Temposchlucker

Usually a chess game happens to me. Combinations most of the time come out of the blue. Now I start to learn how to combine, wouldn't it be nice to be able to concoct a combination from the beginning? To that end I started to analyze a game behind a CT problem. Is there a sudden outburst of tactical elements, or do they gradually build up during the game? White to move. You can find the solution here . Allthough the combination is pretty clean and crisp, it is not so easy to find. Yet it is all very logical. I identified the following tactical elements that played a role in the combination (in random order): Knight fork Ne8 Overworked rook Rf8 Weak backrank Battery Bb3, Qc4 Weak diagonal Occupation of open d-file Invasion with Nd6 Qc7 and Ra8 at a knights jump distance The clumsy Ne7 which prevent Bf6 from defending d8 Play through the game and look at the comments. . . . .  . . . You see that the combination starts to build up from as early as move...

When knowledge is organized, it is easier to retrieve it from memory. The better it is organized, the more cues are formed, the easier the retrieval and the faster the retrieval. Verbalization is one way to organize the knowledge of a chess position. But we already know, that a verbal description is not the most logical way to transfer knowledge from one problem to the next . Besides that, language itself is inherent limited in describing a chess position. It can be used to describe the core ideas, but the details become problematic. That is why I want to use a second method to describe the position: graphical representation. The use of two methods for the organization of chess knowledge has an extra advantage: it provides more cues, hence faster and better retrieval. When you work out all variations of a given position rated 2000+ the amount of variations usually exceeds hundred moves by far. Of which every move has its own consequences and repercussions on the position. It is pos...

Meaning of life We have found out that it is meaning that we want to transfer from the study room to the tournament hall. Let's investigate this a bit further. Today I talked to Phaedrus and I said about the position in my previous post : "When I use trial & error I don't use logic and when I use logic reasoning I don't see the variations." Trial & error is an highly automated activity which is semi intelligent. It turns out that this semi intelligence is from a much lower quality than my normal reasoning. Verbalization seems to be the only method to build understanding and meaning in the study room. At the same time we know that this verbalization is not going to make it to the tournament hall. And even it is not going to make it to the next problem most of the time. We must find a method to assist the encoding of verbalization into something more automatic. I tried to imagine the logic findings from the position as geometrical patterns wi...

. . . . Black to move. You can find the solution here . I had written down all relevant tactical elements perfect. I checked this afterwards. Yet I couldn't find the first move. 1. ... Rd5 Since I underestimated the trouble white is in after this move. The reason for this post is that this raises a question. To make an exercise fruitfull, I must take something from it with me to the next problems. Otherwise this is a waste of time. But in this specific case, what is it that I must encode in memory? Is it a pattern, a chunk or a template? But I have written them down in little time and complete already. That I can do in the next exercises too. And it was not enough to solve this. Is it knowledge? But what knowledge? And how is it going to be reusable? Is it a skill? But what skill? And how do I train it? Or something else? Without knowing what to learn from this exercise and what to ingrain into your brains in a way that is reusable with the n...

In the enthousiastic violence of our debates the essence of the matter is all too often obfuscated by interesting sidesteps. In order to to keep them for posterity I have put them on tiles.

. . . . White to move. You can find the solution here . I always say that we should seek speed in doing something different and not by trying to do what we already do at a higher speed. You can move faster by changing from walking to using a bike. You can never speed up walking to the same extend as riding a bike. Especially in a position like the above, I feel that it should be possible to actually see the solution right away in stead of calculating it. Allthough the problem has a rating of 2282, and people found 19 moves that go astray, the problem is rather clean and straightforward. The tactical elements are easy to spot: Discovered attack Qd1, Nd4 Discovered attack Re1, Ne4 Pin Bg5 => Nf6 Knight fork Nxf6 => Kg8, Re8 One of the discoveries while doing high rated tactics is that I always neglect the defenders. But the defenders often give a clue where to start the combination. In order to see the combination, it is necessary to see ...

. . . . I just finished the book " Move first, think later " from IM Willy Hendriks (hattip to Phaedrus!). Willy Hendriks is a dutch IM who writes very funny and in an easy to read style. The title already suggests that he is not afraid to challenge the mainstream consensus with regard to chess improvement. He criticizes chess authors and trainers who bury their readers/pupils in paternalistic advice which can't withstand a serious scrutiny by common sense. He compares the current methods with the latest scientific insights and his own observations as chess trainer. An important observation is that the role of trial & error is paramount. Since that is simply how the mind works. He actually reverses the order how to approach a position. The first step is to investigate the position by trial and error. That is is done by letting the mind generate moves. The second step is to base a plan on the findings of the first step. The third step is to judge th...