Development and Tactics in Live Games, Part 1

Hi! My name is Avrahom ("Abe" for short). I've been teaching chess for over 5 years. I'm rated 1902 USCF and I give chess lessons both in-person and online. I'm extremely beneficial for players in the beginner-intermediate stage, and also to advanced players up to around 1900 (I also enjoy teaching the variant of chess 960!). I give fun, engaging lessons in intelligent, yet simple, fluent English. Please feel free to message me or email me (vrom18@gmail.com). You can see my profile here. Looking forward to playing with you!

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Lots of time, when I'm playing a blitz/any kind of short game in Live Chess, as long as you can make short-term plans and follow them, even for a few moves, you will find tactics. I think this might be because when people play blitz games, they are automatically moving quicker inside their heads already, which means they can't take the time to study the entire board. Hence, a recipe for ... tactics!

What does this game show? From the earliest parts of the game, all the way from when I saw the weakness on f7, I played Bd3, and the game almost played itself. Once you see weaknesses and set short-term plans to harass those weak pieces/squares/king, you can usually start to transfer that attack over into the middle and even endgame.

Here's another game that illustrates relentlessly pursuing short-term weaknesses, as well as the crucial necessity to develop your pieces QUICKLY.

I liked these games, because they really illustrate that you don't need complex, high-level plans to do well in blitz games. Just stay calm, look at the objective weaknesses/strengths in the position, and then, if you spot any tactical problems, make short-term plans to pursue them. You'd be shocked how quickly positions can fall apart if you think like this. Good luck in Live Chess! And DON'T forget to develop all your pieces!