However, some of these conditioned reflexes can sometimes be harmful, as it can cause some serious mistakes. In order to be able to grasp the finer points of the game, you have to be able to critique and correct these, but it is hard. How many times have you automatically retreated your bishop from a4 to b3, when it was attacked by the b5 pawn advance in a Spanish or retreated your bishop from c4 to b3 in a Sicilian without even thinking about it? I’m guessing dozens of times. Usually, it’s the correct (and only good) move, but there are exceptions. Take this one for example:

In this position, black played 1…b5 without even thinking about because he thought it was in the spirit of the game – trying to gain some play on the queenside in an otherwise quiet game. The game, by the way is between Grekhov and Ilyin-Zhenevesky at Moscow in 1920. Black thought that white would automatically respond with Bd3, since it was a natural move.

Suffice to say, black was shocked when white played 2. dxe5! There followed 2…dxe5 (no choice, since 2…bxc4 3. exf6, Nxf6 4. Qxc4 with a winning position) 3. Nxe5!, bxc4 4. Nxc6, Qe8 5. e5! This last move is the key to the whole line since the attacked knight has no flight square, so white wins back the piece and is left with a won ending (or superior position).

So, the conditioned reflex of “make everything safe” by moving your attacked piece away elsewhere, doesn’t always work, especially where there are a lot of concrete variations involved.

So, it’s important to be decisive, I mean not just in chess but in life as well. You don’t want to go around having to clarify yourself all the time because you could’ve just said, “It’s that way”. Just take some time to clear your mind, because as you know, life is even more complicated than chess, with millions of times more variables, including luck, random events and emotion.

Chess is similar in a way, but it’s more contained – almost like life packaged in a box. And the only way to access it, is to see what’s inside and to see what you can do with what’s inside. That reminds me of one of Fritz 10 sayings “Chess is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get”.

But in any case, you still have to be careful of what you decide – you can’t just be blatantly decisive about everything because not everything is blatantly obvious. I mean, you can’t expect to perform resuscitation because it looked “obviously simple”, the way they did it on TV, can you?

Let’s imagine we’re in the shoes of a grandmaster who is thinking on how best to continue. Most often, the grandmaster begins analysing different candidate moves and examines each one in sequence, moving along one variation to the next.

This is not very easy to do and the accuracy of the variations depends on how good you are. Nevertheless, being able to think in a disciplined manner is one of the essential characteristics of a strong player, very much like any other sporting athlete. Thinking in a logical and proper sequence and finding how to begin these sequences are as important as each other.

Here’s an example:

The above position came from the game between Tartakower and Alekhine at Baden-Baden in 1925. Tartakower gives the following possible variations which he examined to some degree on deciding on the next move:

1) 17. Qg4, Nxe5 18. Bxe5 is met by 18…f6 or 18…f5 with equality
2) 17. Ng4 (threatening 18. Nf6+, Kh8 19. Qh4) 17…h5 18. Ne5, Nxe5 19. Bxe5 and white has nothing
3) 17. Nd3, Bd6 18. Qg4, f5 19. Qf3, Na5 20. Qxb7, Nxb7 with an equal position
4) 17. Rad1 (17. Rfd1 is similar), Nxe5 18. Bxe5, Rad8 with exchanges and simplification
5) 17. Qd5, Na5 (not 17…Rac8 18. Nd7, Rcd8 19. Qg5) 18. Qxb7, Nxb7 19. Rfd1, Rfd8
6) 17. Qe4, Nd8 18. Qg4, Ne6 19. Rad1, Rad8 and black defends successfully
7) 17. Nxc6 (the move that was played in the game), Qxc6 18. Qg4, Qg6! and the game ended in a draw

So, you can see how it is necessary to examine all the logical candidate moves in any given position. Just missing one possible candidate move could mean throwing away a winning variation or a saving variation.

Of course, you’re not expected to turn into a machine and analyse millions of moves ahead. This is not humanly possible, but what is possible is that you try to work out concrete variations instead any old, random variation and hoping for the best. I’ll give you an example:

This game actually comes from the Hastings tournament in 1935/6 between Flohr and Fine, who by the way were 2 very influential chess players of their time. The position itself looks very sharp as white’s queen is pinned and knight is under attack on e6, but white seems to have some kind of attacking momentum since f7 can become a target, a knight sacrifice may work on g7 and backrank possiblities.

However, Flohr erred and played 24. Nd8? which simply lost to 24…Qc7, as white simply loses the knight with no real compensation.

The correct continuation was found several years later (this was the time before chess computers) and it turned out to be a very surprising move. The correct move was 24. b5! Why it is … well, you should give it a try. Why is 24. b5! the right move? (and so that you actually gain some analytical skills, DON’T use your chess program/engine)

Well, the reason is broken down into several reasons, or should I say variations, and here they are:

After 24. b5!, black must take the pawn, so 24…Bxb5. Then, white plays 25.Nxg7. The variations that follows are:

1) 25…Kxg7 26. Rg4+
1a) 26…Kf8 27. Qb4+ wins
1b) 26…Kh6 27. Reg5! and black can’t meet the two threats of 28. Qe5 and 28. Qe1
1c) 26…Kh8 27. Rxb5, Rg8 28. Rxg8+, Kxg8 29. Rg5+, Kh8! 30. Rf5, Kg7 31. g4 and white will surely win, though some technique is required
1d) 26…Nxg4 27. Rg5+, Kf8 28. Qg7+, Ke7 29. Qxf7+, Kd6 30. Qf4+ with a decisive attack

2) 25…Bxc4 26. Nf5! This move creates mating threats as well as a deadly check on e7. Black has various replies, which all lead to a win for white:
2a) 26…Qc7 27. Rg4+, Kh8 28. Re8+ wins
2b) 26…Kh8 27. Rxc4 followed by Re8+ winning
2c) 26…Rc7 27. Rg4+, Kh8 28. Rxc4 and 29 Re8+ wins
2d) 26…Qa4 (to prevent a queen check along the a3-f8 diagonal) 27. Re8+, Rxe8 28. Rg4+, Kf8 29. Qxf6 and black has run out of checks and has no defence against Rg8+

Training exercises like these will lead you to improve the accuracy of your analysis and be able to penetrate more deeply into the secrets of a very complicated position.

And the answer is, “You attack at the right moment”. But what moment is the right moment and when does it occur? Now this is a lot harder to answer. Because chess gives us so many opportunities, there are various different variations to consider, some of which can still end out in your favour. However, being able to play chess well doesn’t just involve coming up with loads of variations, it’s also about choosing the correct one. Let’s take this position for example:

Black is clearly winning and simply moving the queen to f5, threatening to play Qb1+ and then followed by mopping up the queenside, would easily ensure the win. The pawn on c6 can’t be taken by white yet since black’s king could simply capture bishop on f7. Another good move would have been Qf6, just to defend the c6 pawn if black wasn’t in much of an attacking mood.

In the game, however, black was not as patient and decided to immediately liquidate by 1…Rxf7?? Black obviously thought that white would take back and simply leave black a queen for a bishop. However, white stunned black with 2. Bd8+!! and tables immediately turn around, since black must take the bishop, 2…Kxd8 (or lose the queen due to the skewer), but then 3. Nxf7+ wins the black queen anyway.

This example shows you that in order to earn that precious point, you must also have some patience and to be always be aware of the consequences of your actions, or in this case moves, otherwise you could fall victim to such oversights such as the one above.

In this position, white is more developed than black due to the knight being developed on d2 but black is also ready to castle and perhaps generate counterplay by trying to open the f-file with f5, f4.

But if black were to lose control of the centre, then white would be able to prevent this counterplay and also prevent black from developing his pieces on ideal squares. So …

1. dxe5! (reducing black’s influence in the centre) dxe5 2. Bd3 h6 3. O-O O-O 4. f4 Nd7 5. f5! prevents black from f5, f4 and black will also have trouble developing the bishop.

White eventually won in 41 moves.

Tactical Answer

In this position, black is threatening to play b2+ which wins white’s queen and allows at least one of black’s pawns to promote. But white can take adavantage of the fact black’s king doesn’t have that much room to move and can also prevent b2+ by …

1. Qa2+! (this queen sacrifice is essentially forced but is also the winning move for white) bxa2 2. Nc6! and believe or not, black can’t prevent mate coming on b3 or c2 at the same time, so white wins.

It’s going to be more in-depth than before. Before, you’re used to just seeing a couple of variations and most of which were forced. But now, we’re going to go through what really happens in a real game, not necessary the whole game, but the positional and tactical factors in a game.

And because you’re turning into a club strength player, I’m going to leave out the algebraic notation. And if you don’t know what that is or don’t know anything about chess, then you can go to “The Basics” and start from the intro and work your way up from the bottom – we all gotta start somewhere!

But you’re probably sick of just seeing a whole ton of words and not enough positions, so I’m going to get you started with 1 positional exercise and 1 tactical exercise. (By the way, both of these exercises were taken from Positional Chess Handbook: 495 Instructive Positions from Grandmaster Gamesby Israel Gelfer)

Are you ready?

Good, then let’s begin. (If not, then go back to “The Basics”, then through “Newbie No More”)

Positional Exercise

Find the best continuation for white. Hint: Don’t let black control the centre.

Tactical Exercise

Find the best continuation for white. Hint: Don’t lose! – I mean, black’s king can be stuck in the corner.

I’ll give you the answers in the following post.

But what is even more important is that you’ve remembered most of everything I’ve told you such as forks, pins, skewers, discovery, the Sicilian, the KIA, getting a feel for moves etc. etc.

The tactical devices are something you must remember because these things appear when you least expect it. So you should maintain and sharpen your tactical skill on a regular basis. Books like 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations by Fred Reinfeld and Combination Challenge by Lou Hays and John Hall should help keep you in peak condition.

Also, don’t neglect positional play – you can improve on this by reading the books that I’ve recommended such as Positional Chess Handbook: 495 Instructive Positions from Grandmaster Games by GM Israel Gelfer and Improve Your Positional Chess by FM Carsten Hansen. These books provide a wealth of exercises and key positions that’ll help you with improving your positional play (without a doubt).

But with anything, you can only gain mastery by practice, practice, practice (or if you just want to achieve good results, practice!).

This means playing against the machine – against programs such as Fritz 12 or Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition – or playing against players who are slightly stronger than you AND are willing to play against you.

Remember to always enjoy what you’re doing because not only will you be extremely miserable when you lose, your progress in becoming better at chess will be greatly slowed – and with something like chess, you don’t want it to be any slower.

So just relax when you’re playing and just play good moves and good chess.

And with said, I hope you’ve enjoyed learning how to play chess so far. It’s been an honour showing you how and I hope to hear more of your comments (I welcome ALL – that’s right – ALL comments) in the next section.