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The 4 Most
Common Mistakes
in Chess

White didnt see the whole board and

missed that black can play Bxa1, winning
material.

Unfortunately, in chess you often dont get

second chances.

My opponents make good moves too.

Sometimes I dont take these things into
consideration. Bobby Fischer

Mistake 2: Not thinking about your

opponents threats

One mistake can cost you the game.

The first step to start minimizing mistakes
in your game is to know the 4 most
common mistakes in chess. Here they are:

Surely your opponent have something in

mind with his last move? If you dont take
the time to find your opponents threats
and ideas, you will pay the price sooner or
later.

Mistake 1: Not seeing the whole board

Example:
This is a real bad one. Its the kind of
mistake that makes you want to give up
chess.
Often the problem here is that you focused
on a certain part of the board and didnt see
a piece that could move in from a distance.
Bishops on the long diagonals are a classic
example of this common mistake.
Example:

Why is blacks move a mistake?

Black didnt take the time to think about
whites threats. White plays Be5 and pins
the black queen to the king.
Mistake 3: Neglect the safety of your
king.

Why is whites move a mistake?

One of the main tasks in the opening stage

of the game is to get your king safe.
Neglecting this principle can lead to a
quick loss. Even if you dont get

checkmated early, running around with

your king is hardly a pleasant way to play
the game.

Example:

Example:

Why is whites move a mistake?

Why is blacks move a mistake?

Black neglected the safety of his king.
White can now end the game with Bg6#
An unsafe king is a liability which your
opponent can exploit during any stage of
the game he becomes a target. Once
your king is exposed, it becomes a burden
that absorbs all your resources. That means
you cant improve your position on other
parts of the board. Consider the safety of
your king at all times it is a worthwhile
investment.
Mistake 4: Not thinking about the
current role of a piece before you move
it.
You send your bishop out to attack the
opponents queen. But alas, you forgot the
bishop was actually protecting a crucial
pawn which now the bishop doesnt
defend any more. Your whole position falls
apart.

White didnt think about the current role of

his piece. The bishop on c1 protected the
pawn on b2. Now b2 isnt protected and
black can play Qxb2. On the next move
black will also capture the rook on a1.
These are the 4 most common mistakes in
chess. Learn to avoid them and your game
will improve. In fact, cutting mistakes
from your game is the number one chess
strategy.

How can you stop making these

mistakes in chess?
Reading this article about the 4 most
common mistakes in chess is a good start.
But, here is the surprise:
Knowing about the most common mistakes
in chess will not help you avoid them!
I know this sounds illogical but let me
explain:

Chess is a very complex game. You have a

lot to think about. In the heat of the game
you will forget most of what youve read.
Then what is the solution?

Turn your knowledge into

automated skills
Your mind need to become instinctively
aware of the common mistakes. Trying to
remember them all during a game simply
isnt practical. Avoiding mistakes should
be a second nature to you.
And how do you develop such skill?
Developing skills require repetition over
time.
This is how you can do it:
Find chess puzzles which also show
you the last move made in the
position. Obviously that move was a
mistake. Try to identify which of the 4
common mistakes in chess applies to
the puzzle.

The Number One

Chess Strategy

The mistakes are there waiting to be made.

- Savielly Tartakower

Learn from your mistakes.

But, the good news is that it is quite

possible to turn things around. And when
you discover how to cut mistakes from
your games, it will take your game a whole
new level!

And learn from the mistakes of others.

So what is the solution?

Because you can never live long enough to

make them all yourself!

Stop making mistakes.

a Wise man once said:

Here is the deal:

Yes its that simple. Cutting mistakes from

your game is the first step to real chess
improvement.

The average chess game lasts about 30 or

40 moves. If you make 30 good moves and
then one really bad move, you will
probably lose the game.

Mistakes are a habit and like any bad habit

you have the power to change it.

Cut mistakes from your game, and your

results will improve instantly!

But why is avoiding mistakes a

chess strategy?
Isnt chess strategy about planning good
moves? Well yes, but its even more about
avoiding bad moves!
One big mistake weighs more than 30 good
moves! Therefore, to focus on cutting
mistakes from your game is in itself an
important chess strategy!
Or in the word of a famous world
champion:
First learn to not lose, and then the wins
will start to come. A Karpov
If you have not trained your mind to be
instinctively aware of the common
mistakes in chess, you will make those
same mistakes again. That is guaranteed.
Its bad news:

How can you avoid mistakes in

your games?
The first step is to know the 4 Most
Common Mistakes in Chess. In that article
I tell you about the 4 most common
mistakes in chess and I show you what you
can do to stop making them in your own
games.
Avoidance of mistakes is the beginning, as
it is the end, of mastery in chess. - Eugene
Znosko-Borovsky
Master the number one chess strategy and
your games will become more enjoyable,
you will learn more from them and
ultimately you will start to win more
games consistently.

Chess Calculation
Technique How
To Calculate

One of the most common calculation errors

is to ignore your opponents threats.
Information about your opponents threats
will help you to avoid wasting a lot of time
on moves which are clearly mistakes in the
light of the opponents threats.

Chess calculation training deserves high

priority if you are serious about improving
your chess.

Find ALL the candidate moves

before you start calculating!

As is the case with any other skill

calculation should be trained. And should
be trained the right way.

Once you found your opponents threats,

the second step should be to find all the
candidate moves (all the forcing moves. ie.
checks, captures and threats).

This brings us to the main problem we

often face knowing just how we should
go about to improve this important skill.
In this article I will give you advice that
will put you on the right track.

Chess calculation starts with

knowing when to calculate
In many positions you dont even need to
calculate a lot of variations. You should
mainly focus on calculation when there are
forcing moves in the position. There are 3
types of forcing moves:
1. Checks,
2. Captures and
3. Threats.

When there arent such forcing moves

between the pieces then there is no need to
fry your brain thinking about moves that
dont lead to any concrete outcomes. In
fact, you can better spend your time
thinking about your plan of action and your
strategy.

Find all your opponents threats

before you start calculating!
Make it a habit to find your opponents
threats before you start calculating your
own ideas.

If you skip this step, you will risk

calculating random moves and jumping
from one idea to the next without making
proper progress. This only tires your brain
and in the end you make a move without
doing proper calculation anyway.
To help you avoid this random way of
thinking, I suggest that you follow a
certain order:
1. Find all the candidate moves involving
your queen,
2. Find all the candidate moves involving
your rooks,
3. Find all the candidate moves involving
your bishop,
4. Find all the candidate moves involving
your knights,
5. Find all the candidate moves involving
your pawns,
6. Find all the candidate moves involving
your king (particularly in the endgame
stage).

The moves that need to be calculated

properly are all the forcing moves. Lets
look at an example.
Here is a position from a real game:

Chess calculation exercise how would

you approach this position? (white to
move)
Before reading on, I suggest that you look
at the position above and decide how you
would approach it if this was your own
game.

The correct order in the chess

calculation process
First, we need to find our opponents
threats:
1. The player with the black pieces has a
lead in material (extra rook and
pawns), thus his main threat is
to simply consolidate the
position and eventually win the game
by using his extra material. This
implies that we should find something
special very soon or else we will
simply lose.
2. Black is threatening to capture the
white knight with Qxe7 winning
even more material.

Now that we know blacks threats, we can

start to find all candidate moves for white:

Candidate moves with the queen: 1)

Qxh7+ (a capture); 2) Qxg5 (a

capture); 3) Qd4+ (a check) 4) Qxb5 (a

capture).
ith the rooks: 1)
Candidate moves with
Rc1 (threat to c3 pawn)
Candidate moves with the bishops: 1)
Bh3 (a threat to f5 pawn); 2) Bxd5 (a
capture)
Candidate moves with the knights: 1)
Nc6 (a threat); 2) Nxd5 (a capture); 3)
Nxf5 (a capture) 4) Ng6+ (a check).
Candidate moves with
ith the pawns: 1)
f4 (threat); 2) g4 (threat)
Candidate moves with the king: None.

Of course a quick look at all

the candidate moves will reveal that many
of these moves can simply be discarded.
For example the move 1) Rc1 threatens
blacks pawn but it is clearly not enough
since the threat is not strong enough given
the fact that black has an extra rook. Also
moves like 1) Qxh7+ loses the queen and
gives white nothing we dont need to
spend more than a few seconds on such
moves. Yet, following this process will
help you to not miss some opportunities.
In the above example you might spend a
lot of time calculating the moves Ng6+ or
Qxg5 (which dont lead to much). Instead,
if you followed the process to first find all
the candidate moves, you would quickly
q
find the move 1) Qd4+ (which wins the
game instantly).
I hope you can see the power of training
your chess calculation skill this way. I
suggest you always follow this process
when you play and when you solve tactical
puzzles.

2 Problems Chess
Players Face (And
How To Solve It)
The first step in fixing a problem is to
recognize its existence.
This article will deal with 2 important
problems that arent always obvious and
therefore doesnt get the attention it
deserves.
Whenever you reach a moment in your
game where you feel that you dont know
what to do next that is a clear indication
that you shouldve been thinking about
your objectives.
Which brings us to the first problem

First problem: Not understanding

the objectives of the game well
enough
If you want to overpower a strong
opponent you must know beforehand how
you will approach the game. This means
you must know what your objectives are
and understand how they will help you
achieve your goal.
The details of the objectives is beyond the
scope of this article but I will give you a
quick summary of the 5 most important
objectives:

The 5 main objectives of a chess game

1. Aim to win material whenever you
can because the player with more
material (pieces) has more
opportunities to force enemy pieces
into defensive positions.
2. Develop your pieces to their full
potential because well-developed
pieces have more fire-power than
undeveloped pieces.
3. Treat the center-squares as targets
because they are the most important
squares on the board.
4. Keep your king safe and try to expose
your opponents king because an
exposed king is extremely vulnerable
to tactical threats.
5. Keep in mind that the pawn-structure
affects the development of the pieces
and determines where the weak
squares are.

Simply keeping these 5 objectives in mind

will go a long way in helping you solve the
critical question what should I do in this
position? I will give more detail with
regard to these objectives in other articles.

Second problem: Dont have the

skill to calculate moves properly
Since there are so many possible moves
and responses to each move, it becomes
humanly impossible to calculate all the
variations.
The first step in solving this problem is to
recognize that you arent a computer and
that you need to prioritize which moves
needs to calculated.
Calculation is too difficult for many chessplayers since they try to calculate
variations which shouldnt have
priority. Trying to calculate everything
just tires your brain and you end up
making moves that you havent calculated
properly in any case!
Did you know.. Top computer programs
do not calculate all the moves in a
position! Complicated algorithms advise
the computer as to which moves should be
calculated and which not. In the
programming-world this technique is
referred to as pruning. This pruning is
partly the reason why one strong engine
could possibly make a move the other
engine didnt even consider as an option!

Which moves should you calculate

then?
The moves that deserve priority are all the
moves with forced consequences, in other
words, you need to calculate the
consequences of all the moves that:
1. Captures a piece
2. Checks the king
3. Makes a threat

You will find that calculating only forced

moves is already hard enough let alone
trying to calculate other moves too!

Once you have calculated the outcomes of

forced variations, you can be calm and
start to think about strategic ideas.
Thinking about your strategy before you
know what the outcome of the forcing
variations are, is both dangerous and
ineffective.

What about other moves isnt it

risky to not calculate them?
Think about this if you calculated the
consequences of all the forcing moves,
then all the remaining moves dont carry
any tactical threats! This implies that you
can judge those moves intuitively (based
on your understanding of the objectives of
the game) instead of calculating the
countless variations that can arise from
them. Let me remind you the point here is
that we need to prioritize which moves
we calculate and which moves we dont
need to calculate.

Why pawns are the

soul of chess
Back in the 18th century the chessmaster
Philidor coined the phrase Pawns are the
soul of chess.
Sounds impressive but what did he mean?
And why should pawns be seen as the soul
of chess?
Any chessplayer who knows the basics of
the game can tell you that pawns are
weaker than the pieces. Or are they? No,
they arent Individually a pawn may be
weak, but together they create a force that
is about equal in strength to the queen!

We will look at an example of each:

1. Pawns affect the movement of

the pieces
The pawn-structure
structure has a big impact on the
development of the piecess because:
1. Pieces cannot jump over pawns that
block them (except the knights of
course)
2. Pawns control many squares that
prevent enemy pieces moving to that
squares

However, you need to understand pawn

pawnstructures in order to use your pawns
better.
Imagine you remove all the pieces from the
board and leave only the pawns. What you
would see is the pawn-structure.

Bishops are typically more affected by

pawn-structures than knights
A single pawn might not be very strong,
but together theyre a formidable team
they control many squares on the board
and can drive back enemy pieces that come
near their territory.
Here are 3 reasons why pawns are the soul
of chess:
1. Pawns affect the movement
ement of the
pieces
2. The pawn-structure
structure determines where
the weak squares are
3. Weak pawns are important targets

structure determines
2. The pawn-structure
where the weak squares are
Weak squares generally refer to squares on
the 5th or 6th rank (inside enemy territory)
that cannot be defended by pawns. a
Square that cannot be defended by a pawn

can more easily be occupied by a piece.

Therefore, weak squares are often an
opportunity to further improve the
development of your pieces. Naturally it
should also be noted that weak squares
near or in the center are usually more
useful than the weak squares on the sides.

In this example diagram

agram both white and
black have 2 pawn-islands
islands each. Generally,
the more pawn-islands
islands you have, the
weaker your pawn-structure is.

3. Weak pawns are important

targets
The diagram above comes from a game
between Magnus Carlsen vs Judit Polgar.
Carlsen used the weak squaress to infiltrate
blacks territory and won the game in the
end. The example clearly shows why you
should think carefully before pushing
pawns, since they create weaknesses that
are permanent. When pawns can defend
themselves, they are strong. At the start of
a new game all the pawns are connected,
but as the game continue and some
exchanges are made, the pawns may
become disconnected. When a group of
pawns gets disconnected from the rest of
the pawn-structure they become a pawn
pawnisland.

When the structure becomes fragmented,

the pawns are weakened. Since pawns
cannot move backwards
ckwards or sideways they
are vulnerable and depend heavily on the
support of other pawns or pieces. A weak
pawn cannot be defended by other
pawns. We dont want to allocate
valuable pieces to protect pawns the
pawns should be able to protect
themselves, and if they cant they are
weak.

Weak pawns are pawns that cant be

protected by other pawns
Hot tip: Pawns cant move backwards and
moving a pawn has permanent
consequences. Only move a pawn when
moving it helps you achieve important
objectives such as development of your
pieces or controlling the center!

4 Important lessons
that computerengines teach us

sense at all. Yet those moves still get a

good evaluation-score from the computer.
Why?
Its because those moves arent mistakes!
Yes, even a pointless move can be playable
if it isnt a mistake. Avoiding mistakes also
adds pressure on your opponent to show
how they can improve their position. Am I
suggesting that you should regularly make
pointless moves and wait for a mistake
from your opponent? Of course not, we
strive to always make moves with a
purpose. However, you should understand
that a pointless move is still much better
than a blunder.
If you want to know more about avoiding
mistakes as a strategy, you should read the
article about the number one chess
strategy.

f you cant beat them, learn from them.

Computer engines have become so strong
that not even the best players in the world
stand a realistic chance at beating them.
Instead of sitting in a corner crying about
the strength of computers, lets rather be
happy that we arent computers and realize
that we can still learn a lot from them.
I have noted 4 things in particular that
computers do very well:

1) Avoiding mistakes is an
important strategy
I find it interesting that a computer engine
will give its evaluation of a certain position
and often suggest a large number of
playable candidate moves. Some of the top
candidate moves would make sense but
then the computer will also suggest a
whole bunch of moves which make no

2) Objectivity is vital for consistent

results
A computer is not intimidated by any
psychological factors which so easily
affect humans. The computer simply goes
to work finding the best move according to
its programmed algorithm.
We can learn from this. We should try to
do the same just try to find the best move
and focus on the quality of your game
instead of the result. In the words of Bobby
Fischer: I dont believe in psychology, I
believe in good moves.
It is a useful skill to have when we can
train ourselves to not be overwhelmed by
our concern of the outcome of the game,
but rather to concern ourselves with
playing to the best of our ability, regardless
of the outcome. That is objectivity.

3) Knowing your tactics is indeed

very important
Anyone who have played against a strong
computer engine can vouch for the
incredibly annoying tactical ability of the
computer. The computer will find a
seemingly small weakness in your position
and attack it with relentless accuracy. Any
attempt you make to try defend the
weakness is usually refuted by a totally
unexpected tactical blow.
It is important to know how to get into
good positions, but if we miss the tactical
opportunity in a position, it might very
well mean that our advantage start to slip.
Having strong tactical skills is one of the
most useful skills we can train.

4) There can be more than 1 right

move in a position
Have you ever noticed that a particular
engine often doesnt suggest the same
move in a given position? Houdini will
suggest a certain move, whereas Rybka
might not like that move as much and
rather prefer a different move. The
Stockfish engine might have a totally
different suggestion. The point here is that
in most cases each of the 3 suggested
moves is in fact not only playable, but
good. Some purists believe that there is
usually only one best move in a position.
However, the computer era has shown us
that there is indeed room for different
playing styles in the game.

Chess Principles: Is
centre-control overrated?

Centralized pieces are more

mobile

Youve heard it before. The 3 famous

opening principles:
1 Develop your pieces.
2 Get the king safe.
3 Control the center.
This advice seem to make sense but I
remember one day asking myself: Is the
principle of the center really as important
as the books try to tells us?

And if it is, why is it?

a Centralized piece controls more squares

(and more important squares) than a noncentralized piece

Understanding The Principle of Centercontrol

Centralized pieces can be more

flexible in their role

There are numerous ways to describe the

principle but in the end it comes down to
this:
The central squares are most important
squares on the board.
The principle may appear very simple but
dont let its simplicity cause you to underestimate the importance thereof. The
reality is that unless you are a masterplayer, this principle probably doesnt
mean as much to you as it should. This
article will give you a deeper
understanding of why the center is so
important.

The advantages of centralization

Lets look at a few obvious (and a few notso-obvious) reasons as to why the principle
of center-control is so important:

Centralized pieces can quickly change their

role from attacking one side to the other
side of the board.

Centralized pieces can attack in 2

directions

Centralized pieces dominate

enemy pieces
Example 1 The white pawns dominate
the black the knights due to the control
they have over the central squares
Example 2 The bishop dominates the
knight from its centralized position.
To summarize:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The centralized bishop attacks 2 targets at

once. The white king can simply walk to
c7 and win the b7-pawn.

Centralized pieces can fulfill

multiple roles

Centralized pieces are more mobile,

they can be more flexible in their role,
they can attack in 2 directions;
they can fulfill multiple roles and
they can dominate the movements of
enemy pieces.

The examples on this page where simple to

illustrate clearly how the principles work.
In more complicated positions it might not
be so easy to notice the effect but in the
background they are always working in
your favour!
Ok so here is a piece of practical advice
that will help you in your games:
Treat the central squares as targets!
Treating the central squares as targets will
help you to keep in mind that controlling
the center is one of the most important
objectives of the game.

The white knight moves to the central

square, e4, and performs an defensive role
(defends f2) as well as an attacking role
(adds pressure on d6).

Why are easy chess

puzzles sometimes
hard to solve?

we see the answer we cant help but

wonder why we never found such a simple
move.

The Solution:

Chess puzzles are a great way to improve

important chess skills.
By solving chess puzzles you train 3 skills
at the same time:
1. Tactics skill (recognizing tactical
themes and patterns.)
2. Visualization skill (visualizing pieces in
new positions.)
3. Calculation skill (training to calculate
forced variations.)

Black simply plays f5! Winning the Ne4,

since moving the knight allows Re1+
The puzzle in question is supposed to be
quite easy, but most chess players have a
tough time with this puzzle. If you found
this puzzle quite hard, you are not alone. I
will tell you why this happens and what
you can do to overcome it.

3 Reasons why easy chess puzzles

sometimes appear hard
In the position above, black played Bd3!
This move protects the Nc2. At the same
time it threatens Rxe4! and if white plays
Bxe4? then Bxe4# is checkmate.
White stopped blacks threat by playing
the simple h3 opening an escape hole for
his king. Click the next arrow in the
above chess puzzle diagram to visualize
the moves -> Bd3 h3. How should black
continue? Try to find the answer.
I find it amazing how we sometimes think
a puzzle is impossibly difficult, yet when

1. The theme (pattern) used in the

puzzle is not fixed in your mind.
Maybe you are familiar with the
pattern but you have not seen it often
enough in order that it became a
second nature to you.
2. You didnt follow the correct
calculation method! I wrote an article
about the correct calculation method.
Click the link if you need to check it
out -> chess calculation technique.
3. Forgetting pawn moves in tactical
combinations. This is what the
example above mainly illustrates.
Tactical combinations mainly involve

pieces and it is easy to overlook pawn

moves that can be effective in a tactic.

How do we solve this hard chess

puzzle dillemma?
Quite simple. Follow the correct
calculation process!
The correct calculation process requires
that you consider all the threats and
captures that can be made by your piecea
and pawns.
In the article about calculation I suggested
that you look at the candidate moves of all
the pieces. Start with moves of the queen,
then the rooks, bishops, knights, all the
pawns and the king. If you make this order
an automatic part of your thinking process
then easy chess puzzles will always be just
that easy!
The simple step of checking all the
candidate moves with the pawns too,
would have revealed the very strong move
f5! And the move could be found without
much sweat. That is the power of applying
the correct calcualtion technique.
And be reminded that even though pawns
are not as strong as pieces, they can
sometimes be effectively used in tactics!

The most important

skill in chess
How effective is your chess training? Do
you focus on improving specific chess
skills?
If you are not focusing on the right skills,
then the time you spend on training may
sadly not be very effective.
I identified the 7 most important chess
skills.
(One of them is more important than all the
others.)
While you read, I recommend that you
think about how well your own skills are
developed in each of these areas. You
might discover where you need
improvement.

The seven chess skills

1. Tactics

Chess tactics is patterns or a combination

of moves whereby you achieve an
objective by force. It usually results in
winning material but it could also be to
achieve a positional advantage. There are a
lot of common tactical patterns. a Deep
awareness of these patterns can help you
find them in your own games.
2. Visualization

How many moves can you see ahead? The

ability to clearly visualize imaginary
positions in your mind will have a
significant impact on your results.
Visualization training should
have priority in your chess training
schedule.

3. Strategic understanding

Chess strategy refers to your ability to

devise a good plan for the position. How
often in your chess games do you reach the
point where you feel: Now I am not sure
what I should do next? The plan that you
finally decide on will reflect your
understanding of chess strategy.
4. Organized thinking process

In a nutshell, your decision making

process is about organizing your chess
skills in a systematized way of
thinking. a Disorganized thought process
is one of the main obstacles in your chess
improvement!
5. Calculation

Developing your calculation ability can be

very hard and ineffective if you dont do it
right. Calculation is a 2-step process:
1. Finding candidate moves (required in
all positions unless your move is
forced)
2. Calculating candidate moves (only
required in certain positions)
6. Opening skill

Quite simply the stronger player you are,

the more important your knowledge of
opening theory becomes. The most
important thing you
should realize regarding opening theory, is
that the purpose of studying openings is
to understand the typical middle-game
plans that flow from that particular
opening.
7. Endgame skill

a Position can be seen as an endgame

position once it is safe for the king to join
the action. Endgame principles can be
significantly different to opening principles
and a deep understanding of the endgame

can help you convert small advantages into

a winning endgame.

So which of these chess skills is the

most important?
That is a bit like asking what is more
important, my heart or my lungs? The
answer is quite clear. They are both
important and the one cannot operate
properly without the other one.
However, in terms of importance, one of
these skills stand head and shoulders above
the rest.
Visualization.

Visualization as the most

important chess skill
Why visualization?
Visualization is the skill that most of the
other skills depend on!
Other skills such as calculation, tactics,
strategy and the others is hardly possible
without the ability to visualize the resulting
positions. How can you keep track of plans
or tactical patterns if you cannot see the
position clearly in your mind? Even the
time you spend training chess will be more
beneficial to you if you have strong
visualization skills.

Chess Tactics The

Big Training
Mistake
Chess is 99% tactics. G Teichman
Train tactics, tactics and more tactics.
This is one of the most common advices
you will find when you ask how you can
improve your chess.

are subconsciously developing a habit of

guessing.
The problem with this habit becomes
evident when you play a real game. What
you will do in the heat of the game has a
big impact on the result. You might even
have a good position you sense there
might be tactical opportunities and you
start searching deeper Yet, you just
dont seem to find a crystal clear way
forward. So what happens next? You guess
a move and hope for the best.
The bad habit wins and you lose.

It is true training your tactical skills is an

essential aspect of your chess progress.
But.
There is a subtle pitfall that can do serious
harm to your chess development.
The purpose of this article is to warn you
about a common chess training mistake
that many people make when they sit down
to train some tactics. I want to warn you
against this and help you get the maximum
benefit from your chess training.
Lets get to the point. What is the big
training mistake?

Its guessing.
Guessing answers is the worst mistake you
can make when solving chess tactics.
Tactical puzzles are often difficult and you
may be tempted to guess the solution. This
is wrong. Dont be lazy calculate the
variations to the best of your ability. Do
not guess the answer, because even if your
guess is correct you are still doing harm to
your subconscious decision-making
process.
Its all about habits. When you guess the
solutions to chess tactics puzzles, you

When things get tough, your mind tends to

fall back to old habits. More often than not
your guess-move is in fact a mistake. If
you read my article about the number one
chess strategy, you will know the
importance of avoiding such mistakes.
Then how should you train chess tactics?

Calculate all the forced variations to the

best of your ability and dont guess.
Calculating forced variations means
looking at all the checks, captures and
threats. But dont guess any answers!
Instead of guessing it will be better to
admit if you couldnt find the answer.
What should you do if you cant solve the
tactic?

If you arent able to find the solution on

your own, it is an indication that you have
not had enough exposure to this tactical
pattern. In this case I would suggest that
you give up, look at the answer and study
the solution carefully. Try to understand
why you couldnt solve it. This is a much
better way to study chess tactics.

6 Things That
Makes a Move a
Good Move

to the fact that you should firstly be sure

that your move isnt a mistake? .
2. A good move limits your opponents
options
A move that forces your opponent to go
back or to defend is almost always a
characteristic of a good move.
Forcing your opponent to defend means
that you made a little progress whilst in the
same time they couldnt use their move to
improve their position. In chess this is
often referred to as grabbing the initiative
continually putting pressure on your
opponent and forcing them to find
defensive moves.

When you see a good move, look for a

better one

3. A good move achieves a clear

objective

- Emanuel Lasker

Amateur players often make a move

simply because they couldnt think of
anything else to do.

A move is your opportunity to make some

changes to the position!
Obviously you want the changes to be in
your favour. You want to use this
opportunity to make the best possible
move you can find.

When you make a move are you able to

tell exactly which objective/s you are
achieving with that move? If yes, great. If
no, you really need to try a bit harder to
give your move a clear purpose.

But just what exactly makes a move a good

move?

4. A good move doesnt create any

attackable weaknesses in your position

The elements of a good move:

When your move creates a weakness it can

become a target for your opponent to
attack.

1. If your move isnt a mistake then that

is already a very good thing.
Ok this sounds obvious but lets look at it a
little closer. When you make a move which
isnt a mistake, your opponent is under
pressure to find a good move since they
cant immediately exploit your position.
It is quite natural for us to want to make
amazingly good moves. But lets be honest
here how much importance do you give

Having weaknesses in your position is

a liability Not having any weaknesses in
your position makes it very hard for your
opponent to find a plan. Avoiding
weaknesses is a strategy in itself and since
your opponent might become desperate to
create a weakness in your position they
might make a mistake which you can
exploit.

Note that I say attackable weaknesses. If

a weakness cannot be effectively attacked,
then it isnt really a serious weakness.
5. A good move increases the
overall activity of your pieces.
Activity is a big word in chess. Possibly
even the objective of all chess strategies
can be summarized in one word activity.
Moves that increases the mobility of your
pieces are generally good ones. Similarly,
moves which restrict the mobility of your
own pieces are usually not ideal. Of course
all moves need to be checked and backed
up with calculation.
Ok so all these things makes a move a
good move. But what then makes a move a
great move?
6. A great move is a move that achieves
multiple objectives!
This is the greatest skill of the masters
their ability to find moves that
achieves multiple objectives. The moves
improves their position, forces their
opponent to defend, helps them gain
initiative and of course the move is almost
never a mistake. All this they achieve in
only one move.
All that matters on the chessboard is good
moves. Bobby Fischer

The Addictive Habit

That Kills the Spirit
of Chess

Dont fall into the trap of bullet chess

If you are serious about improving real
chess skills play chess, not bullet.

Bullet chess can be a lot of fun.

It is a scientific fact that repetition is one

of the minds most powerful learning
methods.

But beware.

Now think about this:

Your real chess skills can suffer!

When you play chess at bullet time

controls you are rapidly repeating a very
shallow thinking process! That means you
are teaching your brain to develop a bad
habit and if you think it is easy to switch
between fast thinking vs. deep thinking
think again! It isnt easy.

Let me explain:
Real chess skills depend heavily on good
thinking habits.
Bullet time controls hurts good habits. I
have seen with my own eyes how bullet
chess can negatively affect your chess
skills.
The damage is very real a personal
story

How to spot a bullet chess player

If you have ever spoken to a regular bullet
player who will share some of their bullet
strategies with you, you will typically hear
them talking about obscure advice:

A good friend of mine discovered the joys

of chess a few years ago. She started to
play chess online. Friendly people helped
her develop chess understanding and
shared some of the hidden secrets of the
game. She improved rapidly!

Many of the online players were playing

bullet chess and finding someone to play a
quick game was easy. It seemed to be a
great way to practice having fun and
improving at the same time. Or not?

A few months later she realised with a

shock that all what she had previously
learned about the game has been destroyed.
The habit of bullet chess harmed her chess
development in a very sad way.
She lost the ability to think deeper about a
position! Can this be reversed? Yes it
can. Developing good thinking habits is
hard work. But nothing worthwhile is easy.
No pain, no gain!

Make unsound sacrifices to confuse

the opponent and cause him to use
up too much time,
continually check the opponents
king with purposeless check,
make random moves as quickly as
possible and
get into an endgame where you can
pre-move.

All this advice is aimed at getting ahead on

the clock. Which brings us to the following
conclusion:
Bullet chess isnt chess. It is
fundamentally different to classic chess.
In classic chess, the object of the game is
to plan your strategy, provoke weaknesses
and try to exploit them. That is real chess!
The object of bullet chess is radically
different try make your opponent run out
of time before they can exploit your
weaknesses.

But bullet chess is so much fun. Am I

saying you shouldnt play bullet?
Yes and no.
Slower time controls can be just as much
fun
Playing 15 minute games (or slower) are
not only fun, but also give you the
opportunity to develop a better thinking
process. Developing a systematic thinking
process is one of the most important skills
a strong chess player should have.
The joys from developing lasting chess
skills will far outweigh the short-lived
adrenaline rush which bullet time controls
give you.

Chess Tactics
Puzzle Can You
Find The Solution?
Earlier today I went on chesstempo.com to
do some chess tactics training. The 3rd
chess tactics puzzle I faced was the one in
the diagram below. See if you can find the
solution:
White to play and win

you should be congratulated for following

the logical process of first finding all the
simple captures and evaluating them
properly.
If you found the answer how long did it
take you to find it? And if you found the
correct move, how long did it take before
you trusted that your move is correct? Did
you for a moment also believe this is too
easy and then started looking for
something more complicated?
I find it fascinating how we humans can
sometimes be so confident
nt about a
complicated combination and then we still
feel unsure about a move as simple as
Nxb2! However, in a real game you would
probably find this move easily.
The fact that this chess tactics puzzle is
presented as a problem can subconsciously
make us think that the solution is probably
not very easy. I would be interested to hear
the opinion of other players as to why this
sometime happens. Feel free to tell us in
the comments.
Edited note:

To my amazement, the majority of people

trying to solve this chess puzzle gave a
wrong solution. I could see on the statistics
of this chess tactics puzzle that many
people tried a move like Ne5? Dont guess
solutions to chess puzzles. Try to solve the
puzzle and if you cant solve it then give
up and look at the answer.
In my article about some typical training
mistakes, I explained why you shouldnt
guess the solutions to tactical

The simple solution to this chess

tactics puzzle
The move is the simple Nxb2. If you saw
this straight-forward
forward capture quickly then

I should add some advice to this article.

How do one go about to avoid such
oversights?
When you are about to do a chess tactics
puzzle, first get some general information
from the position ie. find all the threats,
checks and captures (the basic interaction
between all the pieces). Do a quick
material comparison to
o realise whether
there is a material imbalance between the 2
sides.

Important advice on solving chess

tactics puzzles:
Find all the forcing candidate moves
before you start calculating anything!
anything

A forcing candidate move is a move that

forces a certain response. Such moves
include 1) all the moves that check the
enemy king, 2) all the moves that capture
something and 3) all the moves that
threaten something.
Finding all the candidate moves is a very
important step and it is something you
should do not only when solving puzzles
but also in a real game. If you follow this
approach it will help your calculation skills
to improve quite dramatically. This is the
correct approach to training tactics and will
help you improve the thinking process
which you should follow in your games
too.

What Is Visual
Memory And How
Can You Improve
Your Visual
Memory In Chess?
What does juggling have to do with chess?
Both require a lot of practice and dedicated
concentration if you want to improve.
But the similarities go deeper than just the
obvious and we can take an important
lesson from it.
For a chess player, the balls are chunks of
information and the hands are their
thinking process.

Definition of Visual Memory

Visual memory in chess is your capacity to
hold separate chunks of information in
your mind whilst at the same time being
aware of how they impact on each other.
The more chunks of information you can
comfortably handle, the better your visual
memory is.
It can be compared to a jugglers ability to
handle a certain amount of balls in the air.
The amount of balls they can keep in the
air without dropping one, determines their
skill as a juggler. In a figure of speech in
chess you need to juggle with chunks of
information. Your ability to do this
effectively determines the level of
development of your visual memory.

The benefit of well developed

Visual Memory
It should be quite clear that in order to play
chess on a high level, you must be able to

hold a rather large number of chunks of

information in your mind
whilst calculating moves and evaluating
the outcomes. A well developed visual
memory is a critical component of playing
chess well.

Then how should we train our

visual memory in chess?
Surely visual memory improves by simply
playing the game? Yes, but that is hardly
an optimized method way to improve
your visual memory.
I always say I dont want to know how to
train something I want to find the best
and most effective way to train it.
To my mind the best method is often to
find a way to simulate the real thing. By
simulating the real scenario you can focus
on that specific skill without the need to
worry about a whole lot of other things too.
(which will be the case when you are
playing a real game)
With this in mind, I have come up with 2
possible methods to train your visual
memory.

Method 1: Visualize the missing

pieces
In this method I remove some of the key
pieces in the position and tell the reader
which pieces are missing. Here is an
example of what I mean:

Some pieces are missing from the board on

the left. The missing pieces are represented
by the board on the right. Visualize the
positions of the missing pieces and try to
find the best move for black.
Missing pieces (White): Qg3; Rd4; Bf6
Missing pieces (Black): Qc7; Rh6; Bd5

The Solution:

Your task: Visualize the missing pieces

and try to find the best move for black.
Of course, the more pieces are missing the
harder the exercise becomes (similar to a
juggler who try to juggle more balls). On
this way the exercises can be split into
levels with increasing difficulty.

Method 2: Split the position into 2

boards
This method is also pretty interesting. It is
based on the missing pieces idea, but in
this case the missing pieces are indicated
on a second chess diagram next to the main
diagram. The advantage here is that you do
not need to look at notation to realise
where the missing pieces are. Your task
is to combine the 2 boards in your mind
before trying to find a tactical solution.
Here is an example:

Black plays Rxf6 and wins the bishop

since the pawn on e5 is pinned to the Qg3.
Obviously creating such exercises can be
quite a tedious task. However, once I
decided which method is more practical, I
intend to make a whole collection of such
exercises aimed at developing your chess
memory. More about that later.

The power of
threats how to
find dominating
moves!

defend against the threat? This is a good

question with a good answer: Threats force
your opponent to defend whilst at the same
time your own piece become more
active! That is good because it is easier for
you to plan ahead if you already know that
your opponent must respond in a certain
way. This means you are limiting your
opponents options.

What is a threat?
A threat is simply a move that attacks one
of your opponents pieces (either an
undefended piece or a higher valued piece)
or threatens to get some advantage if your
opponent dont find an accurate defense.
a Threat is in fact he simplest form of a
tactic and is often the starting point for
more spectacular tactics.

And. When your opponent must defend

against a threat they dont have the time
to improve their position or come up with a
plan. You are in control. If you can make
a threat that forces your opponent to
defend, do it - this is how you can
dominate the situation!
Use the mouse or keyboard arrow to see
how black increased his dominance
We can come to the following important
conclusion:

If you have a move that threatens your

opponent and forces him to defend or go
back then you have found an ideal move
no need to look further!
It is that simple. But, there is something
about threats that you must understand
clearly:

Real threats vs. Imaginary threats

Black plays Nc5 and threatens the Ba6.

The threat may appear simple, but moves
that force your opponent to defend or go
back are almost always a good move.
The power of simple threats are often
underestimated! Think about this: When
you make a move that threatens your
opponent, your opponent is forced to react
to that threat or else face the consequences.
You may ask but what is the use of a
simple threat if my opponent can easily

Real threats. I am talking here about

threats that force your opponent to defend
or retreat. In some cases your opponent can
deal with your threat and at the same time
improve their position. In that case, your
move was not a real threat it was an
imaginary threat.
Imaginary threats are not always bad, but
keep in mind that they dont carry the same
dominating authority that comes with
moves which are real threats.

Chess tactics an
unusual and highly
instructive discover
ed attack

3. Kg8

Teichmann said chess is 99% tactics. I

wouldnt quite agree about the high 99%
but I do agree with the point he obviously
tried to make that tactics is a very
important part of the game. For this reason
tactics training should also have high
priority in your training program.
I keep my tactical skills honed by regularly
doing a few puzzles on chesstempo.com as part of my personal training program.
Recently I came across a slightly unusual
but highly instructive tactic and I
recommend you study this one closely.
Black to move what would you do?

Black has 3 legal moves: 1) Qxg6, 2) Kh8

or 3) Kg8
Qxg6 clearly doesnt work since black will
play fxg6+ (or hxg6+) followed by Rxb3
and black will be behind in material. The
correct move here is Kh8. (If you havent
solved this one yet, the reason why Kh8 is
much better than Kg8 will soon become
clear). After the moves Kh8, Rxb3 we now
reached this position:
Black to move what should you do?

If you follow a good calculation process,

you should always consider all the checks,
captures and threats first. In this case black
is in check so he has only 3 legal options:
1. Qxg6
2. Kh8

The position reached after Kh8, Rxb3

Again, you should always consider all
checks, captures and threats first.
Black has no checks here.
He has two captures:
1. Qxg6 (to which white will simply
respond fxg6 or hxg6 and black will be
behind in material.
2. Qxb3 (to which white will respond
Qxe8+, Qg8 and material will be
equal).

However, you should also consider all

threats and black has two moves here that
create strong threats via a discovered
attack:
1. Qf8 (a discovered attack against Qg6)
and
2. Qg8! (a discovered attack against the
Qg6 which also keeps the threat
against the Rb3.)

Qg8 creates a discovered attack against

Qg6 and also keeps alive the threat Qxb3.
Now the reason why Kh8 was better than
Kg8 becomes clear. Kh8 kept the g8square open for blacks queen.

Following the correct thinking process will

go a long way in helping you finding
tactics such as this one in your own
game. The key to finding this tactic was to
consider all the checks, captures and
threats (of which the move Qg8 is a threat
against whites queen as well as a threat
against the Rb3).
Did you find this tactic easy or hard? The
pattern is quite unusual. Regular tactics
training is very important but also keep in
mind to follow the correct technique.

Chess Tactics The

Power Of Coercion
Chess, like music, like love, can make
people happy. Siegbert Tarrasch

Second tactical idea: Coercion

Coercion involves forcing your opponent

to move a piece to a square where it will be
vulnerable to another tactical motif. In this
case, being forced to h1, the white king
becomes vulnerable to to a fork as well as
a pin.

Chess is not only a sport, it is also a form

of art.

Third tactical idea: A Pin

Beautiful combinations have the power to

awe us and one of the most pleasing
aspects of the game is a creative tactical
combination. I found a great example to
illustrate the point.

Whites rook becomes immobile due to the

absolute pin by blacks queen. This means
the rook absolutely cannot move and
allows black to exploit a 4th tactical idea
a fork.

The position is from the game A Bannik

D Bronstein, played in Riga 1958:

Fourth tactical idea: A Fork (double

attack)

Black to move. What would you do?

A fork (or double attack) involves making

more than one threat at the same time.
Since it is usually hard (or impossible) to
defend against multiple threats, forks are a
very effective tactical motif. Black attacks
two targets with one move. Nxg3+ attacks
both the white king and queen. White loses
the queen since the king must get out of
check.

Black combines 4 tactical ideas in this

creative combination:
First tactical idea: A skewer

The move Rh1+ is a skewer since moving

the king out of check will expose whites
queen. Therefore white does not have a
choice but to capture the Rh1 with his king