Piece Relationships
When Calculating moves, there are five steps that I follow:
- Identify my opponent's threats.
- Identify the Targets.
- Identify Piece Relationships.
- Identify all Active Moves.
- Identify the continuation.
Piece relationships can exist between pieces of the same color or pieces of opposite color. In the illustrated position, for example, there is a piece relationship between the Black King and the Black Rook. If White could play a Knight to d7 it would be a fork. A similar relationship exists between the White King and the Rook on f2.
The piece relationships of interest in this position, however, are those between the Queens, the Rooks, and the White Bishop with the Black King. When you have long range attackers in line with enemy targets, important piece relationships exist that can often be tactically exploited.
In this example, the existing piece relationships allow for two consecutive discovered attacks that lead to checkmate by force. (Hint: Be on the lookout for a Zwischenzug in the sequence).
