Temposchlucker

 The opening can be seen as a tree with many branches. But as long as you don't know what kind of middlegame you want to play, you are essentially clueless in the opening. So you just must first decide on which middlegame you want to play. The middlegame is a tree with many branches, which leads to many types of endgame play. At club level about 50% of the games end by a forced mate and 50% by an endgame. That are two main branches with a lot of smaller branches and twigs. When you start with the middlegame tree, you are essentially clueless when you don't know in which direction you want to go. So we let us guide by preference, taste, what we are good at and chance. That is a feeble base. Essentially we have no idea what we are doing. How can you develop a preference or can you become good at something when you have no idea what you are doing? Between the middlegame and the endgame, we have the "Capablanca gap". Capablanca said about it: "In order to improve you...

 So far, the following plans emerge:  Flank attack keep the center closed clear pivot point pawn storm sac a piece exchange defenders Preconditions: ahead in development keep your king save Restraint block mobile pawn take squares away prevent enemy outpost Pawn structure prevent damage repair damage (solve isolani or backward pawn) inflict damage (enemy). Especially as side effect of a beneficial trade prevent reparation (enemy) Bishop pair get it. But not at any cost keep it. But not at any cost open the position attack on the squares of the missing bishop put your pawns on the other color

 I sorted out the 197 items that I found in the 50 positional problems I'm working on. I made a decision  which items I must study first. I decided to focus on the pawn breaks. These are the most complicated and probably rewarding items to study first. There are a lot of aspects that must be learned. Today I focus on the pivot points. The saying goes "if a pawn is well protected by pieces, it probably stands in the way". This means that when a pawn moves, a pivot point behind it becomes cleared. There are two preconditions which might make you refraining from playing a pawn break: When your king is not safe When you are behind in development When your king is not safe, opening the position might become disastrous. When you are behind in development, your opponent might be the one who is going to profit from the opened lines of attack instead of you. A single pawn move might have an effect on: 6 squares (knights) 4 diagonals (bishops) 3 files (rooks) So it might have a big...

 While the building of a positional framework is on its way, I analyze the games I play. For 23 years I didn't do that, because I didn't know how to do that. In december I played a tournament, and I found three areas where I suck. The opening, king assault and endgames. It seems that I managed to fix my opening problems. Usually I emerge on top after the opening nowadays. I calculated somewhere that the mastering of the endgame will gain me another 150 rating points. I have to start with studying endgames yet. The games that I played the last three months point mostly at the assault of the king as the main culprit for sucking though. After a successful opening, the question arises, what now? The building of a positional framework is intended to give a partly answer to that question. I'm sure it will. But mostly, I am ready for a king assault, but I struggle to get it off the ground. All of a sudden I start to use excessive time, while I am looking for tactics that aren'...

 I started with  the-woodpecker-method-2-positional-play  some time ago. As usual, finding the right beginning is the most difficult thing to do. In the criticism on the course, there are a lot of complaints about the completeness of the analysis. I highly disagree with that. The fact is that you simply have to put a lot of effort in it yourself. Furthermore, I think you can't do without  the video. The video is chockfull of little details. It takes a lot of time to work out all these details. In the video, GM Axel Smith is solving the problems himself. Other people have gathered the problems for him. And although this is the second time around that he solves these problems, he has forgotten most solutions. It gives a pretty authentic insight in how a grandmaster thinks when solving a positional problem. The first task it to inventorize all details of what he is saying. The second step is to categorize these details. The third step is to build a positional framework ...

  Black to move 1k6/1b3p1p/p7/3qp3/Np5Q/4BP2/PPP3rP/R4K2 b - - 1 26 Jean-Marc Degraeve vs. Laurent Guidarelli (2003) Source Chessable The Checkmate Patterns Manual The black queen and bishop cooperate to invade f3 Once invaded, a new invasion square emerges: The black rook and queen eye to f2 But that focal point is defended by the white queen and bishop After 1. ... Qxf3+ 2. Bf2 the helper black rook sacrifices itself 2. ... Rg1+ and acts as a magnet to attract the white king to another square  White gives mate from one of the two invasion squares g2 or h1 The invasion squares are clearly dynamic, and move with the pieces

 The woodpecker method is a carbon copy of the seven circles of madness. We found out what works in the method and why, and what doesn't work and why not. First time exposure First of all, it works for everybody who has never emerged himself in tactics before. The first time exposure to tactics will get anyone 250 rating points, no matter the method.  It becomes increasingly difficult to play in tournaments and to be NOT emerged in tactics. Because there is so much material on the internet available nowadays. I noticed that the tactical proficiency has risen, the past decades. Even new members at the club usually have a lot of tactics under the belt already. Only older guys with some clumsiness when it comes to computers tend to lag behind. For MDLM, Tikkanen and Smith, the seven circles worked. For mere mortal people, like the Knights Errant, it didn't. Understanding The difference is, that you need to make sure you thoroughly understand a puzzle before you start to absorb an...