* Chess in the Newspaper: https://www.schach-chess.com/chess-...Search-for-the-best-move Checklist: Assorted kibitzer comments modified below...
What to think about?
What checklist should one follow before making a move?
Basic Search:
1) Checks. Consider all possible checks. What is the follow-up after the check? If there's no immediate follow-up checkmate, continual checks, capture, pawn promotion, etc. then the check should be saved for later when it will have more follow-up impact.
1B) Cut-offs: Should I cut-off the king's mobility (to prevent his castling, his escape off the edge, his advance to a pawn, but avoid stalemate)?
2) Captures. Consider all possible captures. What happens after the re-capture? Can the re-capturing piece be removed after it arrives on it's new square?
3) Threats. I prepare to check, capture, or tactical double attack such as a fork, pin, skewer, discovery, etc. on my next move or the move after. Plan two or three consecutive moves: Do this here now, then this and that if allowed.
4) Stop my opponent's plan. What is s/he trying to do next?
5) Improve my position. Do I have any sleeping pieces not being useful? Wake them up and Make War!
After everything above, what must always be done is blunder check! Even a check or capture can be a blunder. The saying "Patzer sees a check, patzer plays a check" is only about the patzer who forgot to blunder check his move. The first step to stop being a patzer is the final blunder check. Don't play giveaway!
Some players would say that "4) Stop my opponent's plan." is too far down the list. It is more important. "What will my opponent do next if I allow it to happen?"
General Thoughts:
- Analyze Quietly: It is not allowed to do things that disturb your opponent during his turn to move (table talk, eat chips and spill on the board, make funny faces, touch the pieces when it's not your turn, rock back and forth, click a million times with your pen, etc.).
- Touch-Move Rule: The mere act of touching one of your pieces obligates your opponent to capture it (if legally permitted) on his current move (at least according to USCF standards), unless he explicitly declares ("j'adoube" or "I adjust") his intent to adjust the piece beforehand. If the opponent didn't end up properly capturing the piece after touching it and before punching his clock, you would've unquestionably been justified in complaining to the official arbiter. There is no time limit (except for the overall limit) on any one move.
- The elevated "eagle claw" is a bad habit. A player is about to move, but continues thinking while his hand hovers over the board, sometimes for minutes. The best method is to think about your move, make a decision, write it on your score sheet, and then make the move without interruption, and punch your clock with the same hand that moved the piece.
- Identify possible targets, then look for moves to hit the targets: https://chessfox.com/8-tactical-tar...
- Apply tactics when possible. https://thechessworld.com/articles/... Otherwise, consider general principles.
- Centralize. Control of the center yields the upper hand.
- Castle the king safely out of the battle in the center (unless a central pawn chain by each side has locked the center closed) and connect your rooks. Castling is a developing move for the rook. Maintain connected rooks for protection until the opposing queen comes off the board.
- Seize open lines for long range pieces. Absent pawns increase piece activity.
- Aim at opposing pieces on the same line or color, and/or aim at my own pieces for protection.
- Have a preponderance of force aimed at a square or along the same line. Get there first with the most units.
- Are my king and queen safe from attack/being aimed at? Royal safety is paramount.
- The three ways of responding to check: C-B-A.
C = Capture the opposing unit giving check.
B = Block between the check (interpose), especially by retreating an en prise unit, or a unit that returns fire and threatens to capture the checker.
A = Fly Away: Move my king Away to a safe square.
- Which pieces are immobile, stuck on their square? Pinned in place, passively tied down to guard duty of another square, restricted movement by congestion?
- Give every piece a job to do. Improve my worst piece to a more active square.
- When you see a good move -- WAIT -- look for a better one. Sit on your hands and keep looking for something even better. You can always go back and play your original thought after surveying the rest of the pieces on board.
- Don't go for "cheapos." A cheapo is a trick that only works if your opponent makes the worst move. Always assume your opponent sees your trap, and if your plan fails, and it makes your position worse, you can lose the game. Only go for cheap tricks if they improve, not worsen your position.
- Who is ahead on material? Trade pawns, not pieces, when behind on material. The player ahead on material wants to simplify: retain pawns on both sides of the board and trade like pieces off (Q for Q, R for R, B for B, etc.) to reduce the possibility of a swindle.
* The Forcing Move: https://www.chesstactics.org/introd...
Look first for FORCING moves that dictate the opponent's response: Checks, Captures, Pile-up on a target (Add an attacker or subtract a defender), Passed Pawn Promotion, etc.
Then consider moves that give some positional edge: Advance/Penetrate, Protect/Support Battery, Blockade a weak pawn, Develop/Involve another piece off my back rank, etc.
There are two different steps here:
1. Select various candidate moves when calculating lines (start with forcing moves is good advice) and compare which one is best...
2. When settled on a particular move that seems best, verify that it is safe and sound before actually playing it. Do a blunder prevention search:
- How does this move impact who controls the center?
- How will this move be attacked on it's new square?
- Is anything hanging loose? Loose Pieces Drop Off.
- Does the hot spot under fire need more protection? Strive for overprotection, which is not always possible, or protection by a pawn (the least expensive defender).
- Does the piece I'm about to move have any necessary function where it stands now? Is it free to move without being severely punished for leaving?
- Does my opponent have forcing moves elsewhere that I forgot to consider?
- Should I just stick to my aggressive plan and let go of my endangered piece because I'll have the stronger initiative to continue my attack?
- If I do this move, what will my opponent do next?
- Should I take the time to prevent my opponent's best response from happening, then make this move (increase it's impact)?
The ChessUniversity Approach:
1) Did my opponent�s last move contain a threat? Is the threat real and something I need to respond to? Or am I able to ignore that move and continue with my plan?
2) Do my pieces have sufficient protection? Do I have a piece that is hanging? Does my opponent have an under-protected piece?
3) Is my king safe? What about the opponent�s king? Can I take advantage of my opponent�s king by, for example, preventing him from castling?
4) Did my opponent�s last move prevent the threat posed by my previous move?
5) Do I still need to develop my pieces?
6) Can I bring my rooks to an open file or in general, make them useful? Can I double up rooks on an open file? Do I need to still open files for my rooks?
7) Does my opponent have any weaknesses? What are the targets I should considering attacking (undefended pieces, under-protected pieces or squares, open king, etc.)?
8) How can I attack the target(s)? Any other weaknesses that can be exploited? What�s the plan?
9) After looking away for a few seconds and revisiting the position with a completely clean, unbiased mindset, does the move I am about to make appear to be a mistake? Am I hanging a piece? Am I falling for a forced checkmate? Did I analyze all forcing moves (checks, captures, and threats)? Are my thoughts consistent with what I am calculating?
Taken from ChessUniversity.com, but is taught to students everywhere.
There is a section about this in Michael de la Maza's book Rapid Chess Improvement: A Study Plan for Adult Players (Everyman Chess, 2002). Below is a summary. http://www.masschess.org/Chess_Hori...
1. Make a physical movement. (This may sound strange, but Michael de la Maza found this important for himself.)
2. Look at the board with "chess vision". (The book describes exercises to develop your "chess vision". See also Microdrills to Improve Your Chess! on Chess.com. https://www.chess.com/article/view/...)
3. Understand what your opponent is threatening.
4. Write down your opponent's move on your score sheet.
5. If the opponent makes a serious threat, then respond. If not, calculate a tactical sequence. If no tactical sequence exists, implement a plan:
`Improve the mobility of your pieces.
`Prevent the opponent from castling.
`Trade off pawns.
`Keep the queen on the board.
6. Write down your move.
7. Imagine the position after the intended move and use "chess vision" to check the position.
8. Make your move and press the clock. Write your move down.
Dan Heisman also describes a thought process in his book The Improving Chess Thinker:
1. Write down your opponent's move.
2. Ask yourself: what are all the things your opponent's move does? Look at checks, captures and threats, in that order.
3. What are all the positive things you want to do? This includes potential tactics.
4. What are all the candidate moves which might accomplish on or more of your goals.
5. Which of these candidate moves can you reject immediately because they are not safe? (Find checks, captures and threats that defeat the move.)
6. Of the final candidate moves, which one is the best you can find in a reasonable amount of time?
The Naysayer:
The best & shortest checklist before making a move is...
Find out which opponent's move is most aggressive COMING IN my territory or CROSSING half of the board.
Sometimes when you miss the above a volley of moves come in and seizes the initiative and renders it to your opponent.
From your side find out if any of your pieces need PROTECTION and the king is safe.
You can make a long list for yourself but practically sometimes it is not feasible to remember all the steps but this suggestion is the best suited for all formats of the game including blitz.
The first three steps of the Karpov Method:
1) Material presence
2) Direct threats. This includes any and all captures, even if they do not lead to anything conclusive - some could be used as in-between moves.
3) King Safety
That alone is enough to avoid blunders.
Read the book? "Find the Right Plan With Anatoly Karpov" (Batsford 2010) by Anatoly Karpov and Anatoly Matsukevich. The original Russian book was actually published in 1999, and just translated 11 years later. In Russian, the name of the book is "Evaluation of the Position and Plan". "I think that Karpov should be more careful next time he lends his name to a book," says one unflattering review.
Practice Solving Puzzles:
�Chess is 99% Tactics� � Richard Teichmann https://www.chess.com/article/view/...
Pattern Recognition is the recognition of similar structures, ideas, and plans in positions. Benefits of Pattern Recognition:
`Improved accuracy
`Less time thinking over the board
`More confidence
`https://chessfox.com/checkmate-patt...
`https://chessfox.com/chess-tactics-...
Understanding and Acuity Comes With Experience:
Blogger wrote: "In an implicit way everyone uses a checklist. Weaker (or more inexperienced) players, maybe need to mentally go through all the points in order, whereas stronger (or more experienced) players are able to do so automatically at every move. When my opponent moves a piece, I automatically check which of my squares and pieces are now attacked and create a threat to me. Similarly I also check which squares are now less defended and if that opens an opportunity for me. Similarly I check for king's safety, tactical motives and other opportunities. This is however not explicitly checking if there is, for example, a fork attack pending, but more the realization that two pieces are in a position where a fork attack might happen (regardless if it is currently possible or not).
Nevertheless I sometimes take some time to evaluate the whole situation on the board. This includes tactical motives but rather focuses on strengths and weaknesses of my position and my opponent position, ideally leading to a plan that can later be executed. Here I often fall back to a checklist, looking for common features such as weak pawns, inactive pieces or open lines and diagonals.
As advice, there is no shame in trying to avoid blunders. If you have to look explicitly for tactical motives, then do it. With time you will get used to the most common patterns and find them more easily and quickly. Maybe you will also be able to find these patterns "by heart" (that is without having to look for them). But even if not, your opponent will never know and your strength doesn't come from the way that you look for blunders, but how effectively you can identify them."
* https://exeterchessclub.org.uk/cont...
* TOMPACKS: https://markalowery.net/Chess/Tacti...
Karpov-Kasparov 1984, rd 9
William Hartston's Better Chess, 1997
“Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess.” ― Siegbert Tarrasch
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman
St. Marher, 1225:
"And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet."
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Kibitzing
