You can also download them in the .pgn format at my Chess PGN Download page.

The Magician From Riga

Out of all World Chess Champions, Mikhail Tal’s life and games have very likely captivated the hearts and minds of chess players worldwide. When you ask people who their favourite player is, sooner or later his name enters the mix and most chess players can remember at least one of his memorable sacrifices, if not more. Even though his short tenure as the World Champion only lasted for one year (from 1960 when he won the World Championship match against Botvinnik until 1961 when he lost the Return World Championship match to the same opponent), his legacy and the effect on the chess world have been unparalleled – even for the World Chess Champion standard.

What is it about Tal’s style that makes his games so memorable? Well, his extremely combative, tactical, and sharp style and his absolute willingness to search for creative ideas and sacrifice material in the process – even under the most unexpected, surprising circumstances. Even though chess history has seen a number of true tactical geniuses, ¹ no other player had such an innate ability (and inclination) to create total chaos on the board, go for material sacrifices and positions where everything and display Tal’s level of creativity and imagination.

Due to his tremendous calculating ability as well as a certain talent to simply “see” through the variations, Tal would often come on top in these tactical skirmishes. Even though his concepts and sacrifices were often not 100% correct from the objective standpoint, they posed his opponents with very difficult problems they were often unable to solve over the board, with the clock ticking. ²

Such a playing style was particularly fresh and novel in the 1950s and 1960s. At the time, the whole chess world was influenced by the strict Soviet school of chess, spearheaded by the likes of Botvinnik and Smyslov, which had a very solid strategical/positional foundation. Tal’s daredevil, seemingly “gambling” style sent shockwaves at a time – especially when it transpired you can reach the very summit of chess and become World Champion with it.

When you also add Tal’s witty, jovial and humorous character into the equation, as well as the tragic circumstances connected to the lifelong health issues that hindered him from achieving as much as he could achieve in chess, you can understand why he is a fan favourite.

In this post, we will take a look at some of his famous and memorable games. The games have been fully annotated by the author of these lines ³ Of course, given his legacy, it was very difficult to make a selection – the full list of his memorable games would extend further away from the number ten. But in order to keep it reasonable and manageable, one has to cut the line somewhere.

Hopefully, this post will serve as a motivation for the reader to find out more about Tal and to look for other wonderful Tal gems for themselves. Now, without further ado, let’s dive into the magical world of the magician from Riga.

 Mikhail Tal – Alexander Tolush, USSR Championship, 1957.

A very one-sided stomp of the King’s Indian Defence with the White pieces. Perhaps not the most spectacular game, but very instructive and a good introduction to the Tal style.

Mikhail Tal – Alexander Koblents, Riga, 1957.

A mind-boggling Sicilian skirmish against his own coach Alexander Koblents. One of those typical Tal games that makes your head dizzy with all the possibilities, tactics and reach ideas.

Milko Bobotsov – Mikhail Tal, World Championship U26, 1958.

A remarkable positional queen sacrifice in the Saemisch King’s Indian that has since become more-or-less standard. Not the typical Tal game, but a very beautiful one nevertheless.

Mikhail Tal – Vasily Smyslov, Candidates Tournament, 1959.

The famous clash against Vasily Smyslov from 1959. candidates where Tal managed to “trick” his very experienced opponent and defeat him in just 26 moves, with the help of some very exciting and flashy tactical shots.

Mikhail Tal – Mikhail Botvinnik, World Championship 1960., Game 1

The first game of the Tal’s 1960 World Championship Match against Botvinnik and the only instance in that match where Botvinnik dared to venture the French Defence.

Mikhail Botvinnik – Mikhail Tal, World Championship 1960., Game 6

Another very famous and celebrated game, in which Tal went for the speculative piece sacrifice in the King’s Indian which completely rattled the Patriarch.

Mikhail Tal – Hans-Joachim Hecht, Varna, 1962.

A famous game featuring a spectacular queen’s sacrifice, during which Miguel Najdorf allegedly kissed Tal after the latter made the tremendous 19.exf6 move!

Mikhail Tal – Lajos Portisch, Candidates Quarterfinal, 1965., Game 2

Another game with a very high competitive significance – played at the Quarterfinal Candidates match against Lajos Portisch – and another one of those amazing Tal attacks that makes you smile :).

Mikhail Tal -Michael Stean, Alekhine Memorial, 1975.

A very instructive and also attractive game where Tal displayed his understanding of the White side of the Tarrasch Defence, apart from the usual genius tactical stuff.

Mikhail Tal – Johann Hjartarson, Reykjavik, 1987.

Last but not least – a sort of swansong game by Mikhail Tal against Johann Hjartarson, during which he displayed a masterful understanding of the Ruy Lopez structures and topped it with a spectacular sacrificial finish.

The post Mikhail Tal Best Games appeared first on Chessentials.

We all know we should analyze our own games. In his interview, European Champion Ivan Šarić mentioned it as a tool on the road of chess improvement. Several other grandmasters and chess authors, like Alex Yermolinsky, Jacoob Aagard, Rafael Leitao and Jesse Krai have emphasized its importance. To say nothing of the godfather of the analysis – Mark Dvoretsky himself.

However, few of us know HOW exactly we should do it.

Oh sure, there are articles all over the Internet offering us with general guidelines. Write down your moves. Search for ideas. Don’t use the engines. Never play the London System. ¹ Even the author of these lines wrote a heavily researched paid article for the website International Chess School where he included several of them.

However, even though these tips are useful, all these articles miss the most important point.

It is well-known that strong chess players ² have huge egos. Whether it is Garry Kasparov storming off after a 13-year-old draws with him, Robert James Fischer accusing Russians and Jews of conspiracy or a local National Master saying me to go fuck myself because I swindled him from a position where I was two pawns down ³, all chess players „lose it“ from time to time.

And behave like assholes.

This tendency is especially apparent when they analyze their own games. I am sure you have had at least one post-mortem analysis where your opponent just couldn’t shut up. Where you felt like a completely inferior player. Irrespective if you have actually won the game.

This leads us to the REAL secret of acquiring chess mastery – learning how to analyze your own games like a pretentious asshole. Only if you manage to inflate your ego will you be able to reach unprecedented chess heights.

Being a pretentious asshole does not come naturally to us all, though. It is a skill to be acquired through due diligence and constant practice.

In the remainder of the post, I will present you with a detailed step-to-step tutorial of this craft. In the very end, I will provide you with the sample asshole analysis of one of my own games.

Analyzing your chess games like a pretentious asshole

Here’s how to analyze your chess games like a pretentious asshole in nine steps:

1.    Overestimate your strength

A general rule about chess game analysis states that the stronger a player is, the better analysis he will produce.

We also know that know-it-alls are the most annoying kind of people you will ever meet. Especially if they only pretend they know it all, whereas in reality, they are more like Jon Snow.

They know nothing.

If we put two and two together, the first step toward analyzing your games like a pretentious asshole is clear – vastly overestimating your chess playing strength. Being self-aggrandizing will allow you to approach your games from a completely different aspect. And lose your objectivity more easily (see tip number 4).

Now, you might think playing good moves is something that happens to other people. But don’t let that discourage you. There are many 1500 rated players who think they should be 2500. There is no reason for you not to become one of them.

Besides – half of the self-help industry, shitty books like the Secret and motivational speakers on Instagram are telling you that „You can“. To „Believe in yourself“.

Who are you to doubt them.

2.    Underestimate your opponent

Unless your name is Magnus Carlsen ⁴, you will encounter players who are higher rated than yourself. You might be inclined to think they are more capable of analyzing games than you are.

Forget all about that. If you have implemented step number one correctly and overestimated your strength, underestimating your opponents should come naturally. You will very quickly realize they can only beat you if they get lucky.

A technique that might help you in achieving this goal is the following. Grab the nearest pen. Open a notebook. And write the following a hundred times:

„The patzer didn’t see anything…

The patzer didn’t see anything….

The patzer didn’t see anything…“

3.    Ignore your weaknesses

Let’s be frank – all chess players have weaknesses. That includes you. When it comes to chess game analysis, there are two ways of dealing with them:

• You can admit you made them and then try to work hard in eliminating them
• You can ignore them and convince yourself you don’t actually have them

I hope most of you guessed by now that our recommended option is the second one. It is not one of the ingredients of becoming an asshole, but it is also much easier to achieve.

And way more practical. Imagine you are analyzing a game you won. Do you really want to spoilt the perfect picture of your awesomeness by focusing on minor trifles, such as ‘imprecisions’ or ‘blunders’? It is really important if you could have converted the game more quickly in the endgame? Your win was inevitable from the moment you sat at the board, anyway.

Of course, ignoring your weaknesses when it comes to the games you lost is more difficult. That is where good excuses come in handy. „I didn’t feel well that day“, „We played on different chess set“, „The noise level was unbearable“ or „I would have seen that if I really tried“ are rather popular ones.

4.    Lose your objectivity

Throughout the history, there have been two types of approaches toward game analysis. One was to search for the absolute truth in the position. The other was to not.

Every pretentious asshole should adopt the latter, because the absolute truth has the potential to destroy the image of you being a perfect player. In order to maintain your delusions, it is essential to content yourself with your good (or bad) moves and not to search for a better one. In order to visualize success, you need to ignore all the doubt.

Now, this might be difficult to do in the era of chess engines, which make the search for the absolute truth easier and faster than ever before. That is why losing your objectivity is crucial. If a chess player confronts you with the engine evaluation that contradicts your own, you need to dismiss it as soon as possible.

Arguments such as: „Engines don’t understand anything“ or „Engines can be wrong“ are also popular. Alternatively, you can – just like politicians – outright ignore the facts and keep repeating you were definitely better during the whole game.

5.    Talk, don’t listen

Look, it’s simple – your opponent can’t challenge your ideas and your logical presentation of the game if he doesn’t get the opportunity to talk. The point it to focus on the quantity, and not on the quality of our own variations.

Just look at Vladimir Kramnik – the master of this approach – absolutely demolishing Ding Liren in the post-game conference:

Be more like that.

Be like Kramnik.

6.    Oversimplify, overgeneralize and use cliches

Not an essential step toward analyzing your games like a pretentious asshole, but it might add that extra flavour to your comments.

Evaluating positions too dramatically, relying on general chess principles without taking the concrete position into consideration and using cliches such as „The rest is a matter of technique“ might be a small step for the quality of your analysis.

But a giant leap on your quest toward being a pretentious asshole.

7.    Name drop as often as possible

Is there anything more pretentious than using the names of famous players and refering to their games when analyzing your own?

Don’t hesitate to describe your exchange sacrifice „Petrosianic“, your endgame as „Smyslovian“ or an attacking game you played „Tal-like“.

How will the people know about your erudition if you don’t display it as often as possible?

8.    Watch CM Radio Jan

The ultimate pretentious asshole and my personal role model. You can start with the following video. He does get crushed by a grandmaster, but at least he handles it properly – with zero dignity.

9.    Take everything too seriously

Last but not least, it is well known good chess players (and pretentious assholes) have zero sense of humour. Whether we are talking about high quality George Carlin jokes or low quality Chessentials shitposts, you have to treat them all equally.

You have to take everything too seriously, laugh as little as possible.

And preferably get offended along the way.

This concludes are detailed and heavily researched step-to-step tutorial that explains how to analyze your chess games like a pretentious asshole.

Hope you found it helpful and that you will successfully annoy all your opponents and lose all your friends!

Good luck!

Analyzing my own game like a pretentious asshole

   [Event "11. kolo"]  [Site "?"]  [Date "2019.03.15"]  [Round "?"]  [White "Vjekoslav, Nemec"]  [Black "Purgar, Ivona"]  [Result "0-1"]  [ECO "E20"]  [WhiteElo "2198"]  [BlackElo "2180"]  [Annotator "MyPrecious"]  [PlyCount "68"]  [SourceDate "2019.03.15"]   {So I was facing this chick in the game and expected to win quickly.} 1. d4 {  I am usually a 1 e4 player, but of course, I can play anything I want since I  know so much.} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 {I am not afraid of anything of course.  Playing 3 Nf3 is something London System players would probably do.} Bb4 {Of  course, she plays a'la Nimzowitsch, without realizing that he was inferior to  the likes of Alekhine and Capablanca.} 4. f3 {The sharpest continuation,  introduced by Sämisch. Since I am such a brilliant tactician, there is no  reason not to go for it.} c5 5. d5 exd5 {5... b5 is the main move here, but I  am not surprised my opponent didn't know that - she has been only playing the  Nimzo Indian her whole life.} 6. cxd5 {White already has a big advantage and  is close to winning.} d6 7. e4 {Look at that my beautiful center.} O-O 8. Bg5 {  Quite logical - pinning the knight. The engine points out it is not the best  move, but what does Stockfish know anyway} Nbd7 9. Bd3 {White's development is  harmonious and beautiful} Qc7 {Hah, so active by my opponent. This move is the  best evidence how bad her position is} 10. Nge2 {Now all my pieces are in  action and I can already start checkmating her king.} c4 {Desperation} 11. Bc2  Qb6 {Didn't they tell you you shouldn't move your piece twice in the opening?}  12. Qd2 Re8 13. a3 Ba5 14. Be3 {A brilliant sacrifice!} Qc7 {I am kinda  surprised she didn't take the pawn and fall for my ingenious trap, but this  retreat is pathetic all the same} 15. O-O Ne5 {Pseudoactivity in a lost  position} 16. h3 {The rest is a matter of technique.} Ng6 17. Bd4 {I think I  played this phase of the game harmoniously as Smyslov and methodically like  Botvinnik.} Bd7 18. Bxf6 {What a brilliant decision by myself! Don't try this  at home kids} gxf6 19. Kh1 {Another stroke of the genius. Now the threat of  Qb6 is removed and the rest is the matter of technique.} Bb6 {Desperation} 20.  Ng3 {I wouldn't be surprised if the engine showed checkmate in 10 here. The  rest is the matter of technique.} Kh8 {Black's pieces are a sorry sight. My  opponent clearly had no idea what to do here, but it is not surprising since I  am simply a superior player, even though our rating was equal.} 21. Nh5 Qd8 22.  Qh6 {Simple and elegant - in Capablanca's style} Rg8 23. f4 Bd4 24. Rad1 {The  rest is the matter of technique.} Nf8 {Here we go - she starts playing for the  cheapos. I guess that's the only way she can hope for anything.} 25. e5 {  Kaboom. I was playing at 2700 level at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if  this game surpassed Kasparov - Topalov 1999 clash - the combination is much  deeper.} f5 26. Qxd6 {The rest is the matter of technique.} Rg6 {Desperation.}  27. e6 fxe6 28. Rxd4 {Just collecting the piece. I don't know why she didn't  resign here. The rest is the matter of technique.} Qh4 {Trying to scare me  with some cheapos, but merely embarassing herself by playing on.} 29. Bd1 {I  was bored at this point.} exd5 30. Qe5+ Kg8 31. Nxd5 Bc6 {I don't get it why  she didn't resign here. Didn't you have things to do in the kitchen?} 32. Ne7+  {I wasn't even paying attention to the game.} Kf7 {At this point, other games  were finishing and people were talking, which distracted me and ruined my  concentration. Also, the lightning in the playing hall was not particularly  good.} 33. Nxg6 Qxh3+ {Of course, oversights such as this are completely  accidental. Being lucky is the only way she can win. This is not the first  time it happened, but they are all accidents. I have demonstrated who the  superior player is anyway.} 34. Kg1 Qxg2# {Congratulations on winning my  rating points. Choke on them. I will be over 2600 soon anyway.} 0-1   

The post How To Analyze Your Chess Games Like A Pretentious Asshole appeared first on Chessentials.

In the previous post  we have already identified chess middle game as the phase of the chess game that tends to be hardest to improve.

The points mentioned in that post very much apply to chess literature as well:

• When searching for a good book about the openings, a player only needs a book relevant for the opening he most often plays. Therefore, eliminating superfluous books is not an insurmountable task.
• The famous Tolstoy’s first sentence of Ana Karenina about the similarities of families can be applied to the books about the endgame as well. Since endgame study HAS to be systematic, the authors often follow the well-throden paths while explaining key endgame concepts.

On the other hand, in order to master the middle game, a player needs to learn everything about pawn structures, weaknesses, attacking, defending, strategy, calculating, tactics, etc…

It is impossible to completely ignore anything mentioned above. Which is a big problem for the middle game book authors, since a book covering all these aspects would be probably much thicker than the afore mentioned Ana Karenina.

And also, probably even more boring.

Consequently, finding a good middle game book can be very confusing, as the guidelines defining what’s “good” are much less clear.

Therefore, we have decided to make a list of chess middle game books that are widely recognized as the best choice.

Best chess middle game books

Art of Attack in Chess – Vladimir Vuković

I hope no one will blame me if I start this list with a little bit of patriotism.

The first book I would like to mention is the brilliant Art of attack in chess written by deceased Yugoslav International Master, Vladimir Vuković.

During the most part of the 20th century, Vuković was the editor of the Yugoslav magazine Šahovski glasnik. This official periodical of the Yugoslavian chess federaton was very popular in the pre computer era.

The Art of attack in chess, written back in 1963., covers all the aspects of attacking in chess (quite surprisingly).

The value of the Art of attack in chess lies in the fact that it extensively covers the building of the attack right out of the opening, instead of focusing solely on it’s tactical execution.

Vuković covers both the basic and more complex attacking mechanicsms. The chapters include variety of middle game situations, such as:

• Attacking the uncastled king
• Classic bishop sacrifice
• Attacking the castled position
• Attacking the focal points (f7, g7 and h7)
• etc.

Almost every chapter contains classic games from the players like Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, Lasker, etc.

The book contains something for everyone. It is one of those chess books that is quite easy to read and very difficult to master.

It is amazing how good this book still is, 54 years after it’s first edition appeared.

The Middlegame in Chess – Reuben Fine

Reuben Fine was quite an extraordinary man.

Apart from being one of the strongest chess players on the planet during the late 30s and early 40s, he was also a doctor of psychology and insanely productive chess author.

I would like to focus on the latter part of his personality of course. He wrote numerous chess books about different phases of the game.

It is quite appropriate to compare him with the mythical king Midas. Because almost anything he wrote was pure gold. Even nowadays, most of his books are considered as classics.

The middle game in chess is no exception. Although I have mentioned that covering all the aspects of the middle game in a single book is virtually impossible, Fine’s book comes close to refuting that claim.

The middle game in chess covers a variety of themes. Some of the chapters include:

• Mating attacks
• Combinations and tactical play
• Pawn structure
• Accumulating small pluses
• Transitioning into favourable endgame

What makes this book so special is the fact that there is nothing special about it.

Fine’s style is very clear, very concise and very logical. Unlike the author of these lines, Fine doesn’t tend to get carried away. The book is highly practical and to wrap it all up, it’s simplicity makes it quite an enjoyable read.

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played – Reuben Fine

After examining the book by a strong chess grandmaster, it is time to check the work of the ultimate chess enthusiast.

The name of Irving Chernev should really be known by any self respectable chess player.

Because although he was a player of a “mere” national master strength, his obsession with chess turned him into one of the most productive chess authors of the 20th century.

And also a quite successfuly one, since the sales of his book An invitation to chess reached six figures.

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played represents a benchmark of his work.

Irving takes a look at the 62 beautiful and instructive chess games played mostly in the first half of the 20th century.

Irving’s style is mostly suitable for beginners. He doesn’t dwelve into lenghty analysis of the variations but focuses on the IDEAS instead.

A player can learn alot about middle games themes such as weak squares, pawn structures, undermining pawn chains, etc.

The book is a joy to read. His enthusiasm is contagious, as evident from the artistic titles he assignes to the games:

• March of the little pawns for the Pillsbury – Gunsberg game
• A bolt from the blue for the Andric – Daja game
• A symphony of heavenly length for the Evans – Opsahl game

I quite like how Chernev managed to find relatively lesser known games that are still as instructive more famous games of the world champions.

Logical Chess: Move by Move: Every move explained – Irving Chernev

In order to demonstrate my respect and love for Irving Chernev’s work, I can’t resist mentioning his even more popular bestseller.

Every comment about The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played applies to the “Logical Chess: Move by Move: Every Move Explained.”

In this book, Chernev goes through 33 classic games, telling the reader the reason behind every single move.

Once again, the emhpasis is not on concrete variations, but on the ideas instead. Chernev tries to explain the thinking process of great players and pretty much succeeds in it.

The Art of Planning in Chess: Move by move – Neil Mcdonald

The move by move concept has enjoyed significant burst of popularity ever since Chernev first introduced it.

English Grandmaster Neil Mcdonald has certainly followed Chernev’s footsteps, as his impressive chess bibliography includes quite a number of move by move books.

And although these books often focus on the specific opening, The Art of Planning in Chess has always been my favourite.

The Art of Planning in Chess is essentialy an improved version of the Logical Chess:Move by Move: Every Move Explained. 

Mcdonald has selected a number of games played by the modern Grandmasters, and tried to explain the logic behind every move.

Apart from analyzing the games, Mcdonalds has grouped them on the basis of the six different strategic themes:

• Ferocious files
• Dangerous diagonals
• Wearing down a weakness
• Surging throught the centre
• Pawns and goat pegs
• Horrible holes

There are both pros and cons to this book.

Such a simplistic approach to the modern chess clashes makes it much easier to understand what the hell is going on on the board.

On the other hand, since modern chess games are much complicated than the ones played in the past, using text instead of variations is sometimes inadequate.

For me, the pros outweigh the cons and I have enjoyed and learnt much from reading this book.

Honorary mention

The list above consists of the books I have read during my chess career.

However, there is a certain flaw in my choice. Because the books mentioned can be considered as “basics” and there is not much advanced stuff in them.

Therefore, I have decided to do some research.

And I have managed to find some books that I haven’t read completely, but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to someone stronger than me.

Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy – John Watson

In his book Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy International Master John Watson tries to pick up the baton from Aaron Nimzowitsch’s My system.

Watson analyzes various strategic themes from the modern viewpoint. Strategic themes such as :

• Centre and development
• Pawn minorities and majorities
• Prophylaxis
• Exchange sacrifice
• And much more

I haven’t read the whole book yet, but so far I very much like the fact that Watson often mentions positions resulting from the modern opening variations, such as Modern defence or Posioned Pawn variation in the Najdorf.

There is no doubt that John Watson’s work is more advanced than any of the books mentioned previously.

Understanding Chess Middlegames – John Nunn

No chess book list is complete untill it mentions the English Grandmaster John Nunn.

Readers of this blog might remember him from the previous posts about endgame books or tactics books.

This post will be no exception. Because Understanding Chess Middlegames is another marvellous piece of Nunn’s chess bibliography.

To an extent, Understanding Chess Middlegames is comparable to Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy. Because both books focus on the middle game from the modern viewpoint.

Understanding Chess Middlegames focuses on 100 middle game principles. Each principle is covered on only two pages and is depicted with a couple of practical examples.

Some of the principles featured in the book are:

• Material imbalances
• Activity
• Pawn structure
• Attacking play
• Typical mistakes

Judging by the quality of other Nunn’s books, one can hardly fail by investing time and money into reading this one as well.

Conclusion

This post gave the overview of best chess middle game books out there. Hopefully you will be able to improve your middle game and unleash your chess potential with the help of magnificent chess authors mentioned here.

Good luck!

The post Best chess middle game books appeared first on Chessentials.

The course of a typical chess game can be divided into three phases: the opening, the middle game and the endgame. In order to become a strong chess player, one should obtain a certain level in all three phases of the game.

However, one of the most common dilemmas every chess player encounters is working on and improving his middle game.

What is it that makes studying middle games so confusing, compared to the other phases of the game? In my opinion, there are  various reasons:

• Improving your opening or endgame phase is much  more straightforward. Having trouble with the French defence? Grab the book about the French, go through your chessbase and see a couple of grandmaster games, learn 15 moves by hearth and.. voila. Your rook endgames are terrible? Grab the  Dvoretsky’s endgame manual, analyze some rook endgames and bingo. You should immediately notice improvement in your playing strength.
• On the other hand, the middle game is much more diverse and there are less clear guidelines that indicate how to improve. For instance, you might solve tactical puzzles like Mikhail Tal in his best days, and then never get the chance to employ that skill as you get strangled positionally in a trendy variation of a boring London System.
• In the opening, opponent’s choices don’t have that much of an impact as in the middle game. There are many strong players who play only a couple of systems, know them to a certain degree and never bothered to expand their opening repertoire. In the middle game, the course of the game is much more dependant on the choice of your opponent. For instance, your opponent can make an incorrect sacrifice which suddenly forces you to switch from positional to highly tactical play. Sure, it is not always a must to accept such a sacrifice, but often it is unavoidable.
• On the sub-grandmaster level most of the games don’t even reach the endgame and are decided in the middle game. The most often comment about strong young players is that their endgame play is seriously lacking. Personally, I have been able to reach almost 2200 ELO with truly attrocious endgame play.

Or if you remember the famous Tarrasch quote:

” Before the endgame, the gods have placed the middle game.”

Therefore,  it makes a lot of sense to disassemble something as complex as middle game, into something simpler and more understandable. That’s why chess players have introduced a multitude of rules of thumb or chess middle game principles.  Learning this principles and having them in mind during the game should hopefully make navigating the middle game slightly easier.

In the remainder of the post we have covered some of the most common middle game principles.

It has to be mentioned that in chess no truth is absolute and that you will often find exceptions that go against these principles.

But let me retort with the saying I have never ever understood:

“Exception proves the rule.”

1. DEVELOP YOUR PIECES

It is debatable whether piece development belongs to the opening or the middle game phase of the game, but it’s importance can’t be overemphasized.

Already as beginners, we are all taught not to undertake any actions (for instance opening the position),  while insufficiently developed.

However, it is amazing how often strong players violate that rule. Naturally, sometimes there is a specific reason for that (for instance, our opponent has hindered our developement). But more often than not, we get impatient and start concrete play while forgetting about a certain piece.. or two..

The move 6… Nh5? from our first Featured Sundays game is a nice example of ignoring your development. And keep in mind that Black was not some patzer of the street, but a player with ELO rating above 2000.

And for those who think that only amateur players ignore such basic rules, perhaps the game between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Wesley So from the recently finished Tata Steel chess tournament is well worth checking.

[Event "Tata Steel"] [Site "0:09:33-0:43:33"] [Date "2017.01.29"] [EventDate "2017.01.14"] [Round "11"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Ian Nepomniachtchi"] [Black "Wesley So"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "56"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.e4 h6 6.Bh4 dxe4 7.Qe2 Qa5 8.O-O-O Qxa2 9.Qb5+ Nbd7 10.c6 bxc6 11.Qxc6 Bb7 12.Qxb7 Qa1+ 13.Nb1 Rb8 14.Qxb8+ Nxb8 15.Bb5+ Nfd7 16.Ne2 Be7 17.Bxe7 Kxe7 18.Nd4 Nc5 19.h4 Rd8 20.Rh3 Nd3+ 21.Bxd3 Rxd4 22.Be2 Rxd1+ 23.Bxd1 Qa5 24.Nd2 f5 25.Rg3 Qe5 26.Ra3 Nc6 27.g3 Qd4 28.Re3 Nb4 0-1

2. TAKE CARE OF HIS MAJESTY

Although this clause might be superfluous because we have just mentioned the importance of piece development, I think it is worth mentioning king safety nevertheless. There are numerous games and whole opening variations revolving about the idea of keeping the enemy king in the centre of the board.

And although there are numerous exceptions where king was safer behind the pawns in the centre, or even went up the board, they are exceptions for a reason.

Generally, once you get the opportunity to castle, you might want to do it. Better sooner than never.

A very nice example of punishing the delay of castling is the following game.

[Event "Manila"] [Site "Manila PHI"] [Date "1973.10.21"] [EventDate "1973.10.16"] [Round "4"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Ljubomir Ljubojevic"] [Black "Lubomir Kavalek"] [ECO "A01"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "44"] 1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 d6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 5.d4 exd4 6.Qxd4 Nc6 7.Qe3+ Be6 8.Nf3 Bg7 9.Ng5 O-O 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.g3 d5 12.Qxe6+ Kh8 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Bxg7+ Kxg7 15.cxd5 Re8 16.Qg4 Qxd5 17.f3 Ne5 18.Rd1 Nxf3+ 19.Kf2 Qxd1 20.exf3 Qd2+ 21.Kg1 Re1 22.Qc4 Rae8 0-1

3. EXPLOIT OPPONENT’S WEAKNESSES

The term “weakness” most often refers to a weak pawn. In the lower spheres of the ELO rating system your opponents will inevitably leave some weak points in their positions.

It is important to identify those weaknesses as soon as possible and to take advantage of them.

How does a typical weakness look like? It can be one of the following:

• A backward pawn left without the support of the other pawns
• An isolated pawn left without the support of the other pawns
• A doubled or  tripled pawns whose mobility is severely restricted
• An advanced pawn in front of the king that is prone to pawn/piece attacks
• A pawn too far advanced and left without the support of the remaining pieces, etc.

The following game is very nice example of exploiting a weak pawn. Note how the whole action revolved around weak c6 pawn and how the need to defend it tied the Black pieces.

[Event "USSR Championship"] [Site "Moscow URS"] [Date "1949.11.02"] [EventDate "1949.??.??"] [Round "11"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Alexander Kotov"] [Black "Viacheslav Ragozin"] [ECO "D43"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "75"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Qc2 Nbd7 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 O-O 9.Bd3 Re8 10.O-O Nf8 11.Rab1 Be6 12.b4 Rc8 13.Na4 Ne4 14.Bxe7 Rxe7 15.Nc5 Nxc5 16.Qxc5 b6 17.Qc2 Qd6 18.Rfc1 g6 19.Rb3 Nd7 20.h3 Nb8 21.a3 Bd7 22.Rc3 Be8 23.h4 a6 24.h5 Ra7 25.hxg6 hxg6 26.Ne5 a5 27.b5 Rac7 28.bxc6 Kg7 29.Qb1 Nxc6 30.Qxb6 Rb8 31.Qxb8 Nxb8 32.Rxc7 Qxa3 33.Bxg6 Nc6 34.R1xc6 Bxc6 35.Rxf7+ Kh6 36.f4 Qxe3+ 37.Kh2 Qxe5 38.fxe5 1-0

4. EXCHANGE PIECES WHEN AHEAD IN MATERIAL

In general, once you win material, further exchanges should be in your favour. This rule shouldn’t come as a surprise. Consider the following position:

       [FEN “8/3n1k2/2p3p1/2Pp1pP1/3P1P2/2B2N2/4K3/8 w – – 0 1”]   {It is clear that White’s position is totally winning, since he is a clear piece up. However, the simplest way to win is the move}   1 Ne5! { forcing a piece exchange.}   {Instead of a position where he has two pieces against Black’s bishop, White reaches a position where he has his bishop, and Black has no pieces. Technically, it is easier and simpler to win such a position.}   

Also,  our Features Sundays game is once again a vivid example. If White had played 23 Rxc6, forcing the queen exchange, his task would have been simpler and there would be less chance to blunder something, which actually happened in the game.

5. PAWNS DON’T MOVE BACKWARDS

This principle is very important. Most beginners throw the kitchen sink at their opponent and unleash pawn advances without proper thinking. And once they attack fails miserably, they are left with plenty of weaknesses for their opponent to exploit. Therefore, whenever you are considering a pawn advance, keep in mind that he, unlike Frodo and Samwise, might never return.

6. AN ATTACK ON THE FLANK IS BEST COUNTERED BY ACTION IN THE CENTRE

One of the very important principle about attack and defence. Every chess player has at least once experienced the h and g pawns rushing toward his king. It is useful to have the ground idea about countering such escapades.

And also, if you are contemplating a flank attack, it is good to know that it is most efficient when the pawn structure in the centre is closed (or static, if you wish).

The Sicilian defence is an opening where the above described scenario often occurs.

The following game should really belong to “learning from the best” category, since we see the Najdorf virtuoso, Robert James Fischer in action.

[Event "Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates"] [Site "Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG"] [Date "1959.10.31"] [EventDate "1959.09.07"] [Round "28"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Vasily Smyslov"] [Black "Robert James Fischer"] [ECO "B99"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "108"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. g4 b5 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. g5 Nd7 13. Bh3 b4 14. Nce2 Bb7 15. Kb1 Nc5 16. Ng3 d5 17. f5 dxe4 18. Qg4 exf5 19. Ndxf5 g6 20. Nxe7 Qxe7 21. Qf4 O-O 22. Rd6 Rad8 23. Rf6 Rd5 24. Bg4 Nd7 25. Rf1 e3 26. b3 Rd2 27. Bxd7 Rxd7 28. Re1 Re8 29. h4 Qc5 30. Qc4 Qxc4 31. bxc4 Rd4 32. c5 Rxh4 33. c6 Bc8 34. Rd6 Rc4 35. Kb2 Kg7 36. Kb3 Rg4 37. Ne2 Re6 38. Red1 Rg2 39. Nf4 Rxd6 40. Rxd6 Rd2 41. Rd3 Rf2 42. Rd4 e2 43. Nd3 Bf5 44. c7 Rf3 45. c8=Q Bxc8 46. Re4 Bf5 47. Rxe2 Bxd3 48. cxd3 Rxd3+ 49. Kxb4 Rd5 50. Rg2 h6 51. gxh6+ Kxh6 52. a4 g5 53. Rc2 Rd6 54. Kc5 Re6 0-1

7. OCCUPY OPEN FILES WITH HEAVY PIECES

A file is open when there are no pawns of either colour on it. Utilizing open files is self evident for any strong player, but it is worth mentioning nevertheless.

Once you place your heavy pieces (most often rooks) on an open file, you maximize their potential. This mechanism is particularly effective when there is only a single file open on the board, and control of open files becomes more important as the number of the pieces is reduced on the board.

A rook on an open file can infiltrate the enemy position and threaten the pawns on the 2nd/7th rank, or in some scenarios, introduce a mating threat on the 1st/8th rank.

The most vidvid example of open file control is surely the famous Alekhine – Yates encounter. Note how Black was completely paralyzed with the strongly positioned white rooks on the c-file.

Also, the final combination is well worth remembering.

[Event "London"]  [Site "London ENG"]  [Date "1922.08.12"]  [Round "10"]  [White "Alexander Alekhine"]  [Black "Fred Dewhurst Yates"]  [Result "1-0"]  [ECO "D64"]  [PlyCount "75"]  [EventDate "1922.07.31"]   1. d4 {Notes by Geza Maroczy} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6.  e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. Qc2 Re8 9. Bd3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd5 11. Ne4 f5 {A weak move.  Black gets now a cramped position; better was ...h6.} 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Ned2 b5  14. Bxd5 cxd5 15. O-O a5 {The game is lost anyhow.} (15... Bb7 16. Qc7) 16. Nb3  a4 17. Nc5 {This practically forces the exchange of queens and leaves White  with a won end-game.} Nxc5 18. Qxc5 Qxc5 19. Rxc5 b4 20. Rfc1 Ba6 21. Ne5 {  With the well-placed knight and his rooks in command of the open file white  has an easily won game.} Reb8 22. f3 b3 23. a3 h6 24. Kf2 Kh7 25. h4 Rf8 26.  Kg3 Rfb8 27. Rc7 Bb5 28. R1c5 Ba6 29. R5c6 Re8 30. Kf4 Kg8 31. h5 Bf1 32. g3  Ba6 33. Rf7 Kh7 34. Rcc7 Rg8 35. Nd7 Kh8 36. Nf6 Rgf8 37. Rxg7 Rxf6 38. Ke5 1-0

8. PLAY WITH A PLAN

Another very common principle taught to beginners is to always have a plan. Often it is said that it is better to play with a bad plan, then without a plan whatsoever.

In his book Think like a grandmaster, grandmaster Alexandar Kotov claims that every strong player has a clear plan already around move eight or nine. In the modern, computer era, the move number is probably even lower.

So how does playing with a plan look like? I know I have struggled for quite some time to understand how exactly a plan in chess is executed.

We have already mentioned some points that might be defined as a plan.

Some possible plans might include the following (you will notice that some of the clauses were already mentioned in the article):

• Attacking a weak pawn
• Preparing to attack the king
• Utilizing a weak square
• Undermining the opponent’s centre, etc..

For instance, on move 15 in the afore mentioned Alekhine – Yates game, White’s position is better. His plan includes either invading the sevent rank via 15 Qc7 or start the maneovre to put his knight on the c5 square.

We see from including the word either in the previous sentence that often one’s plan may be highly dependant on the opponent’s moves. Therefore, it is important to remain flexible with your plans, and to be able to adapt your plan according to the circumstance.

Furthermore, we see that Black was unable to prevent both White plans in the aforementioned game. However, there are instances where that is not necessarily so. Which brings us to the next point.

9. PREVENT YOUR OPPONENT’S PLAN(S)

You should always keep track about your opponen’ts plans, as well as your own. And if it is possible, you should do your best to prevent your opponent’s plan.

A practical example? Take the following position into consideration:

       [FEN “r4rk1/1p1n2pp/pPp1p3/P1Pp1p2/3P1P2/4P3/5BPP/R4RK1 w – – 0 1”]   {This example is highly artifical. However, in my opinion it illustrates how to prevent your opponent’s plans very well.   Black has obvious intention to put his knight on the weak e4 square. En-route to e4, he has to jump via f6. White therefore plays:}   1 Bh4!   {Taking the f6 square under control. If Black moves the knight there, White will simply exchange his bishop for the knight.}   

10. IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO,  IMPROVE YOUR WORST PIECE

Finally,  there are certain positions when it is not possible/easy to devise a constructive plan. For instance, sometimes a position is just dead equal no matter what you do or try to do. Other times, finding a plan can be extremely hard and you sometimes simply don’t know how to proceed in a certain position.

In such instances, it is useful to remember the chess evergreen : “If you don’t know what to do, improve your worst piece.”

Sometimes such an approach might not alter the evaluation of a position. But since playing equal positions is also a very important skill to master, with such an approach one can hardly ever go wrong.

As an example, take the following position into consideration:

       [FEN "r1rq2k1/pp3pp1/2b1p2p/3pP3/3P4/5N2/PP1Q1PPP/R1R3K1 w - - 0 1"]   

What should White do here? Double the rooks? Advance the pawns?

Generally, this position should be around equal. But there is still some play left in the position.

Here for instance White can probably try to improve his knight on f3 which is doing nothing and bring it over to the queenside. Therefore, a move like 1 Ne1 is legitimate here, heading for the d3-c5 or maybe d3-b4 route.

Black can prevent this maneovre with a move like 1… Bb5. But this is an indication that there is still some play left in the position.

With this, we have come to the end of this article. I hope you have found some of this principles useful. Naturally, we haven’t included every possible middlegame principle out there, so if you want to add anything, feel free to comment below, or contact us on continents.obp@gmail.com.

The post Chess middle game principles appeared first on Chessentials.

In some of the previous posts on this blog I have considered the subjects chess improvement and chess tactics.

As I have mentioned there, I consider chess books as the best source for studying chess.

Additionaly, the importance of practicing chess tactics on a regular basis was also emphasized.

Too be completely honest, in the chess tactics domain books are probably most easily supplemented. There is an abundance of internet sources which offer daily chess tactical training (some of which are linked in the widget area on the side). Moreover, there are internet sites dedicated exclusively to chess puzzles, such as chesspuzzles.com.

Finally, if I can be shameless enough (and there is no reason why I can’t since I bought this damn domain :P), there is also a growing list of daily chess tactical problems available on this blog.

However, the major drawback of everything mentioned above is serious lack of material organization. I haven’t yet encountered a chess internet page whose puzzles have a completely coherent structure.

More or less every page I have encountered offers endless series of random puzzles that hardly have ANYTHING IN COMMON. Therefore, such puzzles are great for regular exercise, but there is no LEARNING CURVE which allows the reader to progress and seriously raise his level.

If you remember the PATTERN RECOGNITION concept, the sentence written above might make some more sense.

Because practicing similar tactical themes in different positions repetitively makes them easier to remember and easier to find during your own games.

Therefore, although internet is always VERY USEFUL tool, I would say that for mastering the chess tactical plays books are still MUCH MORE EFFICIENT.

Naturally, everything written above is merely my own personal opinion. I like reading chess books in general, and proudly own multiple chess tactical books.

Therefore, in order to help the reader who perhaps doesn’t have an idea where to start, I’ve decided to publish a LIST of what I believe are some of the best chess tactics books.

1. ULTIMATE CHESS PUZZLE BOOK – JOHN EMMS

John Emms is a very famous chess author, famous for his MOVE BY MOVE opening books series.

In this instance, he has assembled a total of 1001 chess tactical puzzles. 

The puzzles are organized into several sections, starting with the ELEMENTARY PUZZLES and are getting progressively harder towards the end of the book.

Although expert players may extricate little from this book, it is ideal choice for BEGINNER AND INTERMEDIATE players.

2. TAL’S WINNING CHESS COMBINATIONS – Mikhail Tal and Victor Khenkin

Another book highly suited for BEGINNERS, but not only beginners. When it comes to tactics, the name of Mikhail Tal suggests itself.

The book is organized like a textbook. Initially there is a learning chapter devoted to a certain tactical subject, and afterwards it is followed by a series of tactical puzzles.

The things that makes this book DIFFERENT from other books of this genre is the fact that the authors focus on PIECES instead of TACTICAL ELEMENTS. Every chapter covers different piece combinations and I haven’t seen similar approach in many other chess books.

The only drawback is the fact that the book uses the older, DESCRIPTIVE, instead of the modern ALGEBRAIC notation. 

But I think it is only a minor setback, and it would be shame to miss Tal’s witty style only because of a couple of letters.

3. JOHN NUNN’S CHESS PUZZLE BOOK – JOHN NUNN

If you are unfamiliar with the name of John Nunn, he is currently the world champion in CHESS PROBLEM SOLVING. Among other things.

So it is fair to assume that he probably knows a thing or two about chess tactics.

What I like very much about this book is the fact that Nunn doesn’t simply put a puzzle with the words “XY to play and win.” 

Instead, he lets the reader guess whether there is a combination available in the position, or the most tempting move doesn’t actually work.

Since there is no GUARDIAN ANGEL in your own games telling you there is a winning move available, I think this approach is excellent.

I have to be fair and say that I haven’t been able to solve EVERY OF THE 300 puzzles available correctly. Therefore, this book is definitely NOT RECOMMENDED  for BEGINNERS.

But for someone rated 2000+ (or 2200+ for that matter) it is an EXCELLENT CHOICE.

4. GREATEST 365 CHESS PUZZLES AND GREATEST 501 CHESS PUZZLES – CSABA BALOGH

There is nothing too revolutionary too say about this two books. Hungarian Grandmaster Balogh Csaba ha6s put both time and effort to come up with a total of 866 chess puzzles, exclusively FROM RECENT GRANDMASTER GAMES.

The material is not organized by the tactical idea in the positions, but purely by difficulty, which makes things even more realistic. Additionaly, there are five test, each consisting of 10 puzzles, where you can also practice calculation in the alotted time.

Once again, this is probably NOT the BEST CHOICE for the BEGINNERS, but everyone slightly more experienced should find this books extremely useful.

5. ENCYLOPEDIA OF CHESS COMBINATIONS

Finally, the MOTHER OF ALL BOOKS. The ultimate chess book, consisting of MONSTROUS 3001 chess tactical puzzles. One you can come back to infinite amount of times, and that has something to offer for everyone.

The material is organized according to the CHESS COMBINATION ELEMENTS, and there are three difficulties for each and every combination element.

What I like particularly about the harder puzzles of this book is the fact that often the FIRST MOVE IS OBVIOUS. But calculation behind it, neccessary to make it work, is sometimes very deep and very hard (certain puzzles have the “official” solutions 10 moves long).

Despite the somewhat higher price, I cannot recommend this one highly enough.

The post Best chess tactics books appeared first on Chessentials.

In the previous post we have written about best ways to improve your chess.

One of the suggestions was very blatant, as it simply said that studying chess is esential for improvement.

The natural question for someone who is new to chess is, what to study and how to begin. This post will therefore, partly try to answer these questions.

One of the most often heard advice for beginners is to work on one’s tactical skill. It sure is a great advice, especially for kids, because the best way to do so is by solving tactical puzzles. And tactical puzzles are so much FUN. 

Or at least they keep telling you that while you are a kid,  while all you want is to  pass that new level in the latest version of the ANGRY BIRDS.

However, it seems that this ANCIENT chess advice has some credibility. Because unlike some others dogmatic rules in chess (and life in general), this one very much seems to work.

Naturally, I don’t have a scientific proof for that. But I still think that once you dig beyond the surface, it turns out to be a very logical advice. I think that working on your tactics, especially as a beginner is REALLY  a good idea because of the following:

• PRESENCE – tactics are important during all phases of the game. Whether it is a brilliant 11-move kingside attack in the middlegame, or modest “he takes this I take that” maneuvre in the endgame. On the path of becoming a complete player, good calculations and tactical awareness are the cornerstone.
• SPONTANEITY – often in chess, a tactical blow is not a logical follow up to a brilliant tactical idea. It happens that our opponent overlooks a tactical idea and gives us a nice present. Naturally, in order to be able to say “THANK YOU VERY MUCH”, a tactical idea has to be found and calculated correctly. The probability of this spontaneous opportunities appearing on the board is highly correlated to the rating of the players. Basically, lower rated players make more mistakes, and give you more opportunities to exploit.
• FUN WITHOUT DAMAGE TO YOUR IQ – seriously, why are these CLICK, CLICK, CLICK games that much popular?

If you still haven’t given up after this much Angry Birds bashing, in the remainder of the post I will try to concentrate on the basics of the tactical play. Because I think it is very important to get acquainted with a chess term closely related to the term tactics – and that is the CHESS COMBINATION.

CHESS COMBINATIONS – BASIC ELEMENTS

First of all, perhaps it is not a bad idea to define what chess combination actually is.

From the wikipedia: ” In chess, a combination is a sequence of moves, often initiated by a sacrifice, which leaves the opponent few options and results in tangible gain.”

Although I am not a big fan of the definitions, I think this one is pretty clear. Probably the only mystery is what a tangible gain is. The answer is that it can really be anything. As a result of combination, one side can win a modest pawn, or force the mate of the enemy king. It can be forced or not forced. It can be 10 moves or 2 moves long. It can appear wherever, whenever on the chessboard.  And so on, and so on… As a famous chess author Irving Chernev once said:

“COMBINATION IS THE HEART OF CHESS.”

The key point here is the fact that no matter how long or how complicated a combination is, it can always be divided into shorter and simpler combinations. These smaller combinations are based on the typical tactical motives and are also called BASIC COMBINATION ELEMENTS. 

As I have previously discussed in my “The art of checkmate” review, pattern recognition is one of the important aspects of chess learning. Learning basic combination elements is precisely that.

Once you get familiar with the various elements that  appear during the game, you will soon start noticing them in your own games.

Therefore, without further ado, let’s take that “SMALL STEP FOR A CHESSPLAYER”, and see what some of the most often combination elements are.

DOUBLE ATTACK

Let us start with something familiar. When I played chess as a kid, my main goal to attack as many pieces possible with my knight. Without even knowing, I discovered the mechanism of the double attack.

It might come as a HUGE surprise, but a double attack is an instance when one pieces attacks two opposing pieces and as a result wins material.

The most vivid examples of the double attack are the ones that involve the knight and the pawn. Colloquially, they are often called FORKS. The example a pawn fork is given on the diagram below.

   [FEN "4k3/8/3b1n2/4P3/3P4/8/8/4K3 w - - 0 1"]   

You can see that the pawn on e5 is supported, and as a result White wins a piece.

OVERLOADING

When a piece executes multiple defensive functions, it is said that the piece is OVERLOADED. One side can often take advantage of an overloaded piece by very simple tactical means. Please consider the position below:

   [FEN "8/5pkp/Bb1r2p1/8/8/3n1NP1/5PKP/1R6 w - - 0 1"]   {You can see that the black rook on d6 defends both the bishop on b6 and the knight on d3. White is attacking both pieces simultaneously.}   1 Bxd3 Rxd3 2 Rxb6   

As a result of the combination, White has won a piece. And that is quite decent TANGIBLE GAIN.

PIN

When a piece of a lower value finds itself IN FRONT of a piece of the lesser value and is being attacked by the opposing piece, then we have a PIN on the board.

Pin comes in two different variations, depending whether the piece IN THE BACK is the king or not.

When  a piece is PINNED toward a king, we say that the pin is ABSOLUTE. The pinned piece can’t move. An example of an absolute pin is shown on diagram below.

   [FEN "8/6k1/5b2/8/3R4/8/1K6/8 w - - 0 1"]   

The White rook is unable to move, and Black is able to capture it on the next move.

On the other hand, when a piece is PINNED toward some other, more valuable piece, we say that the pin is RELATIVE. The pinned piece can move, although it involves a loss of material.

   [FEN "8/6pk/6pp/PP4b1/KP3R2/8/3Q4/8 w - - 0 1"]   

The White rook is pinned toward White queen. If the rook moves, Black can capture the queen.

It is important to note that the pinned side can often extricate from a RELATIVE pin by tactical means. There are infinite possibilities, but the most famous one is certainly the famous LEGAL’S MATE.

[Event "?"]  [Site "?"]  [Date "2016.12.29"]  [Round "?"]  [White "Legal's mate"]  [Black "?"]  [Result "1-0"]  [ECO "C41"]  [PlyCount "13"]  [SourceDate "2016.12.29"]   1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Bg4 4. Bc4 h6 5. Nxe5 $3 {Surprise. White piece is  not pinned after all. This brilliant move was discovered by Legal in 17th  century.} Bxd1 $4 (5... dxe5 6. Qxg4 {Is Black's best choice, when he is a  pawn down with inferior position.}) 6. Bxf7+ Ke7 7. Nd5# 1-0

SKEWER

Skewer can most easily be explained as a PIN IN REVERSE. The mechanicsm is similar, but a SKEWERED piece finds itself behind the king which is checked. The case of skewer is shown on the diagram below.

   [FEN "8/1r3k1R/8/8/5R2/8/8/7K w - - 0 1"]   

We can see that Black loses a whole rook due to SKEWER.

DISCOVERED ATTACK/CHECK

I contemplated about trying to explain the DISCOVERED ATTACK/CHECK with words, but started writing more than Leo Tolstoy wrote during his life. Therefore, please consider the diagrams instead.

   [FEN "2q5/8/8/8/3k4/3B4/8/3R1K2 w - - 0 1"]   {It is white to move. We can see that if his bishop wasn't on the board, Black king would be checked by the White rook. Therefore, White can move the bishop and  DISCOVER  the  CHECK  to the Black king.   The best way to do so is by playing  1 Ba6.  In this way, White utilizes the discovered check in order to win some material.}   

DISCOVERED ATTACK is similar to discovered check. Consider the slightly changed diagram once again:

   [FEN "2k5/8/8/8/3q4/3B4/8/3R1K2 w - - 0 1"]   {We can see that the queen is the subject to the White rook attack after White bishop moves. Naturally, white can move the bishop anywhere on the board. But then the Black queen would simply move away from the attack. Therefore, it is best to give the check with the bishop and force the win of the queen with  1 Ba6!}   

DOUBLE CHECK

When two pieces give the check to the king, then we have an instance of a DOUBLE CHECK. (If only everything was this simple).

The very big advantage of the double check is the fact that it can only be parried by moving the king. In some positions this is a very powerful tool while executing a combination.

The simplest instance of a double check is depicted on a diagram below:

   [FEN "k7/8/8/8/8/8/B7/R4K2 w - - 0 1"]   {We can see that by moving  1 Bd5  both White rook and bishop give check to Black king.}   

In the DECOY section below is an example game that also serves as an example of the POWER OF A DOUBLE CHECK.

DECOY

DECOY is a combination element in which one side makes a sacrifices that forces the enemy piece to occupy that square.

While you might be wondering why would anyone do that, please consider the following position.

   [FEN "qr4k1/5p2/5PpR/6Q1/qq6/8/PPP5/K7 w - - 0 1"]   {As you can see, White is under a mate threat. I have deliberately added multiple queens, just to make my point even more clear.   Therefore, White has to find a way to checkmate the Black king before Black checkmates White king. We can see that he would like to place his queen on  g7  in order to checkmate. But how can he accomplish that?   The solution is, as you might have guessed, the  DECOY:}   1 Rh8+!! Kxh8   {We see that the Black king is forced to the h8 square. Now White  HAS TIME  to reach the g7 square, since he gives  A CHECK  on  H6  in passing.}   2 Qh6+ Kg8 3 Qg7 {mate}   

If you thought that such things don’t happen in real games, please consider the following game. It is one of the most famous games in the history of chess.

It is also a great example of how more complicated combinations are composed of basic combination elements. In this instance, first the DECOY Qd8!!, which is a queen sacrifice, forces the king on d8. And then the DOUBLE CHECK forces checkmate.

[Event "Vienna"]  [Site "Vienna"]  [Date "1910.??.??"]  [Round "?"]  [White "Reti, Richard"]  [Black "Tartakower, Saviely"]  [Result "1-0"]  [ECO "B15"]  [Annotator "ChessBase"]  [PlyCount "21"]  [EventDate "1910.??.??"]  [EventType "tourn"]  [EventRounds "45"]  [EventCountry "AUT"]  [Source "ChessBase"]  [SourceDate "1998.11.10"]   1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qd3 e5 $2 6. dxe5 Qa5+ 7. Bd2 Qxe5  8. O-O-O Nxe4 $2 9. Qd8+ $1 {Decoy!!} Kxd8 10. Bg5+ {Double check!!} Kc7 (10...  Ke8 11. Rd8#) 11. Bd8# 1-0

CLEARANCE

The penultimate element that we will examine is the CLEARANCE.

Sometimes, it simply happens that you wish one of your pieces simply wasn’t in play. (Somehow I hear that often from my parents. And I promised them I will leave the house before I am thirty, I really don’t understand.)

Uhm.. anyway… sometimes you simply want to CLEAR a square where one of your pieces is standing, in order to occupy it with another piece. And GAIN something TANGIBLE.

As usual, I would have probably been better if I simply inserted a diagram in the first place instead of lamenting about my life:

   [FEN "2bq1nkb/2p4p/2pp3Q/r4NpN/p2PP3/2P5/PP4PP/5RK1 w - - 0 1"]   {This might seem very complicated, but the key point is that if White could play his knight to h6, he would checkmate the black king.   Therefore, it is neccessary to get rid of the queen.. I am sorry, sometimes you just have to  LET HER GO}   1 Qe6!!   {Very attractive, and also the only place where the sacrifice is correct. You can figure out for yourself that sacrifice on some other square would spoil the mating picture and allow the Black king to escape.}   1... Nxe6   {Black can take the queen with three pieces, but it doesn't really matter since mate is unavoidable.}   2 Nh6 {mate}   

INTERFERENCE

Finally, last but not the least, an INTERFERENCE tactic /combination element. I think by now I can sense the reader INTERFERING with my lengthy diversions, so I will simply focus on the diagram immediately.

   [FEN "2kr1b2/ppp4p/6p1/4PN2/8/7P/P2qQPP1/4R1K1 w - - 0 1"]   {The idea is simple. Black's queen on d2 is protected only by the rook. If White could somehow prevent the rook action  WITH GAIN OF TIME,  he would be able to win the queen. This is where the interference comes to aid:}   1 Nd6!+ cxd6   {Naturally, Black can take with the rook, but that loses an exchange (White wins a rook for a knight).   The black pawn now blocks the rook and leaves the queen undefended.}   2 Qxd2   {It is important to note that this tactic was made possible only by the  SPECIFIC  position of the Black king on  c8  and White pawn on  e5.}   

CONCLUSION

Congratulations, you have made it to the end of another lengthy post. Hopefully, now you have a slight idea about how tactics in chess work. To conclude, I would like to post an example of another very famous, and very beautiful game. It is one of the most famous KING HUNTS in the history of chess, and also a very thankful example for the theme of this post. You will notice how a certain BASIC COMBINATION ELEMENTS were followed by a series of checks that forced the mate in a spectacular fashion.

[Event "London casual"]  [Site "London"]  [Date "1912.10.29"]  [Round "?"]  [White "Lasker, Edward"]  [Black "Thomas, George Alan"]  [Result "1-0"]  [ECO "A83"]  [PlyCount "35"]  [EventDate "1912.??.??"]  [EventType "game"]  [EventRounds "1"]  [EventCountry "ENG"]  [Source "ChessBase"]  [SourceDate "1998.11.10"]   1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. e4 fxe4 7. Nxe4 b6 8.  Ne5 O-O 9. Bd3 Bb7 10. Qh5 Qe7 {I will skip the commentary up to this point.  This is where the magic begins.} 11. Qxh7+ $3 {A queen sacrifice to decoy the  Black king to the h7 square} Kxh7 12. Nxf6+ {A double check on the king.} Kh6 (  12... Kh8 13. Ng6# {Is immediate mate.}) 13. Neg4+ {Now a series of check  follows, forcing the king down the road.} Kg5 14. h4+ Kf4 15. g3+ Kf3 16. Be2+  Kg2 17. Rh2+ Kg1 18. Kd2# (18. O-O-O# {Would have been more stylish. There is  something attractive in finishing the game with the castling, but anyway.  Simply amazing.}) 1-0

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