Questions tagged [tactics]
Questions relating to maneuvers that take advantage of short-term opportunities, such as forks, discovered attacks, skewers, etc.
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Advice for "wild" positions
Played by me (White) lately. Rev up engine of choice and weep.
[FEN ""]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Qd2 d6 7. a3 Bxc3 8.Qxc3 Qe7 9. e5 O-O 10. Nf3 b6 11. Rd1 Bb7 ...
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Do sacrifices work mostly for masters?
Many beautiful and celebrated master games feature heavy sacrifices of material that result in checkmate, or at least the regaining of more material than was sacrificed. In most cases, the original ...
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How to find 'Thermopylaes' with engines?
Motivation
“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one." – Michail Tal
I am looking for ways to systematically find ...
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Explanation of Hard Puzzle #34
Wikipedia defines a chess tactic as:
In chess, a tactic refers to a sequence of moves that limits the opponent's options and may result in tangible gain.
I'm having a hard time understanding a ...
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Unique tactic motif? Surely not
Played by me yesterday in the Hamburg team championship.
[FEN ""]
1. d4 f5 2. h3 Nf6 3. g4 fxg4 4. hxg4 Nxg4 5. Qd3 g6 6. Nf3 d6 7. Bh3 Nc6 8. Bxg4 Bxg4 9. Rxh7 Bf5 10. Rxh8 Bxd3 11. Bh6 ...
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Does this tactic (Bxf7+ KxB, Ng5+...QxB) have a name? [duplicate]
I'm not sure whether this qualifies as a trap, but I sometimes do this tactic. My opponent pins my knight on f3 against my queen, but by sacrificing my bishop to f7, I can move the knight with check ...
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Cocking the gun tactical motif (preparing a discovered attack)
There is a tactical motif I call "cocking the gun" which I have never seen explicitly mentioned. It happens when you prepare a discovered attack. See the following board. Is there an ...
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Most effective way to achieve a 2000+ rating in one year, starting as a 1600?
I currently play at around a 1600 level, and have stagnated in terms of rating improvements for quite some time.
I have always played chess recreationally, occasionally doing tactics puzzles here ...
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Does chess intuition take over when you can't see all of the moves ahead? What does chess intuition look like?
This is a broad question about intuition and chess.
I imagine that there is a limit to how far ahead even the best chess masters can see into the future, and how far they can stretch their memory. ...
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How come it's actually Black with the advantage here?
I was analyzing a recent game of mine, and I noticed something interesting. After I blundered back a bishop on move 16, the evaluation was -3.4, which is still strongly winning for Black.
[White "...
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How will the queen be lost just the same in 206 of Winning Chess by Chernev?
How will the queen be lost anyway here?
[
[
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Are resignations by expert players naive?
During recent online chat with gamers, I asserted that 'go' (and possibly othello) had a larger decision space than chess.
After reading Wikipedia, I realized I failed to account for othello and go '...
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Anki deck for tactics training
Does anybody have Anki decks for tactics training? If anyone has such decks, could you share them with me?
I am trying to improve my tactics and I have heard that space repetition is one way to do ...
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Reviewing Chess Tactics Puzzles
Is there somewhere online I can play chess tactic puzzles and redo them whenever I want? I do tactics on lichess but it doesn't store my puzzles. Is there somewhere that stores all my tactic problems ...
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Elo disadvantage due to one pawn move in Indian Chess
In Indian chess, the pawn doesn't move two squares, however in the western chess, pawn can move two squares. Now, since the pawn can't move 2 in the Indian style, the fianchetto is a natural square to ...
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What to do when your opponent doesn't play along in the opening?
I looked around and could not find an answer for this.
I've studied a pretty good amount of opening theory and so I know the "correct" moves for some basic lines. Most e4 openings and a fair amount ...
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How many windmills types exist in chess?
I'm interested in chess patterns similar to the windmill. If you think there are none more than the ones that I'm listing I'm interested in a proof that satisfies me to stop looking for more of them. ...
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Why wasn't Ne5 a mistake when I could just win the exchange in one move?
I had this position arise in a game:
[FEN "4qrk1/3rppbp/1p4p1/p2P4/1pBP1B2/1P2PN2/5PPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 2 21"]
[White "Kevin"]
[Black "lichess AI level 3"]
1. Ne5 {I ...
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What is the CQL syntax for combinations where king is checked along a file, and the square near it is attacked by bishop or queen?
I am looking to search for combinations similar to the one in Karpov - Taimanov, 1977 - a knight check, is followed by opening of an 'h' file, and the rook comes with decisive effect because attacker'...
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What are some good podcasts to listen to?
I'm an intermediate player, and I practice chess tactics and play regularly. I'm looking for a good podcast or two to listen to during my day. I don't care if it's a podcast that discusses chess news, ...
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What is the best approach when an opponent's queen is in the center and all of their pieces are developed?
I have played several games where my opponent's queen is somehow placed in the center of the board. However, this type of aggressive move positions my king in a dangerous spot. I can't castle because ...
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What's the deep idea behind this puzzle?
I'm trying to get better by doing many tactics puzzles a day. This one I found very interesting.
[FEN "6rk/6rp/p3pQ2/3pP3/3Pb3/1PP1PRR1/4q2P/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
1. Qxg7+! Rxg7 2. Rf8+ Rg8 3. ...
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Which opening contains this trap?
The sequence of moves for White is Nd5, Bb4, and then Bb5, capturing the queen by a fork. The pattern should look something like the below position. I remember that I've seen this trap in some opening,...
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What is this tactic called?
[FEN "6k1/rp3ppq/p2p4/1p1Pr1nQ/1P2P3/4R1N1/P1B2P2/4R1K1 b - - 0 1"]
1... Nh3+ 2. Qxh3 (2. Kh2 Rxh5) 2... Qxh3
Black to move.
After Nh3+ white can move the king or take with the queen. ...
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Woodpecker method on chess sites
Is there any chess site that allows you to train tactics by repeating some number of problems over and over again?
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Are tactics or endgames more important?
I’ve seen a lot of strong players say at lower levels all you need to do is get really good at tactics, but, I’ve also seen a lot of people say that you should study the endgame before the opening or ...
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Opening specific tactic material source
My chess course kiddies requested KID specific tactics material. Now I never play KID. For Sicilian, I would say "specific" means, for example, Nxb5,Nxe6,Nd5,Nf5...had my fair share of these ...
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Why does Stockfish suggest h4 here?
Analyzing my latest game on chess.com, Stockfish says that h4 is the best move here:
I followed the line, but I failed to understand the reasoning of this move. Is it for some long-term advantage? ...
- 23.9k
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Is three knights versus knight really winning?
Take a look at the following position, reached in the #40974 Tactics Problem on chess.com
[fen "4N1K1/5P2/6k1/8/6n1/8/N7/8 w - - 0 1"]
The engine gives +6.22 for white in this position. I already ...
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Chess visualization exercises
As beginner chess player I need an advice from more expert players.
After one month I will partecipate to an OTB tournament and I want to improve my skills doing tactic exercises.
Is it useful to do ...
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Where to find Tactical Exercises on the Decoy
A decoy tactic is forcing an enemy piece to move to a square that prevents it from guarding an original square.
For example, if the black queen is at c7 and the f7 square is being attacked, getting ...
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{Landa vs Zhu Chen, Bad Wiessee, 2006} Lichess giving a +4.7 to white. Why?
Here is the lichess study for the game which is often presented as study.
I am curious here, as to why White is given a strong advantage, even though the material is equal and Black has a lot more ...
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What are the objective criteria which suggest the position needs immediate tactical attention?
In even the most quiet-looking position there might be a tactical bolt of the blue, but consider a game might last 50+ moves, and your time and your concentration are limited resources. Thus it is not ...
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Attacking as Black in the Caro-Kann
Is it possible to play the Caro-Kann aggressively/tactically as Black?
What are the attacking chances/ideas for black in the Caro-Kann? Or is it simply the wrong opening for that?
I found a few ...
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Pattern Recognition - Chess Tactics
I have a collection of ten thousand games of a player.
Is there a way to look which kind of tactics does the player miss on most often?
Which tactics does he need to focus on?
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How to gain material by trading pieces?
So, I am learning the basics on trading pieces, but can someone please give me tips on the "Art of trading pieces with material gain".
I know a concept called overloading, but are there any other ...
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Does this bishop sac when your knight is pinned to your queen have a name?
This is a common tactic in various openings. It goes like this:
A bishop pins your knight to your queen
You sacrifice your bishop with check to attract the king forward
You give a check with your &...
- 15.8k
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Looking for tactical Sicilian lines besides the Dragon and Najdorf
I am looking for a tactical Sicilian. But I don't want a really popular line like the Najdorf or Dragon that has been analyzed to death.
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Opening as a Beginner: Mainlines or Offbeaten path?
I am approximately 1500 OTB (Lichess Classical 1750, chess.com 1540, internal rating in my club ~1500), and of course I would like to improve. Work and family are demanding, so naturally I would like ...
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How to quickly calculate two pawns facing two pawns
A situation that often seems to confuse me is when I push a pawn alongside two pawns that are head-to-head and my opponent pushes the opposing pawn, such as when Black plays c5 to my c4.
rnbqkbnr/...
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Lichess puzzle 87510: How much calculation would a strong player do before playing Bg4+ when white has a range of (all losing) responses?
Lichess puzzle 87510 has this position.
[FEN "r1b1k3/pp4R1/2q3RQ/4p3/5P2/bP2P3/2P1K2P/8 b - - 0 1"]
The solution is 1...Bg4+,.after which White has 6 legal moves:
1...Bg4+ 2. Rxg4 Qxh6, ...
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Tools specifically for training at finding loose pieces?
There are of course lots of tactical trainers out there, but I'm wonder if there are any that focus solely on the basic skill of spotting loose or hanging pieces. It is of course a trivial exercise ...
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Who is actually winning here?
I came across this interesting position:
[Title "Black to move (with full castling rights)"]
[FEN "r2qkb1r/pp1nn1p1/7p/5N2/3p4/2P2N2/PP2QPPP/R1B3K1 b kq - 0 1"]
On first glance, ...
- 75.7k
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Lasker (?) on strategy and tactics
Many years ago I read (in a Russian book) a saying
Strategy is creating true values; tactics is refuting the false ones.
which the book attributed to Emmanuel Lasker.
Does anybody know where Lasker (...
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Normal puzzles vs puzzle rush performance on chess.com
I have been doing normal puzzles and puzzle rush on chess.com for the last 6 months. And I noticed that my performance in normal puzzles now jumped from 2100-2200 to 2400-2500. However, in puzzle rush,...
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Why is my theoretical knowledge is not coming to any use?
For the last few months, I have been reading "How To Reassess Your Chess (I expected at least this book to work), "Simple Chess," "The Art Of Attack," some ending book, "...
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Examples of forced stalemate
The usual case one often sees specially in blitz play is when one side (usually the winning) mis-plays and then stalemate occurs with the losing side dodging a loss. But are there positions where ...
- 15.8k
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Most common tactic motifs in the opening phase of chess
On analyzing my games, I found that I usually miss tactics in the opening than during middlegame and endgame. To supplement my study by solving tactical problems based on motifs, it would be helpful ...
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Percentage of decisive games decided by tactical mistakes?
In their book, The Woodpecker Method, Axel Smith and Hans Tikkanen give these percentages of decisive games decided by tactical mistakes:
GMs 42%
2200-2400 44%
2000-2200 63%
1800-2000 72%
They say:
...
- 75.7k
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How to train tactics methodically
In sports, there are often times methodical ways to practice. In tennis, for example, you don't just play matches or just practice forehands, you practice hitting forehands cross-court deep into the ...
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