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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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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0
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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:
...
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2
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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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What was the best move for white? Could white have won?
Could white have won this game? What was the best move in this position for white?
Or could Black have won?
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How could I have prevented this long drawn out game?
Consider the following game. I am black.
[FEN ""]
1. e4 g6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 e6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Nc3 Bb7 6. Bg5 Be7 7. h4 Nc6 8. Bd3 Qd7 9. Qd2 O-O-O 10. Nb5 f6 11. exf6 Bxf6 12. a4 h6 13. Bxf6 ...
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5
votes
1
answer
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I need help understanding this puzzle
With White to play, I have trouble understanding what goes on in this puzzle. First of all, how exactly Kh1 is preferable to Kxh2? I know that Black can give checks after Kxh2, but there really is no ...
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votes
1
answer
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Puzzle rush vs. Puzzles
I'm wondering what would be, in terms of efficient fast improvement, the best training module between puzzle rush (fast calculation and pattern recognition strengthening) and traditional timeless ...
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Chess tactics software which can read files
Lichess publishes tactics problems which can be downloaded from database.lichess.org.
The file is in csv format. Which software can be used to read and play positions from this csv file?
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How do I create sharp, tactical positions?
It is said that you shouldn't simply look for combinations every move; rather, you should create positions that tend to create tactical opportunities.
But what does this actually mean? I think my ...
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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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2
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Why Is Black forced to give up the queen in this puzzle?
[FEN "1r4k1/3q3p/p2P2r1/4pNNQ/5p1P/P7/6PK/8 w - - 0 1"]
I got this position as a puzzle with White to play. The correct move was 1. Ne7, followed by 1... Qxe7 and 2. dxe7. To me, it seems ...
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votes
2
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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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Why is it a mistake to capture the forked rook?
In a recent game, I forked a queen and rook with a knight. After seeing no immediate threats from 8. Qf4 I immediately captured with 8. ...Nxb3. Apparently this was quite a mistake (a 213 centipawn ...
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Tricky continuation to the Fried Liver "refuted"
Suppose white gets the following opening:
[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Nf6
4. Ng5 d5
5. exd5 Na5
This is what I call Fried Liver Refuted, instead of Nxd5 we get instead Na5. From ...
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vote
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Tips for converting my advantage in the middlegame and the endgame
I'm fairly new to chess. I'm practicing against 1500~ rated opponents/engines on chess.com. My openings and middlegame seem to go well. After every game, the engine analysis says I'm always up +1 ~ +3 ...
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1
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Playing rating is higher than tactics rating
I noticed for a while that in many chess websites that my tactics rating is between 1700-2000, but my playing rating in rapid is between 2000-2250, in blitz between 1900-2100, and in classical between ...
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2
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Is chess.com's tactics trainer any good for actual tactical improvement?
Daniel Naroditsky recommended using this to improve at tactics but I was wondering if it was in any way worse than using a book with tactics for example.
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Is it good to have a tendency to exchange pieces?
This is how I am playing nowadays. I can beat ~1500 player 50% of the time (the rest is due to tactical errors):
Play the opening (upto 12 moves)
Don't blunder
At the point where my pawns and pieces ...
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Bishop sacrifices to prevent castling
I have neen playing a higher amount of online chess as opposed to club chess lately and something I have noticed is a significant increase in Bishop sacrifices to prevent kingside castling. Here is ...
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What makes a chess puzzle hard to solve? [closed]
A couple friends and I built a mobile app (Chess Puzzle Blitz) where we allow people to compete for fun or money solving chess puzzles.
We have a pretty large puzzle database but are always adding to ...
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Is memorizing tactics a sign of improvement?
I am currently re-doing a book of tactical exercises. I have not seen some of the exercises for longer than a year, and when I look at the position at first it seems new and I see nothing, until it ...
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Why is my tactics spidey-sense not working?
I have done over 5000 puzzles on chesstempo but still can't sense any tactics. So for the past few days I've been making a mental note each time a signal appears (loose pieces, exposed king, potential ...
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answer
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Are there exercises besides tactics that beginners should know about?
I'm an adult and I've been playing for a bit over 2 years on chess.com. My rating started at around 800. By playing thousands of blitz games and doing a little post-game analysis/opening review, I was ...
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Pinning Combination
There are are four types of pins.
Absolute Pin-A piece is pinned to the king and cannot move due to the resulting illegal check.
Partial Pin-A piece is pinned to the king and can move along pinning ...
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3
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Why can't I find any tactics in this game?
[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} ...
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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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What is a good free interface to create and store positions?
I'm getting back into chess, and I'd like a way to create and store multiple chess positions to review. Specifically, I want to review and practice mating nets. There are a ton of chess tactics sites ...
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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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Comparison of tactics trainers
I've noticed that the nature of the tactics differ from one website to another. For instance, on lichess.org/training (the website which I train tactics the most on), I have noticed that tactics ...
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vote
1
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Why are my tactics ratings on chesstempo and puzzle rush different?
I just started chess.com puzzle rush today for the first time. My chesstempo blitz puzzle rating is 1567, but I can only get to 16-17 on puzzle rush, which is about 1000-1100. My mouse is bit slow, ...
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Where can I find this game with a sacrifice followed by a long series of checks leading to a discovered mate? [duplicate]
I am looking for a chess game and frankly, I really know very little about it. I remember seeing it somewhere on the Internet.
The game goes something like this. A player (either White or Black) ...
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4
votes
4
answers
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How can I deal with frustration in not being able to solve puzzles in time?
I've been doing 1700-2000 puzzles for some days now. My problem is that when I cannot find a solution within 10 minutes, it literally kills me inside. I just get so frustrated and angry. Theh I just ...
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Relation between checkers and chess
After watching GM Vasyl Ivanchuk's victory against GM Baadur Jobava in checkers, I have a question in my mind:
Is it possible to relate checkers with the tactical knowledge of chess? If so, how?
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Are aggressive attacking and tactical playeing the same?
What's the difference? Both look same to me.
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How much time it takes before searching for tactical themes becomes a subconscious process?
I would really like to have that ability.So how to achieve that?
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2
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Does everybody has a different natural ability to improve in chess?
I have seen some players quickly increase their ELO within months, and some within years. Is there some genetic intelligence in those players (like someone in their family also played chess)? I ask ...
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3
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How many positions does a GM analyze before making a move?
From a research paper:
Chess players search highly selectively. It is rare that they analyze more than
one hundred positions in the search tree before choosing a move.
In the middle game how many ...
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votes
3
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Method for precise calculation?
I'm tired of being stuck on a chesstempo rating 1530-1570 tactics in Blitz for like 5 days I'm "not" improving. Sometimes I take more than 2 minutes and sometimes I just move on quickly to the next ...
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votes
6
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Scandinavian Defence queen e5
I'm new to chess (around 1000), and I like to practice the Scandinavian defence. I started to check the theory related to it, and I've never seen a single source talking about this queen move after ...
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3
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How did classic masters like Alekhine and Anderssen practice tactics?
How did classic masters like Alekhine and Anderssen practice tactics? Surely there was no chess.com or chesstempo at that time. How did the masters back then manage to increase their tactical ...
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How do I counter 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5? [duplicate]
I am a new player and a particular move that I have encountered multiple times playing as either black or white is:
[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 g6 3. Qe5+ Be7 (3... Ne7 4. Qh8+) 4. Qh8+
This was the ...
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vote
4
answers
261
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What is the best move for White in this position?
[title "White to move"]
[fen "2b2rk1/pr2n1bp/2p1p1p1/2pqPp2/N2p1P1Q/1P1P1N2/P1PB2PP/1R3R1K w - - 1 0"]
In this position, I was considering the best move for white. Re1 seems good but why not Ba5? Or ...
1
vote
0
answers
79
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Need advice from class A players? [closed]
How much opening preparation does a 1800-1900(UCSF) player need and how to achieve that?
Also, do you need class A tactics rating to reach class A chess ranking?
- 2,525
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0
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34
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How are ratings determined for training puzzles on lichess.org? [duplicate]
On lichess.org, how are the ratings for the tactical puzzles computed? I am trying to understand how some puzzles I find challenging are as low as the 1400s, while others that seem obvious are at ...
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1
answer
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Can someone explain the playing style of the great Jose Raul Capablanca?
I have heard that he plays intuitively(maybe based on themes), but can someone give an example?
How did he manage to reach such heights despite his laziness for calculations?
Doesn't that mean even ...
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answer
429
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How to make a chess engine that can identify tactics in the position?
I want to make a program that can identify chess tactics in the position, while searching moves according to given heuristics. but I am not sure exactly how to go about this.
Related to this Is there ...
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2
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2k
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How should I improve my chesstempo tactics rating?
I was stuck on a chesstempo tactics rating of around1482-1509 for about 2 days. I reached my current level within 3 days. I want to improve to an 1800+ rating. How can I improve?
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Tips on The Greek Gift
I always have problems in executing The Greek Gift. This a position which I got in a recent game :
rn1q1rk1/1b1nbppp/p3p3/1p2P3/3N4/2NB4/PPP1Q1PP/R1B2RK1 w - - 3 13
Even though the Knight is not ...
- 1,098
9
votes
2
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Calculation skills beyond 2000 Elo
[Title "Black to move and win - rated 2179"]
[FEN "2r2r1k/1pq3bp/p3p1p1/P4n2/1P1P4/2P1P2P/3BB1Q1/R3R1K1 b - - 0 1"]
I've been trying to work on my chess a bit more seriously since about mid-March (I ...
- 1,230
4
votes
1
answer
205
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Guide to using a book
I am currently twenty years old. I learned the rules of chess when I was eight and played on and off for a long time. However, I did not take it seriously. Recently after joining chess.com and trying ...
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