Hello and welcome back, or if you’re new to this site, then welcome to you too. It’s time to start going through some of the more advanced ideas in chess, including when to attack and when to defend, gaining the initiative and exploiting small advantages.

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.