Forced moves

I recommended that my students look for all captures and checks and especially capture checks when examining a sharp position. The point is that even if the capture or check is not useful immediately, it may help determine your best strategy so that it can be used later on. In constructing a list of candidate moves to choose from, I place capture checks at the top of the list, followed by captures and checks and then threats. Only if none of those moves bring an advantage should other moves be considered. Of course, there are some positions in which a quiet move will be more successful than a direct attacking move, but in sharp positions where a number of pieces are already under attack the forcing moves generally provide the best answer.