I wrote a blog post about threats recently, and someone asked in a comment if there were any training methods to improve their threat handling.

This is a very good an important questions. We all know from experience that knowing and understanding a concept is not enough in chess. If we want to apply it successfully in our games, we need to train it somehow, until it becomes second nature.

So, let's see how you can train your ability to deal with threats.

Focus on threats while solving puzzles

If done properly, puzzle solving can be a very beneficial exercise for threat handling.

Identify the opponent's threats in the starting position of every puzzle (what could they play if if was their turn?), and after that, notice all the threats that are created by every single move, including your moves.

Make it a separate step, and say it aloud while calculating: they are threatening with that and that; if I play X, I am threatening with... And so on. 

For example, in the position above Black is threatening with 1. - Qb2+, which should give them at least a perpetual check. That threat already sets the frame for us: whatever we play, it must be forcing enough to stop Black playing Qb2+.

A word of caution: it only makes sense to practice threat handling if the puzzles are difficult enough, so you cannot solve them simply using your pattern recognition. You should spend at least five minutes on a puzzle, actually calculating lines - otherwise the puzzles are just too easy for you, and they are completely useless.

The other thing you might want to practice while solving puzzles is collecting forcing moves - the famous checks-captures-threats stuff. As most threats are forcing moves, if you fail to notice forcing moves during calculation, chances are that you will also miss threats. So make a proper inventory of the forcing moves before starting calculation, and keep adding the new forcing moves as the come up while calculating lines. 

In my coaching experience, most amateurs fail in that area - they don’t notice forcing moves automatically, and when I ask them how many checks are in a certain position, they tend to give a wrong answer. So this is something you definitely want to work on if you want to get better at threat handling. 

Solve puzzles from Maxim Blokh’s Combinational Motifs

This is an amazing book. When I was a teenager, everybody had it in Hungary. It had a yellow cover, so we just called it the “yellow book”. “Have you finished the yellow book yet?” - was a frequent question from my coach. 

What makes that book so special is that most puzzles have solutions for both colours: the one who moves wins. So, if you cannot find the solution for White, you solve the puzzle with Black first, as it gives you a much better idea of White’s possibilities. And this is exactly the thinking process you follow when you deal with threats - you check first what the opponent has before your own ideas.

Let’s see two examples from the book.

The numbers show the difficulty of the puzzle. We see that Black’s solution supposed to be much easier, so we can start with that. It is easy indeed: 1. - Rxg2+ wins the white queen. Knowing that, what will be the solution for White?

Here White’s solution is rather easy, while Black’s is more difficult to spot. Can you see the win for both sides?

Solve studies

Solving studies is another excellent way to improve threat recognition and handling, as they to hand to have so many hidden resources for both sides. They teach you how to look deeper and stay alert even in seemingly innocent positions. 

For example, nearly all my students miss Black’s counterplay idea in that study. Is it not just a simple win if we push the a-pawn? Black cannot do anything about it - or can they?

Saying that, threat handling is not something you need to overthink or train a lot in isolation. If you do quality training activities, (e.g. solving challenging puzzles, analysing deeply your own games, playing OTB games against stronger players, solving studies, doing calculation exercises, playing out quality games on a physical board, playing blindfold chess, etc.) your threat recognition and handling will improve naturally, without you giving too much thought of it.