Temposchlucker

 The following concepts emerged: A file is open when your own pawn is missing or hidden Ultimate goal of an open file is the penetration of the 7th or 8th rank There is no difference between play against a piece and against a point Attack the defenders of the entrance point A file is opened when the opponent trades a piece that is defended by a pwan Provoke such caption by placing your pieces in the center The file next to the exchanged piece will be opened Obstacles on the open file can be removed by piling up (evolutionary) Or by a sacrifice (revolutionary) An open file can be used as a rooklift A knight as outpost undermines the pawn that it is blocking by attacking its defending pawn An outpost must be supported by a pawn An knight as outpost provokes the defending pawn to step forward The power of an outpost is derived from the open file and the pieces and pawn behind it When an outpost is exchanged, and you take back with a pawn, the enemy pawn is blockaded. At the same time ...

 I found the following concepts. Or "rules" if you like. In the opening speedy development is paramount A pawn move is not a development move Only pawn moves that occupy or support the center are allowed in the opening Don't move the flank pawns in the opening, unless it is a closed position where development is slower Maximum two pawn moves in the opening Win tempo's by threatening enemy pieces Develop with one move per piece When your opponent does a non development move, you can do likewise without getting behind in development Don't trade pieces in which you have invested much tempo's Liquidate the center when your development is impeded Method 1: exchange with gain of tempo Method 2: liquidate the center followed by a development move or a freeing move Mobile center pawns are criminals that should be eliminated or put under severe restraint. Prison or death. Or both. If you chase a piece away, beware that it has no better place to go where it can maintain...

 For a list of abbreviations see link in sidebar. I added all relevant variations of the HAD in the COW: All variations that make the Yugoslav attack not work Gurgenidze against the Maroczy Bind Alapin Smith Morra gambit Early deviations So I have a month before the chess club reopens to learn the basics. I'm busy to do the same with the Sniper! Which is much more work. Furthermore I started to reread My System for the third time, but now very thoroughly. The first two times convinced me of the fact that the book comprises a complete and consistent system indeed. All chapters are deeply related. I'm writing down all concepts that are revealed in chapter 1. It is a surprising amount!

 Robert pointed out that learning tactics can be a pretty daunting task. Yet not everything is doom and gloom, though. There is some light at the end of the tunnel. During concept building, it is perfectly legitimate to use a grandmaster. I consult Mr. Stockfish14 All salient points play a role. Nothing can happen without a salient point. That is extremely helpful to know, since it limits the amount of possibilities. No reason for the mind to feel overwhelmed. All elements that play a role, can only be stitched together by being aware of the purpose you want to accomplish. That's different from combining the elements by trial and error. It invites logical reasoning. Which I always failed to apply, until now. If you can imagine what the purpose is, it is easy to find the moves that lead to that purpose. Concept building builds a database of purposes. The last problem did teach me two powerful idea's that are transferable: pawn promotion even when the pawns look blocked, and chan...

 We have put a lot of effort in the past in the study of the superficial elements of a tactical position. To mention a few findings: The PoPLoAFun method KITB (king in the box) B.A.D. (Barely Adequate Defended) Sitting duck tactical elements (bummer, were it themes or motifs? I forgot. Again) duplo attacks war of tempo's double whammy pawns close to promotion   Diagram 1. Black to move   [FEN "3r3r/pp3pk1/2p1b3/6pq/P3Pp2/1P1N1PpN/2P1Q1P1/4RBK1 w - - 0 1"] [ solution ]  First task: find the most salient points in the position. Diagram 2. KITB. Black to move  KITB. The king has a wee wriggle room. g1 and h1. (the green squares) Diagram 3. LoA's. Black to move   LoA's. Follow the arrows. Diagram 4. Pawns close to promotion. Black to move Pawns close to promotion. At first glance the pawns seem well blocked. Diagram 5. Function. Black to move Fun. Which pieces have a duty to fulfill? Nh3 blocking access to h2 and h1 g2 protecting the knight. Blockading g3 f3 pr...

 After 23 years of research, I came up with the following conclusion: In order to transfer knowledge from one position to another, the knowledge of a position must be deduced to a higher level of abstraction. This is a system II activity. System I knows what to do with that higher level of abstraction already, by means of analogy. So system II must focus on abstracting analogies from a position. I scrutinized every chess learning method I could find, and tested it with myself as guinea pig. After excluding everything that didn't work, the above statement remains. I posed a lot of questions during these 23 years of  investigation, and with the aid of the blue statement above, such questions can now get a definite answer. Like for instance: What are the conditions for a Stoyko exercise to work Why shows a brain scan of a grandmaster activity in the long term memory while a brain scan of an amateur shows that he perceives every position as new How to study master games Etc ....

 The main problem is the transfer of knowledge gained from one position to another. Let'see if we can get that to work. Diagram 1. White to move [ solution ] [FEN "2Rr2k1/1p1Prp1p/pq3Q2/4n3/P7/6PP/6B1/5R1K b - - 0 0"] The move 1.Rxf6 retaking the queen immediately doesn't accomplish anything. That raises the question, can the retake be postponed, and is there something that can be achieved by that? Diagram 2. White to move  The move 1.Rxd8+ fetches the rook and has enough additional punch (the check) to maintain the postponement of the retake of the queen. It is a bit deceptive though, since black has the double whammy 1. ... Kg7. Which serves two goals: skedaddling the king out of harms way protecting the queen Diagram 3. White to move  2.Rg8+ maintains the postponement and clears d8 for promotion. At the cost of giving the rook back. Since 3.d8Q+ promotes with check, the postponement of Rxf6 is still maintained. What can be learned from all this? Which knowledge mig...

 I'm trying pick up blogging again. Since I seem to have forgotten a lot of what I wrote in the past, I might produce some duplicates or miss out some reactions you wrote it the past. Sorry for that. I try to catch up within a few posts. This seems to be the essence of what I have written in the past: In order to transfer knowledge from one position to another, the knowledge of a position must be deduced to a higher level of abstraction. This is a system II activity. System I knows what to do with that higher level of abstraction already, by means of analogy. So system II must focus on abstracting analogies from a position. The Stoyko analysis should probably work the same, when properly executed. Indicating that there are a lot of wrong ways to execute it too.  Hence the mixed results in practice. Since this blog -still- mainly focuses on tactics, the Stoyko-ic way of thinking will be cut down to a "Stoyko-ish" way of thinking fine-tuned for tactics. I hope to produce so...