Chess Articles > Tactics

Search Articles
Keywords: Category:
Sort by:

Find the Winning Moves!

Submitted by gumpty on Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:23pm.

Gharamian - Perrett European Cup 2008 White to play!               Everthing hangs. It does not take a detective to see what Black played last move (Bishop on e5 took pawn on b2), however, it does take an entire police force to... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Yes, Control the Center

Submitted by GeniusKJ on Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:34pm.

The term "Control the Center" refers to gaining power at the center of the board. Why is this good? This is good because you limit your opponent's attacking moves and make some squares places that your opponent can't enter. You want to have a fe... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

The Learning Process

Submitted by GM vbhat on Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:53am.

One thing that I try pretty hard to do after playing a tournament these days is to go through all my games and annotate them. There are various things I'm looking for, but here's a quick list: (1) Did the opening go according to plan? If not, fig... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

The Vicious Bishop

Submitted by turn on Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:40am.

Bishop -     When two Bishops are invading the enemy territory, a good hand will ensure the enemy pieces go one by one. The Bishop is adept at cleaning lone pieces and are best at faraway attacks ( open spaces ), unlike the Knight. Bishop... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

Submitted by GM Gserper on Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:58pm.

Hello everyone!  First, let me thank all readers of my column for their feedback.  It gives me a lot of food for thought and also allows me to address your questions and concerns.Here I would like to answer a very simple and yet a very important... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

An insight on : the flexible Knight

Submitted by turn on Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:22am.

Knight......   Believe it or not, the Knight is as hard to capture as the Queen. Normally, a Knight leaves the board due to either carelessness or an exchange. If the opponent is good, he or she can capture the Knight by trapping it. This requi... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

An insight on : the humble pawn

Submitted by turn on Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:20am.

Pawn: The weakest of pieces. However, there are eight of them, so if used efficiently and wisely, a pawn structure can block even the best of strategies. Also, the pawn can work with another piece to take down the enemy. As there are eight pawns,... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Good Cop, Bad Cop...

Submitted by GM Gserper on Sun Mar 8, 2009 10:57am.

             Last week we discussed how to avoid falling into an opening trap.  But wouldn’t be it cool to set a trap on our own?  At first it looks like not a difficult task since we learn all kinds of opening traps from the momen... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

A Way To Finish

Submitted by benws on Fri Mar 6, 2009 12:53pm.

Here is a very entertaining game by Morphy. In the opening, his opponent offers a rook, but he declines to achieve the superior position. Next, he creates a passed pawn, which sets it up for a fantastic ending. Read more »

» posted in Tactics

tactics and tactics

Submitted by kann on Tue Mar 3, 2009 7:52am.

Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Target Fixation

Submitted by Liam46 on Sun Mar 1, 2009 6:54am.

Every chess player knows this moment.  You are on the edge of something big, capturing a major piece, making a move to force checkmate, or anchoring important space.  Then, seemingly, from out of nowhere your opponent strikes.  He/she takes a Q... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

An Important Lesson from my Youth

Submitted by GM Gserper on Sun Mar 1, 2009 2:10am.

Hello dear chess fans!   This is the first installment of my weekly column and I would like to thank chess.com for giving me this opportunity to share my experience with fellow chess players. Here I will discuss openings and  particularly tr... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

ZigZag

Submitted by benws on Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:44pm.

Here is a nice attack by Bu Xiangzhi, in which he employs a most unusual kingside attack. It involves several sacrifices and a zigzag dance with his queen which forces white to resign. Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Extensive Vision

Submitted by benws on Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:24pm.

Ljubojevic initiates a surprise combination in this game, sacrificing the exchange in order to drive his opponent's king into the unsafe queenside. Next, he leaves several pieces en prise in order to create a Boden-like finish, using both his bish... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Sacrifice wins again

Submitted by easyhard on Thu Feb 19, 2009 8:23am.

This is the first article i submit, i have made two subsequent sacrifices to inevitably win the queen, i am still an amateur so, i would like to hear from you your comments and whether you like it or not! Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Forced Sequences

Submitted by benws on Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:24pm.

This game is a tactical masterpiece by Barry, as he rains them down on Pillsbury's head. Especially nice is how he sacrifices a rook in order to set up his opponent's queen, who is captured with a couple of move sequences. Read more »

» posted in Tactics

puzzle XII

Submitted by odirtyredo on Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:00pm.

easy one Read more »

» posted in Tactics

An Anti-Sicilian

Submitted by benws on Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:29am.

Here is another nice game by Bobby Fischer. He takes advantage of his opponent's Sicilian and manages to work up an attack. When his opponent tries to attack him back, he uses a batch of tactics to bring him down. Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Italian punishment-A tactic at Giuoco Piano

Submitted by aristeidis9 on Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:46am.

White sets a trap and takes control of the board.. Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Sudden End

Submitted by benws on Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:11pm.

This recent game features a lot of exchanging and maneuvering. Shirov is up a pawn, but how does he take advantage of it? Suddenly, a simple move by white turns into disaster as a sudden blow ends the battle. Read more »

» posted in Tactics

The Power of Discovery

Submitted by Patzer24 on Mon Feb 9, 2009 3:39pm.

Here is a game from the 2009 Moscow Open, IM Zubov - IM Krylov with full annotations and commentary: This was a very nice game to show the power of the discovery tactical motif in chess. In this game white was able to suc... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

The Test of Time

Submitted by benws on Sat Feb 7, 2009 9:50am.

In this game, two chess greats go against each other, combining attack with defense in an all-out attempt to win. The game is extremely complex, some of the correct moves still unclear. Read more »

» posted in Tactics

Positional Insight

Submitted by benws on Wed Feb 4, 2009 11:28am.

This is believed to be Petrosian's finest game. His opponent makes a few inaccuracies in the opening, enabling him to take over the position. After that, he makes use of a long and complex strategy to slowly maneuver his way to victory. Read more »

» posted in Tactics

"Tactics Trainer: Good and Bad"

Submitted by rubyflyer on Sun Feb 1, 2009 11:42am.

If you have been a basic member on chess.com for some time, you'd know that there is a "tactics trainer" which lets you do some chess problems at a daily basis. It is a really nice interactive program that gives you a huge variety of chess problem... Read more »

» posted in Tactics

A Corus Line

Submitted by benws on Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:03am.

Since Corus is going on right now, I felt that I should post some highlights from this tournament. Here is one where Anand is at his best. He gives up nearly all of his minor pieces to achieve what he wants-the white king trapped in one file. Afte... Read more »

» posted in Tactics