My Road to Master, Part 7 - Puzzles and positions!

Due to my new year's initiative to take on a more serious approach to studying and improving my own chess, I've taken on the habit of saving some of my games. This started out with short blitz games I (frequently) play, where in one particular game I stunned myself by actually spotting a rather neat tactic in the game which would have resulted in a clearly won position if the game was played classically with more time. I saved the PNG of the game and looked into the position with the aid of a computer to determine if my move was the best move or not - turned out it was completely smashing! 

Before I get into the puzzles and analysis of my games, I'd like to formulate the following statements about Blitz chess and why I spend my free time playing these three minute games. 

Pro's: 

• The games are sweet and short! You don't have to spend hours on a single game - three to six minutes maximum. This way, your time for chess is flexible and well managed.
• You can enjoy a wide variety of positions! In Blitz, you won't often face the best moves from the heaviest, thickest theoretical lines. Instead, you'll get a good feel what kind of options White or Black has against your opening(s) and you can repeatedly try out different approaches against different, sub-optimal lines. 
• Blitz is a great way to learn openings and spot general strategy and themes within your opening! This point resembles much of the point mentioned above. When trying out your new opening(s), you'll often be outplayed quickly when not paying attention. With the help of Blitz games, you can come into contact with these traps and opening lines and quite rapidly learn the do's and don'ts within your opening repertoire. 

Con's:

• You never know what you'll face! If you know what you want or need to play and study, you'll sometimes feel like your wasting your time when you face players who whip out ridiculous moves. These opponents aren't playing for a win at all - they just want to have a laugh and a giggle while throwing around there pieces and pawns, which is sad for you of course. You just wanted a quick yet serious battle...
• Again - you never know what you'll face!! One downside of random Blitz games is that your opponent could be a 1000 rated player or your opponent could be a 2000 rated player. You won't be paired with players of your own strength all the time. 

Enough talk about Blitz, don't you agree? Let's take a look at the games! 

Puzzle Time - 'To thee, I sacrifice!'

The lesson of this position is that as a chess player, you must constantly be spotting weaknesses and you must be ready to exploit them. This particular position seemed lost to me at first, but after assessing the weakness correctly you'll hopefully agree that the best move looks rather natural after all! 

Puzzle Time - 'A Knight to Remember!'

In this position, the same lesson applies. Assess your strengths, think about the weaknesses on the board and try to exploit that weakness - no matter the cost! Like before, I hope the first move of the puzzle seems natural to you if you correctly assessed those strengths and weaknesses. 

Puzzle Time - 'Deadly threats indeed...'

This move was quite difficult to find, because I was trying to calculate different lines of defense for Black before commiting. One line in particular ultimately convinced me, because it looked so promising and flashy (in the same spirit of the previous puzzles). It even deserved its own puzzle diagram! 

Closing Remarks

Now, wasn't that exciting? A year ago, I would have never been able to calculate lines like this on a whim, let alone sacrifice a piece (or two) for a winning attack or a mate! The other reason I save these positions, aside from being able to study them for later use, is so I can look back at my 'good' moments in chess and replay the same line with a smile on my face. Trust me, you'll make bigger steps forward with a smile on your face than with a frown, and seeing these positions makes me stop and smile. And on the plus side, you too can enjoy from the same ideas that I had during these games, perhaps you'll recognise the tactical pattern(s) in your own games and be able to apply those same ideas (which would obviously be immensely cool, don't you think?!). 

Till next time!