What is it, that you need to learn?

 In general, I'm pretty easy going when it comes to investigating the details of a puzzle. I consider chess to be a language, and I'm in the process of learning the words.

Learning words is about coupling the pattern of a word to its meaning. When there is a clear pattern, and a clear meaning, and the frequency of occurrence is high enough, the word is worth learning.

On the one hand this means that I reject complex Shakespearean constructions in archaic English, but on the other hand I try to make the most of simple constructions in plain English which show themselves when fiddling around. An example:

White to move

r2qr1k1/1p2bppp/p2p1n2/5N2/N1P1Pp2/1PB4R/P3Q1PP/6K1 w - - 1 21

A typical Vukovic situation. 4 attackers versus 3 defenders, can I sac a piece and get access to the black king before the black pieces spring into action?

First the main line:

• 1.Nxg7 Kxg7
• 2.Qg4+

The black knight is pinned absolutely, so g4 is momentarily a save square. But why is 2.Qh5 not equally good? That has to do with the rook on e8. For now, the rook is excluded from the defense. But white must keep it this way. 1.Qg4+ and 1.Qh5 are equally dangerous, and both made possible by the pin of the black knight. But Qg4+ forces the black king to the backrank while Qh5 does not. This makes that 2.Qh5 allows for 2. ... Rh8 to participate in the defense.

It is all about the precise scenarios of what the move accomplishes.

The black king can retreat to f8 or h8. What is the difference?

After 2. ... Kf8. White to move

The black rook on e8 is excluded from the defense. The black king has stepped out of the pin. Yet, the black knight is still pinned relatively against the squares g7 and h8. What does that mean?

After 3.Rxh7, the black knight cannot forsake the pin with either Nxg4 or Nxh7 due to a mate in one:

3.Rxh7 Nxg4 4.Rh8#

or

3.Rxh7 Nxh7 4.Qg7#

We have to learn to see the relation between a move and its direct consequences. It is a 1:n relationship. One move can have more consequences.

In order to learn "to speak chess", we must learn to recognize these immediate consequences of one move.

If the king moves to h8 instead:

After 2. ... Kh8. White to move

After 2. ... Kh8, the pin remains absolute, but the difference is that the black king does now defend h7, so 3.Rxh7 is no longer possible.

The first learning task is to learn all consequences of just one move (1:n), Don't worry about series of moves, just focus on one move at the time.

Only once the consequences pop up immediately after a move, you are ready for the next step. But I can assure you, that is much farther away than you are inclined to think.