar with the concepts underlying each tactical theme, that does not mean that you've grown so accustomed to them yet that you can just spot them miles away without serious effort.
    – Scounged
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 15:11
  • Thanks @Scounged ,is the ability to spot them without serous effort can be developed?If so then how?
    – bretlee
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 15:45
  • 2
    It takes time and effort, but it gets easier with experience. The most important thing to see a tactical pattern is to actively search for it. The sample game you gave (much like any other game, really) is full of tactical motifs all over the place, and if you have trouble seeing them you could have a checklist ready for all different motifs (hanging pieces, potential forks, pins, discovered attacks, etc.) and then go through it for each move; are there any hanging pieces at the moment? What about pinned pieces, potential forks, etc.? With time this active search for tactics becomes automatic.
    – Scounged
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 15:53

3 Answers 3

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2

Take the position after 12...Ne5.

[FEN "r3kb1r/ppq1n1pp/2p1Ppb1/4n3/2P2B2/5NN1/PP2BPPP/R2QK2R w KQkq - 1 13"]

There are plenty of tactics here. The e5 knight is pinned to the queen. You're attacking it twice, with your knight and bishop, and it's defended twice, with a pawn and queen. Qd7 would be checkmate if Black stopped protecting that square, although it's currently protected by both the queen and knight.

But Black has some defensive resources here too, and can bring them quickly. Rd8 (played in the game) would chase your queen off that dangerous d-file. Nxf3 would be check, allowing the knight to move despite the pin. So you don't have time to wait with a nothing move like h3, or to slowly build up pressure on the pinned piece. You need to strike now or lose the opportunity.

The black queen, as it turns out, is slightly overloaded. It is protecting the e5 knight. But it's also, along with that same knight, defending the d7 checkmate. So this means you can play 13.Nxe5. After 13...fxe5 14.Bxe5, Black can't play Qxe5 due to the checkmate threat. You win a pawn.

why was a I not able to find some crazy material winning combinations?

I'm not sure why you didn't see the above. Perhaps you got excited over finding 12.e6 (it threatens two pieces at once, and checkmate if they play it wrong) and were disappointed when they played 12...Ne5 which parries both threats. But, in general, captures are worth considering. You should have at least looked at both 13.Nxe5 and 13.Bxe5. Assuming you saw the mate threat when you played 12.e6, it should have been in your mind on the next move, which would help you to find the tactic that wins a pawn.

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  • Thanks @D M for the answer,well i had the idea of mate when i played e6,but as soon he played Ne5 the memories of games in which the knight hopped to g4 and completely annihilated me by some forced sequence flashed across and i had to resort to prophylaxis .So that's why in most of my openings after the opponent knight moves to f6 or c6 i play h3 and a3 exclusively.Is this a good strategy?
    – bretlee
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 6:48
  • @bretlee I would say it's not good to do that automatically. First, in this case, the knight is pinned. Although Nxf3+ is possible, Ng4 isn't really a serious threat here. Second, even if the knight wasn't pinned, your kingside is well defended; an attack right now would likely fail. If you waited until after he played Ng4 to play h3 you'd make him waste a move moving it back. Third, when you advance a pawn by your king, that itself can become a weakness And fourth, if you capture the knight it certainly can't go to g4, so that's another reason why the capture merited serious consideration.
    – D M
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 12:43
  • 1
    @bof Well, but if you don't want to go down the road of exchanging queen for lots, there's always 14.Nd3 which simply keeps the knight.
    – D M
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 12:46
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I know every tactical theme pin, fork, weak backrank, deflection, etc. But upon analyzing this game, couldn't find any.

If you can't recognize a pin (e.g. 9. Bg5) then you don't know what a pin is. Here are 4 tactical themes in the first 20 moves:

9. Bg5 - pin
12. e6 - discovered attack
17. Qe3 - pin
20. ... Qxe6 - self-pin

How can I improve my recognition of tactics?

First you have to learn what they are.

  1. Bg5 pins the knight against the queen. There is no immediate threat, there doesn't have to be, but this move means that the knight can't move without exposing the queen to capture.

There are "hard pins", where a piece is pinned against the king and it would be illegal to move the piece, and "soft pins", like here where moving the pinned piece would expose the piece behind it to capture.

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4
  • 1
    Something funky is going on with your move numbering. I went to edit it but it looked correct in the raw text, yet it's being displayed with the wrong numbers.
    – D M
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 15:35
  • Thanks @Brian Towers.But these are the normal tactics,what i wanted to say was why was a I not able to find some crazy material winning combinations?
    – bretlee
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 15:49
  • 2
    @bretlee Far from every position is going to have a "crazy" material-winning/mating combination ready to be executed (note that the word "crazy" kind of implies that the combination you're looking for is kind of hard to find in general, otherwise it wouldn't be very "crazy" to begin with). For these ridiculous combinations that you sometimes see in classical grandmaster games or studies you tend to need a fair amount of setup and planning before the combination becomes feasible.
    – Scounged
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 16:14
  • 1
    I added a backslash to escape the first period; that seemed to fix the numbers.
    – D M
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 4:20
1

practice practice practice. that is the answer to the question.

and there are far more tactics than the few you mentioned. if you really think you know them all then name another 20 of them.

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