Temposchlucker

  Have a look at the following position: Diagram 1. White to move r1b2rk1/1pq1bppp/p3pn2/3n2N1/3R4/2N1B1P1/PPQ1PPBP/R5K1 w - - 0 15 #15. Ni H. vs. Adly, A., Shenzen 2011 Although you can't possibly know this yet, the decisive focal points of this position are: h7 [2:2} d8 [0:3] The first moves are: 15.Nxd5 Qxc2 The landscape has totally shifted now: There is no acceptable alternative for black. He simply loses his knight, and after Nxf6 he would lose by Qxh7#. Diagram 2. White to move White has given up his queen. And even the focal point h7 has ceased to exist. This means that white's logical reasoning is totally guided by the forcing moves alone now. The list of forcing moves has shortened to "CM" . Since white has sacrificed his queen, only a check or a mate in 1 threat can save him now. This pruning of the list of possible forcing moves is even more important than the pruning of the branches of the tree of analysis as a consequence. The list of forcing moves of b...

First insight: Tactics are about unbalancing barely balanced targets Tactical battle is about A:D-ratio (#ataackers vs. #defenders). Chess is a balanced game. Otherwise you would already be winning. From time to time, you will be able to tip the balance by changing the A:D-ratio by force The basic method is simple. You add attackers or you remove defenders.. The problem is that the opponent shouldn't be given the possibility to answer each attempt adequately with a countermeasure. The potential unbalance is not always easy to see  That is what we need to learn.   Second insight: CMCT can be used as pruning shears Robert pointed in  this direction. I had abandoned CCT long ago due to its many red herrings. I now realize that I tried to use it as a method to get a list of candidate moves. But that is the wrong way. I don't need a list of moves . I just need one or two potential targets .

 In an equal game. the tempi are in balance. The first step to a win is to get the initiative. You do something, and your opponent must react. This already points in the direction that there must be some targets in the position. No targets, no initiative. The creation of targets is another chapter where we need to talk about. But for now I want to focus on the mysterious tempi. Having the initiative alone is not enough. You need an extra tempo. If you look at tactical puzzles, then you notice that you can only convert a combination into a win, when you are able to gain an extra tempo along the way. That looks logical, because only when you get an extra tempo while your opponent does not, you can expect to execute the extra tempo and convert it into a gain of some sort. Whether that gain is enough to win the game is a totally different question. Little is known about the materialization of this extra tempo out of the blue. Logically it can't come out of the blue. How does this mecha...

 Currently I'm working my way through 1001 Chess Endgame Exercises for Beginners . That may sound  not as effective as it can be. After all, I'm no beginner anymore. And the problems in the course are relative easy and fast to solve: Mate in 1 Win a piece in 2 Mate in 2 Win a piece in 3 Defend your king Defend your pieces It are not the problems that causes me a loss in my average games. Since if I cannot solve the problem with System 1 immediately, I certainly can solve these problems with the aid of System 2 within a reasonable short time. So why bother? I can solve about 75% of the problems solely by working with System 1. That means that I can answer a barrage of questions  in no time. What IF then THAT. In 25% of the cases I need System 2 to kick in. Since it are relative simple questions, it doesn't take much time to answer, and the error percentage is quite low. Learning to solve these puzzles is probably not going to get me many rating points. In the previous...

  What have I found so far? The Trick is the decisive element from novice to super grandmaster. It is the decisive element between two players of equal level. Players with equal rating differ in what they have automated (absorbed by System 1). What happens in the game determines which skill is pivotal. That is a matter of chance. The human mind is not suitable to play chess. Because the mind is easily overwhelmed. There are too many parameters. So we need a trick to prevent the mind from cognitive overload. Luckily, evolution has provided us with a mechanism to prevent cognitive overload. We can simplify reality before it happens. By logic and conceptualisation we can simplify the world so it becomes more manageable. We even have an inner LLM which can predict the future based on what has happened before. Of course such simplification results in mistakes caused by bias every now and then. When you hear a rustle in the bushes you better be biased that it is a lion and run, rather th...

 Robert uses the same book as me, which is handy because I have seen the problem before. White to move 6k1/4brpp/r1p1pp1B/p3q3/2P1N3/PP4Q1/2n3PP/3R1R1K w - - 0 22  Orange square - target. Targets are pieces or PoPs (points of pressure) that lie on the LoA (line of attack) from attacker to piece. f8 is a bit surprising, but it is on the LoAs from the white roos towards the black king. They converge on f8. Red circle - defender. Piece with a function. The defenders are restricted in their movements. By forcing the defenders to fulfill their duties you can win a crucial tempo that makes the combination work. 22.Nf6+ Bxf6   now the bishop has a double function. Or actualy a triple function: it must defend the invasion square d8 it must defend Qe5 it must keep the f-file closed 23.Qxe5 Bxe5 make use of the overloaded black bishop. The invasion square d8 is no longer defended. Notice how the white attack follows the change of functions. Essentially, white has won a tempo her...

  Another mysterious subject is the Tempo.  CM Dan Heisman was een advocate of the CCT method, which is a crude method to drum up a series of candidate moves. Black to move 4r1k1/1p4bp/3qp3/5pp1/Q4N2/2P2PP1/PP5P/1K2R3 b - - 0 23 Slingerland, F. vs. Pijpers, A., Leiden 2013 Source  1001 Chess Exercises for Advanced Club Players There is some sort of tempo balance here. Black wants to take the white knight, but he must first bring his rook into safety. 1. ... b5  in order to chase the white queen away or to a place where the black rook can attack her in a safe way. (notice the redundant candidate moves of CCT 1. ... Ra8 1. ... gxf4 1. ... Qxf4  1. ... Bxc3 1. ... Qd3+ 1. ... Qd1+ 1. ... e5 ) 2.Qxb5 Rb8 3.Qd3    Now black needs still a tempo 3. ... Qb6 Finally a tempo that cannot be parried with a counter tempo! Notice how logic prunes the list of potential candidate moves rigorously.