Ahh that’s absolutely brilliant. Yeah I think I’m learning a bit, but my biggest flaw at the moment is just getting too impatient and blundering a lot. Not always great and seeing what my opponent is trying to do.
I wish I had great advice for those issues - everybody can face them. It’s a chess Holy Grail. If I did have such advice - I’d have a podcast or something.
Something that might help a little is a form of a puzzle is “guess the best move”. No pressure. No time limit. And sites/apps surehave some kind hint or hints function. It’s amazing how often tactical stuff like pins show up. And sometimes things are counter-intuitive. Check out the elephant trap. The pin is broken by black who ends up a minor piece ahead.
The concept of waiting moves is useful. You make a move that seems to leave the situation about the same. You wait and see if you opponent will give you a hint about what his plans might be.
Example - you play a waiting move and he doesn’t move the a pawn - he moves his knight instead. Everything you expected was wrong.
Yeah Ive been doing a lot of puzzles! I’ll try those specific ones out. Ive won a fair amount by noticing that the game has ended up like one of the puzzles I’ve done before. Honestly I think it’s been more helpful than anything else at this point.
A concept I didn’t mention is tempo. And move order when recapturing is another thing that can help you when you do it and hurt you when your opponent does it to you. The computer is a great teacher about tempo and move order.
I think an example explains them both at the same time.
What you expect…
You take his knight with your bishop.
He recaptures.
Simple. Easy-peasy. The evaluation of the new position is about the same as before. But that doesn’t happen.
You take his knight with your bishop.
He doesn’t immediately recapture. Instead he attacks your queen.
You move your queen. He gained a tempo.
Then he takes your bishop.
It’s obvious that move order is critical and it’s complicated. It’s chess after all. But it’s hard to resist an immediate recapture. It just feels right and it’s a siren song even though a better move order should always be considered. Plus it can help you win games quickly or on the spot. Why? Imagine this…
You take his knight with your bishop.
He doesn’t immediately recapture. Instead he attacks your queen.
You make a mistake or a blunder because this entirely unexpected move order wrecks your concentration.
I just won a game. He did move orders that surprised me. I did the same back to him. Neither of us played that well. But luckily for me - he played a bit worse. And then he blundered and it was an easy win for me.
Ahh that’s absolutely brilliant. Yeah I think I’m learning a bit, but my biggest flaw at the moment is just getting too impatient and blundering a lot. Not always great and seeing what my opponent is trying to do.
I wish I had great advice for those issues - everybody can face them. It’s a chess Holy Grail. If I did have such advice - I’d have a podcast or something.
Something that might help a little is a form of a puzzle is “guess the best move”. No pressure. No time limit. And sites/apps surehave some kind hint or hints function. It’s amazing how often tactical stuff like pins show up. And sometimes things are counter-intuitive. Check out the elephant trap. The pin is broken by black who ends up a minor piece ahead.
Queen’s Gambit Declined, Elephant Trap
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Ninja edit
The concept of waiting moves is useful. You make a move that seems to leave the situation about the same. You wait and see if you opponent will give you a hint about what his plans might be.
Example - you play a waiting move and he doesn’t move the a pawn - he moves his knight instead. Everything you expected was wrong.
Yeah Ive been doing a lot of puzzles! I’ll try those specific ones out. Ive won a fair amount by noticing that the game has ended up like one of the puzzles I’ve done before. Honestly I think it’s been more helpful than anything else at this point.
A concept I didn’t mention is tempo. And move order when recapturing is another thing that can help you when you do it and hurt you when your opponent does it to you. The computer is a great teacher about tempo and move order.
I think an example explains them both at the same time.
What you expect…
Simple. Easy-peasy. The evaluation of the new position is about the same as before. But that doesn’t happen.
It’s obvious that move order is critical and it’s complicated. It’s chess after all. But it’s hard to resist an immediate recapture. It just feels right and it’s a siren song even though a better move order should always be considered. Plus it can help you win games quickly or on the spot. Why? Imagine this…
I just won a game. He did move orders that surprised me. I did the same back to him. Neither of us played that well. But luckily for me - he played a bit worse. And then he blundered and it was an easy win for me.