Think Rubbish!
Usually, we can't let our opponents rule the game. However, they only rule the game if you let them in your mind. Bowing down to their threats is basically crowning them king, so in this blog, we'll be talking about how you should try to disregard them.
In How to Reassess Your Chess by IM Jeremy Silman, he says, 'Whenever you see an enemy threat, your first thought should be "Rubbish!"'
This quote is the best way to deal with threats. Instead of just moving your piece away from danger, you should first look for ways to avoid their threat entirely. Here's a simple example. In this position, your queen is in danger! But moving your queen is not the best move.
Of course, you just need a good knowledge of tactics to solve that one. These are called intermezzos, or in-between moves, which is a threat even larger than your opponent's. Here's another intermezzo:
But there's other ways to ignore a threat. Here's an example from the book:
White was planning on playing a4, but Black has just played Qc8, hoping to sacrifice his bishop on h3 and attack White's king. Well, you might never see this in the first place, but if you do, you might play something like g4?? where Black doesn't even need to sacrifice because of h5 gxh5 Bxh3. Or you might play Kh2? which fixes the problem, but wastes time, as Silman recommends
So when you see an attack, your first instinct should be to just disregard it completely! Well, unless you're in a bullet game, but I don't like those anyway. Instead of moving your piece away, you should see if you can
1. Take the attacker
2. Present a counter threat
Here's a harder example. Try one of the points above to win the game below:
Sometimes threats are self-harming, and it takes a good eye to spot them. Thinking outside the box of threats can lead to winning tactics. Don't bow to your opponent's will, fight against it!
Proofread by the admins of https://www.chess.com/club/scholars-mates
