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How tactics can boost your chess !!

How tactics can boost your chess !!

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in this blog, I want to link the practice of tactics and puzzles to practical play and blitz on chess.com. and also how to get better at chess !

Part I

top players are in general very good at solving puzzles. Especially true if they have a high online blitz or bullet rating.

https://www.chess.com/puzzles/rush/hikaru/6fjira

@hikaru


59 puzzles in 3 minutes is super impressive. As a comparison, here's one of my best puzzle battles (also 3 minutes)

https://www.chess.com/puzzles/battle/upwNoFqx

Practice makes perfect. If any reader has a suggestion to break 50 puzzles in 3 minutes, please feel free to leave your recommendation in the comments  section. Then to go from 50 to 59, we need @hikaru 's help , hopefully he can read this entry !!

2) PART II Tactics puzzles examples

https://www.chess.com/puzzles/problem/161971

White to Play and win !

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I would qualify this puzzle as very thematic and in the easy category. We can see that we are close to getting a back rank checkmate on the 8th rank.

Solution ( graphical)

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The Blue arrows shows the way !

1.Bb4+ is the solution. If Black captures our Bishop, then 2Qe7+ Kg8 and 3Qe8+ leads to backrankcheckmate

if Black doesn't capture our bishop, then 1..Kg8 2 Qe8+ leads to checkmate.

This is a pattern recognition exercize ( backrank weakness) coupled with the deflection theme as 1 Bb4+ Nxb4 deflects the knight from protecting the e7 square.

Sometimes, tactics can be more complex. Let me provide an example as a quiz

This position was more difficult to solve for me.

The theme is less obvious and I may not have spotted there was a winning combination. Then again, the second move has to be precise and the combination ends on move 3.

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3) Tactics in your own games.

This is where the ability to generate tactical chances and to calculate precisely can yield dividends.

By feeling confident in tactics, you may gravitate towards positions which are dynamic, offer attacking chances and be bold enough to sacrifice pieces at the right moment.

Let's see one of my games against a very strong opponent.

White to play
the game started with the italian opening. We are on move 15, I am playing with the white pieces.
Can you guess the move I played ?
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let me show the solution with the engine evaluation ( SF 18)
As it turns out, moving the attacked knight on g5 would be bad for White !
Instead 15 Qh5! is leading to a big advantage
If Black were to play ..hxg5, I would recapture with my second knight on g5, and Black would have an impossible task to stop Qh7 checkmate !
My opponent saw that and took the game in the following direction
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And in the position above, can you guess which was my move, White to play ?
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solutions below
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for some reason, my play was energetic and full of tactics that day !
Here's the rest of the game
Far from a perfect game as I was with a winning advantage, then Black was better for a short time, then I regained the advantage tactically until the end. Chess is hard !
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To summarize
1) always good to see how strong players solve tactics and practice puzzles
2) developing tactical skills through study is important and fun ! practice makes perfect.
3) puzzles and tactics should allow to gain confidence, so they can be applied in our own games, whether daily, rapid, blitz or over the board. Be on the lookout for tactics in your own games !