How do I see mates in more then 1 move?

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Avatar of bubba42414

I feel like I can see mate in 1 move most of the times but after that I can just not compute. So I'm wondering how to see mate in multiple moves to find gain elo faster

Avatar of RonaldJosephCote

Avatar of Fr3nchToastCrunch

Learn checkmate patterns beyond the basics. Some actually require multiple moves, such as Anastasia's Mate (usually two moves) and the Smothered Mate (usually four moves). There are also numerous puzzles available where the goal is to find a forced checkmate in three moves or more, particularly on Lichess.

Paying attention to the opponent's king safety (or lack thereof) is also a good way to see if you have a checkmate that can be forced. It's not easy, but knowing when the king is "weak" can lead to finding fatal attacks that would otherwise be hard to see.

Avatar of ChessPrincessChloe
Agreed, I spent up a lot of time on reading up on how to use Horseys more effectively in the end game because I’m a sucker for trading off my bishops, I didn’t know you could really use horseys that way.
Avatar of the-real-blankie

Beyond learning checkmate patterns and learning to recognize king safety, which is great advice from #3, I'd like to emphasize the importance of also exercising your calculation ability. Utilizing mental frameworks such as the CCA checklist (checks, captures, attacks) can help you with finding forcing moves that can lead to mate in many positions, but also material and positional advantages. Here's how CCA works:

When there's tension in the position (pieces looking at each other,) check for forcing moves by looking at all the possible checks, captures, and attacks available in the position. Move the pieces in your head in order to see what changes about the board and discover tactics based on that. To facilitate calculation, it's best to look at the most forcing lines first (the ones that give your opponent the fewest responses) as those will be easiest to calculate. If you follow this mental checklist, you will increase your chances of finding tactics when they appear on the board.

Hope this helps!

Avatar of HaskeerCZ
In many cases forced checkmate is a series of checks that lead to a checkmate. More complicated checkmates need a quiet move, which then allows you to force a checkmate. Such a quiet move creates a threat, which your opponent needs to deal with and can help you to gain some material.
Avatar of HeckinSprout

Chess puzzles. Most low rated puzzles are centered around checkmating patterns.