not trained and have approach problem

Hi all,

I have been playing poker on and off for a long time. I have a good understanding of openings and some techniques. But, i am still struggling with how one approaches the next move after the opening that is when one has fairly developed or defended the initial attack.

I am hoping to decrease my blunders and mistakes but continuously making them. Should i scan every piece and their option before every move? Should i always see the next 2 move before moving a specific piece? Should i have ALWAYS have a specific goal or should just try not to make mistake until the situation present itself?

How would you approach your next move after initial opening?

Poker or chess?

(The first half of my post is author/coach Dan Heisman's advice not mine)

When it's your turn, you're required to calculate all the forcing moves. Forcing moves are checks, captures, and threats.

You should do this to see if you can immediately win material or checkmate, and if you can't win right away then you do this to see what your opponent is threatening.

And if you can't win something, and your opponent doesn't have a big threat, then you imagine you intended move as if it's been made and calculate forcing moves again to see if your intended move is safe (to make sure your opponent can't win anything on his next turn).

 

As for how many moves to look ahead, sometimes the answer is zero, because there are no forcing moves... but when there are, ideally you calculate a sequence until there are no more... this is not always possible of course, even for very good players, so we just do the best we can. Luckily most positions only requires we calculate sequences a few moves long, nothing like 10.

If this topic interests you, consider this book (or just google "Dan Heisman Hope Chess")

https://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Tactics-ChessCafe-Chess/dp/1888690348

 

---

Ok, that ends his advice, and now I'll answer your other questions with my own advice.

Some positions it's possible to make long term plans. Usually this is based on pawn structure, but the easiest one is when the players castle opposite sides. Both players typically race to attack the opponent's king. Whoever can open lines and get some threats going first usually has the advantage.

In other positions things are too equal (sometimes even symmetric) to have any long term plans. In those cases players make small improvements like if a rook or knight or etc controls a few more squares over there, then they'll make a short term plan, maybe only 2 or 3 moves, to move it there. Karpov was really good at this, always making small improvements with every move.

 

I recently answered a similar question in the forum by giving a brief into to short and long term middlegame ideas. You might find it interesting.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/middle-game-tips-1

 

For the full treatment you'd want to buy a book on strategy, like Pachman's Modern Chess Strategy
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Chess-Strategy-Ludek-Pachman/dp/0486202909

Oh, but I guess I should mention, that of course if a sequence has you winning a lot of material, lets say 2 knights, and you look around and they have no serious threats then you can go ahead and stop... because even if at the end it backfires, they'll probably only win 1 piece back so you'll still be ahead material...

 

Ok this may not have been very clear or super exact in its language, but I hope you see what I mean. You don't ALWAYS have to calculate forcing moves until there are no more to be certain a move is safe. Sometimes some basic logic will let you cut it short. The better you get and more experienced, the more you can do stuff like this.

Thank you, very helpful.

Well... poker has no "openings".

Bridge and Preference do have openings, though, so you'd better define first which game you're referring at.

I thought he was joking?

H

Here are some reading possibilities that I often mention:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf
http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1948)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-back-to-basics-tactics
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf

50 Essential Chess Lessons by Steve Giddins
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708100833/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review534.pdf
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/50_Essential_Chess_Lessons.pdf
Simple Chess by Michael Stean
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104258/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review400.pdf
Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094419/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ammind.pdf
Chess for Hawks
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9041.pdf
Chess Strategy: Move by Move by Adam Hunt
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093249/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review890.pdf
How to Reassess Your Chess (4th ed.) by Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708095832/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review769.pdf
Chess Strategy for Club Players by Herman Grooten
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708101926/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review696.pdf
Pawn Structure Chess by GM Andrew Soltis (2013)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708101523/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review908.pdf
The Power of Pawns by GM Jörg Hickl (2016)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/the-power-of-pawns/
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9034.pdf

 

https://www.chess.com/article/view/test-your-positional-chess

https://www.chess.com/article/view/do-you-really-understand-positional-chess