The importance of chess tactics

Hi Guys

Tactics can be incredibly beautiful such as the American Legend Frank Marshall's Gold coin immortal game tactics :

https://youtu.be/UPOYFsPivVs

(My evolution of style playlist has other historical games: http://kingscrusher.tv/evolutionchess )

My repeated advice for team members looking to calculate ahead is essentially the prioritisation of forcing moves and the following is pretty useful as a one-line nudge:

"Check all checks, captures, and major threats (e.g. mate in 1 or 2)"

This awareness of forcing moves doesn't mean you always have to play them. Sometimes you might be giving the opponent a "micro-advantage" by being too forceful. But generally, it is important to know the forceful transitions you can make from Position A to Position B, etc. So the above is useful for an AWARENESS of how you can forcefully transition things.

Here is a game which even Karpov falls victim to a simple tactic in the Opening:

What are the "downsides" of black's position in the above? Clue: Include "Unprotected pieces" :)

Qd1 taps into those "downsides" !

Additionally, the funny thing about tactics, is that even if something outrageous and forcing doesn't quite work in the current moment, maybe in just a move or two things change and all of a sudden it works! Also sometimes just changing the move order of a combination makes it works. This happens because the move order can affect the opponent's potential resourcefulness.

In addition, an acute awareness of the "downsides" of opponent positions really helps. For example, if there is an unprotected piece, or weakened king, or weak light squares, quite often these make up the essential ingredients behind a forceful combination that can take advantage of these "downsides" for a bigger or winning advantage.

I have expounded on these ideas for tactical thinking in my Udemy best-selling course "The complete guide to chess tactics" (https://kingscrusher.tv/chesstactics). I feel Tactics are the most important aspect of many player's games as Tactics pervade all aspects of the game - Opening, middlegame, and endgame. Some endgames can be very tactical and Grandmasters such as John Nunn even have books on tactical chess endings.

Key Takeaway points

• Tactics pervade all phases of the game
• An awareness of forcing moves is important but not always to play them
• Be on the lookout for how small changes in the position can make tactics suddenly work out
• "Downside" awareness of the opponent's position really helps understand the ingredients for the "Recipe" of a chess combination
• Changing the move order of a combination sometimes makes it work fine!
• Sometimes waiting for a position to change slightly makes a combination work much better

Cheers, K

Hope you enjoyed this blog :). Any likes and follows are really appreciated. Also, I also have some interesting chess courses at https://kingscrusher.tv/chesscourses to check out.Cheers, K