Temposchlucker

 When you learn the Trick, you get some Additional Capabilities for free: you start to see the beauty of chess you can visualize a variation once you have formulated the logical narrative you prune the tree of analysis which leads to speeding up your thinking dramatically All without any extra effort. I refrained from adding examples, since chess diagrams tend to distract chess players from the essence of what is being said.

In search for salient cues, I stumble again on my PoPLoAFun system. PoP = point of pressure LoA = line of attack Fun = function Take the following position. Diagram 1. White to move r1b2rk1/1pq1bppp/p3pn2/3n2N1/3R4/2N1B1P1/PPQ1PPBP/R5K1 w - - 0 15 Ni H. vs. Adly, A., Shenzen 2011 Let us first have a look on the balance of the points of pressure. Diagram 2. Same position. PoPs. White to move Then have a look at the lines of attack. Diagram 3. Same position. LoAs. White to move And the Functions (defenders, overloaded pieces etc.) Diagram 4. Same position. Functions. White to move And here you have it. Way too much information. And somewhere in this mess there a few essential salient cues. Less is more. When we can find a methodology to restrict the mind to the essential information, we might come further. Where to start? If there are any forcible imbalances in the position, then I suppose that the overloaded defenders should lead us the way.

 I have a set of 100 tactical problems. I use this to get a better idea of what salient cues I need to solve the problems. While investigating them I noticed different categories in which to divide the logic that is exposed by the problems. One such category is counting. Diagram 1. Black to move 5rk1/2p4p/1p1p1qpb/p1nPp3/2P1P3/1PN1B1Pb/P3B2P/2Q1R1K1 b - - 0 26 Pinho, P. vs. Gallagher, J., Gibraltar 2013 Attacking is about invasion. In order to decide where to invade, I need an overview of the focal points on the board. Diagram 2. Same position. Black to move  Red digits indicate the squares where white has the upper hand. Green digits indicate where black has the upperhand. The logic that I want to develop revolves around the invasion squares. Luring and trading and clearing and chasing etc. are the tools in the box to change the balance on the invasion squares. The salient cues are: a Queen on g2 or f1 is mate. Although black has the upperhand on f3, he cannot make use of it ...

 The Trick is learning the chess language. But once you speak it fluently, what are you going to write? The Trick is the most decisive element from novice to super grandmaster. But how much more do you need? How important is the story you are going to tell with the language?

  It is tricky to use Stockfish for positional assessments. Because when Stockfish deems your position somewhere between - 0.5 and + 0.5 it can mean the following: Your opponent has several acceptable possibilities and the position is easy to play Your opponent has only one correct move, and the position is difficult to play What we actually want to know is point 2. We want to steer our games in the direction where the computer says that it is equal, but that are difficult to play for humans. But Stockfish doesn't tell you that.

 Now we have discovered the trick, it is time to think about how we can acquire the trick more efficient? The trick starts with a plan. The plan must be triggered by salient cues. How can we learn these salient cues the easiest? Diagram 1. White to move 5rk1/pQrnqppp/4p3/2bn4/4N3/2B1PP2/PP2BP1P/3RK2R w K - 0 17 Everything revolves around f6. Who are the defenders and how to deflect them? Diagram 2. White to move Once you KNOW that everything revolves around f6, it is easy to come up with a plan. 1.Qxc7 to distract one defender 1. ... Nxc7 2. Rxd7 eliminating the second defender 2. .. Qxd7 distracting the third defender 3. Nf6+ luring away the 4th defender by a royal fork This leads to the following position: Diagram 3. White to move From here it is easy to execute the mate. 3. ... gxf6 4.Rg1+ Kh8 5.Bxf6# I'm thinking about making a FEN viewer that helps to find the salient cues. In this case, you need the mate pattern (diagram 3) and the fact that everything revolves around f6 (dia...

 This is a tricky one. I'm going to use a rather random example I had trouble with. YMMV and if you see it without any trouble, still try to understand what I want to convey. We are searching for the rules that govern the acquisition of understanding in the most effective way. First of all, we must abandon all rules that are commonplace and that are just a waste of time. don't bother about visualisation don't waste your time with feeling the need to make an effort you are in learning modus here, so don't waste your time with trying to find the solution yourself, because you need elements that you haven't learned yet. There is no need to invent them yourself. when the tree of analysis becomes bushy, trial and error is a waste of time What you need is to get an understanding of what you are trying to accomplish in a position. It starts with the goal. When you know the end goal, you can judge for every move whether it contributes to the goal or not. White to move 2r1r1...