Looking for Trouble

Interesting. I've heard something similar. At the highest level, opening tricks and traps are less common, something like that. So, I would imagine that the threats would be far more subtle and sneaky. 

Either way, a threat is a threat, no matter how obvious or subtle, and like you said, must be seen and dealt with.  My goal is for these Threat Puzzles to be beneficial for all skill levels.

Enough talk, I'll post a few more Threat Puzzles after dinner, and continue to do so on a regular basis...until the cows come home.

In the Max Lange puzzle I posted, any moves but the ones in the puzzle for black lose spectacularly, as far as I know. ..Qd5 is forced, as are all the rest. I stopped it short of the continuation because then you do have multiple options. It's extremely sharp for both sides though, because if you evaluate the position at the end, white has lots of extended pieces that can become misplaced. Sure, black has to find lots of moves to avoid immediate death, but if he does, he can equalize pretty easily and even gain some advantage. 

In the online game I played in the Max Lange, I felt like I was finding only-moves for half the game, with any error being fatal. It was tons of fun =)

Here's the game, no analysis though. Maybe I'll annotate this sometime...

I admit I haven't gone through the games, but just glancing at a database for that max lange puzzle position:

8.Kf8 scores nearly as well as 8.Be6  and  10.g6 scores a bit better although there are much fewer games.  It might mean the percentage is bias or it might be a new move that's good.

Interesting. Perhaps I'm mistaken then, but from my research and what I remember, what I played was forced. 8...Kf8 seems to let white play fxg7 with check and expose my king, which is why I didn't like it, and I think you have a typo with 10...g6, because that hangs my queen after 10. Nc3 g6 11. Nxd5.

Still, thanks for the info. I still play 2 knights defense, and may well get into this again at some point.

Oops, I meant g6 move 9, an alternative to 9...Qd5 (supposedly anyway).

I find that when I'm looking at a line, and there's an alternative to the main line that scores better, but with many fewer games, that A. the amount of games makes the resulting score statistically insignificant, and could be the result of specific preparation, or lack of knowledge on one player's part (imagine a master breaking line to get you out of book and then just winning because they're better), and B. if it's in a sharp position, it's very risky to try a sideline.

It doesn't mean you can't, just that you should be very careful =)

Threat Puzzle No. 2

Hint - White's threat is deadly. Black has only one correct response to avoid loss of material and maintain equality. It's that critical. Choose wisely. Good Luck!

And here for bonus points, or in case you wanted to see another move.

Threat Puzzle No. 3

Creating puzzles where only one move can be played is not always possible. I will make this disclaimer when necessary, i.e., there are two possible moves, but one is best.  

In Threat Puzzle No. 3, there are four possible moves, but one is best. That’s too many possibilities. However, I’m going to leave this puzzle up, because Black can make a response that looks completely reasonable, yet spells disaster. 

What is White's threat? What is the worst response that Black could make to White’s threat?

Isn't this exactly the problem you're trying to fix? You were looking for white's moves and when you looked at 1. cxd5 you didn't stop and look at what black's threats were you just figured he would recapture with exd5.

In a real game no one is going to stop you and say "hey, look out for black's threats!". You're going to be playing white and you have to make a habit of knowing what black is threatening instead of assuming he will respond to you.

I thought the same thing when making that critical error. Brain damage?  Playing BOTH sides of the board is a must. Excellent points!

Threat Puzzle No. 4

What does White think he is threatening? What should Black do?

Loomis makes a good point, but I like your approach Musikamole.  I think great advice is to not assume any move from your opponent and work hard and finding your opponent's strong replies.  (Assuming a recapture or defense/retreat are too common).

The problem with this advice is that it doesn't help the player follow it, this is the difference between good and bad teachers.  Your exercises try to force the student to assess the enemy's best move, something that anyone should strive to make more automatic.

Going back to standard puzzles, a poor way to solve them is to assume a re-capture or defensive move.  If you think Nxg6 is strong, find the most frustrating reply that seems to throw off your main variation.  Maybe the opponent will completely ignore it and play something on the other side of the board!  These are the kinds of moves to look at first, because they can immediately let you know if your move is going to be the solution.  If any one reply screws your line up, you know it was wrong, so look to disprove your line as quickly as possible.  Don't validate your line by calculating moves that you'd like to see.

We have a running joke at my club, whenever someone makes such an oversight I like to say (if I'm the offender) "you weren't supposed to play that move, you're supposed to only play moves that I calculate for you"

Anyway, good idea for exercises Muskimole.  Would be interesting to see a tactical book based on this idea.

To clarify, these exercises are not my idea. I'm simply creating more of these Threat Puzzles to get better at seeing threats.

The book I got this idea from is titled Looking For Trouble by Dan Hesiman.

"...most games are lost when either: 1) you make an outright oversight, where your opponent had no threats but, after you blunder, the opponent can mate or win material, or 2) you miss a simple threat made by your opponent's previous move, allowing your opponent to carry out this threat, usually a basic tactic winning material or checkmating.

This book helps you minimize situation #2 by providing over 200 problems in which you focus on identifying and meeting threats ranging from extremely easy to fiendishly difficult."    -  Dan Heisman, Looking for Trouble

Holy crap, seems Heisman's thought of everything for the aspiring chess student.

Another one that lots of players seem to just miss...

I'm posting this in puzzle format so that once you see the threat, you can click "solution" and see what happened in the game, because white didn't see the threat. The puzzle solution is -not- what white should be playing, just a way to show you what the threat is without giving it away.

Heisman is thorough.

I'm in the middle of two Turn-Based training games and highly recommend this course of action for other beginning players. I bring this up because one of the players made me aware of Dan Heisman and his book, Elements of Positional Evaluation, How the Pieces Get Their Power.

Dan Heisman just replied to my e-mail concerning this topic on threats and suggests that if anyone has any questions about his book, Looking for Trouble, to simply e-mail him. Dan is a National Master, so I find this to be a generous offer. 

I listen to his lectures often over at ICC (Internet Chess Club).

His column for beginners, Novice Nook, can be found at ChessCafe.com and he recently placed the best of these articles, with new and revised material, in his new book, A Guide to Chess Improvement: The Best of Novice Nook.  

Dan is basically THE go to guy for a player of my skill level.

It took too long for me to see this threat, about 7 minutes of intensive staring. That's bad. I would have lost material in a Live Chess game.

Excellent threat puzzle! I'd very much like one threat puzzle from you daily. They are fun and you are hired. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. ;)

BTW - No pieces have been exchanged yet. Did this game start with the Ruy Lopez? It looks possible.

It did indeed start with a Ruy Lopez, with my opponent playing Nc3 instead of c3...this setup doesn't occur in a mainline Ruy lopez, but he deviated, and didn't recognize the threat.

I'll keep trying to find threat puzzles =)

Threat Puzzle No. 5

Here's a threat I was taught in the Ruy Lopez while doing a new Chess Mentor course offered by our new GM Sam Shankland.

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1, what is White threatening if given one extra move? In the Chess Mentor course, Black played 6...0-0 (??).

In his book Looking For Trouble, Dan Heisman writes, "The way to determine what an opponent's threats are is to assume you just PASS - make no move at all! Say to yourself, 'Suppose it was his turn again - what would he do?''

Thinking in this way will boost my Live Chess rating by 100 points.