CHESMAYNE

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Tactics

01 A plan or procedure for achieving a desired end - of or pertaining to arrangement or order especially military tactics - characterized by skillful tactics or adroit manoeuvring or procedure - the manoeuvres themselves - mode of procedure for gaining advantage or success.  Once you have a feel for the value of the MPs/mps and how they move, it is important to understand the basic elements of tactical play.   A move which is expected to yield a benefit in the short-term. 

02 The Battle of Cannae in which Hannibal used tactics and extreme intelligence in a military situation has been studied in military classrooms for millennia afterwards.  50,000+ Roman soldiers were killed and 10,000+ captured.   The worst defeat Rome had ever suffered.  Hannibal faced 86,000 soldiers, the largest army Rome had ever assembled and expected the Roman legions to lunge directly at the center of his 50,000 troops.   He arranged his men in a long arch, with a deliberately weak center and placed his elite cavalry, backed up by columns of spearmen, on his flanks.  The Roman soldiers broke through his center, predictably and Hannibal’s crescent formation appeared at the point of collapse.   Hannibal’s cavalry closed in on both wings and at the rear.   Absolute slaughter was the outcome of this double envelopment. 

03 Always be on the alert for ways to obtain the advantage over your adversary.   Tactical combinations are a series of moves that force your enemy to make certain responses.  The objective may be material gain, promoting a mp, a better position or perhaps checkmate.  They also involve the use of sacrifices, forks, pins, skewers and discovered attacks and usually center around hot-spots on the board such as a mp that is about to be promoted or even on the KI himself.   Before committing yourself to a tactical combination make sure that you have analyzed it properly before proceeding as they can backfire.   Make sure that you will not lose more material than you expect to gain. 

04 In any opening, there is always some basic aim.   It may be controlling the center, it may be placing MPs/mps in active attacking cells or in important defensive posts - it may be opening a file - it may be applying pressure on some area of the board.   It is important to have your strategic aims clearly in mind in this phase, for on the one hand these aims can guide you when your opponent departs from theory, and on the other, it will suggest to you the strategic plan for the beginning of the middle game. 

05 In any quiet position where there are no tactical problems, it is appropriate to see out an active strategy rather than to play aimlessly.   Moves made with a purpose are more effective than moves made without a purpose.   Applying pressure to certain points in your opponent’s position, preventing KI and RO1 or RO2 from castling and over-protecting your own center are a few examples of types of strategic thinking.  After a series of such purposeful moves, your opponent’s position sometimes falls apart because of the accumulated force that you will have built-up. 

In analyzing, a certain number of general principles may be cited…….

06 Investigate every +CH and capture.   Even when a +CH or capture looks obviously wrong, it might lead to some unexpected and worthwhile result. 

07 Investigate all possibilities - unlikely as well as all the likely moves.   One of the frequent amateur failings is not to look into the suspicious but apparently wrong move - sometimes such a move is the very one that causes the most trouble for your opponent. 

08 Carry out your analysis to the end.   A sequence of moves that may look bad at one point often turns out favourably if carried out a little further. 

09 Do not underrate your opponent.   Do not assume that s/he is going to make the answer that is most favorable to you. 

10 Assume, on the contrary, that your opponent is going to make every effort to find the very best line for him/herself.   Investigate with special attention moves that force your opponent to answer in a certain way only, such as strong threats, double threats, attacks on QU1, KI etc. 

11 Pay close attention to the order of the moves that constitute the realization of your strategic or tactical ideas.  Not only can a wrong order of moves give your opponent the opportunity to get out of a difficulty, but even if this is not the case, the wrong order may not be the most effective one.   It may cost your adversary time and energy, forcing your opponent to calculate many more. 

12 The mp breakthrough.   Even more common than the breakthrough on the flank is the mp breakthrough which opens up the game in the center of the board ie, B$A and B$B. 

13 The mp breakthrough with the sacrifice of a mp or mps. 

14 The MP sacrifice.   Sometimes the character of the position is such that the game cannot be opened up by a mp breakthrough - only a sacrifice of the exchange, a MP suffices.    Such a breakthrough must naturally be accompanied by threats that are both direct and very strong. 

Tactics: “This benefit of seeing...   …can come only if you pause a while, extricate yourself from the maddening mob of blundering quick moves, and look thoughtfully at a quiet move...    …the chess player must be willing to pause, to look again, to meditate”.    Links below……. 

How important is tactical ability in chess?

Assessing the positional elements

Assessing the tactical elements

The calculation of variations

Developing a winning combination

Making sure the combination is sound

Conclusions and Summary

Tactics in the context of positional play

1.     Pin them and win them.

2.    Fork city.

3.    Discover.

4.    Skewer.

5.    Double trouble.

6.    Double attack.

7.    Slicing.

8.    Brute force.

9.    Game over man! Game over!

10.                       Checkmate.

11.                       On pins and needles.

12.                       Fork over that material.

13.                       Imagine that.

14.                       Like taking candy from a baby.

15.                       Double, double, toil and trouble.

16.                       Queen me.

17.                       Finesse.

18.                       Over and over again.

19.                       Gotta move.

  1. A target rich environment.