How to Avoid Tactics

That feeling when you pull off a tactic is amazing. But when someone pulls one on you... not a good time. While you can just look out for tactics, I find it much harder to find tactics for your opponent. So here I'll show you other ways to avoid tactics in your games. And no, I didn't mean avoiding doing tactics, that's not a smart move.

I'll start with more general tips. Of course, doing tactics a lot can help you find possible tactics from your opponent, though again, it's harder than finding tactics for yourself. In long time controls like 30 min and 45|45, you can press X during a game to look at the board from your opponent's perspective. Look at the position below.

It looks like white should keep building up on the pin, but flipping the board makes it easier white to see black's tactic. Can you find black's move?

So, how does white avoid this? (Don't think too hard.)

Now, how do you avoid tactics that you can't spot? Generally, tactics occur from lack of development or weak spot in your position. Here's an example that you may know.

Black has weak spot on h6 and f6. The white queen is occupying f6, and it needs a supporter on h6 to complete the mate. So what does white do? Well, if you've heard of the famous king walk game, you may know the answer.

Also, don't have unprotected pieces. Those are a major target for tactical combinations. Just keeping everything protected will ward off tactics most of the time. A very simple example:

Sometimes the undefended piece ruins it for another piece:

But the most important of these "general" tips is to keep your back rank well defended at all times. There are dozens of tactics that occur from this, a lot of times resulting in mate.

Now for some more specific examples. It's usually not a good idea to leave a rook or queen on a diagonal with a king when there are bishops on the board, as pins could occur. 

Just because an opponent's piece is between your strong piece and a lower level piece of theirs doesn't mean you're safe.

Also, there are some common tactics that happen the same way that you can watch out for. For example, here's something I like to do to win the exchange:

To avoid this, you can just move your rook away before this incident occurs.

Another common tactic is the Greek Gift Sacrifice:

Avoiding this is trickier, but just make sure to have a knight on f6 or something to guard that square.

Tactics are hard to avoid sometimes, and it really takes a good eye to catch them. I hope you enjoyed this blog.