I've been doing the tactics problems at jrobichess.com and shredderchess.com pretty regularly, and recently added chesstempo.com. I find I'm much better at attacking tactics than defensive tactics: that is, I can solve "Find mate in X"-type problems at a much higher level than "Avoid mate"-type problems, even when the calculations are basically the same. I know how to deploy various attacking ideas, but I haven't learned to see them coming and defend against them. What are some resources I could use to improve this side of my tactical play? Is there a site like the above that stresses defensive tactics, or where you can select specifically defensive problems?
3 Answers
I enjoyed Andy Soltis' The Art of Defense in Chess. It was all about finding hidden resources.
Remarkably, this book is available electronically for no cost, and legally I assume. Here are a few links.
http://torrentz.eu/solt/Soltis%2C%20Andrew%20-%20The%20Art%20of%20Defense%20in%20Chess.pdf-3692550
http://ebookee.org/The-Art-of-Defense-in-Chess-by-Andrew-Soltis-1975-_1168031.html
Paper book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Defense-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/0679141081
http://www.chesshouse.com/Total_Chess_Training_IV_p/a224.htm
http://chessok.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_26_44&products_id=523
The are many online guides about chess defensive strategies, but there seem to fewer products. Books, as the other post mentioned, are also useful.
These are some links.
Ray Cheng has a puzzle book with 600 exercises where the solution could be any type of move, including defensive moves.
This chess channel has has some similar quizes : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpUUMhWg5GPD5ynP_vhnMJg