visualisation and strategy

1) I am finding it difficult to visualise more than 2 moves ahead as I am an amateur. what can I do to improve my visualisation skills ?

2) generally I play move to move without any strategy and wait for reducing pieces  . Any suggestion for developing strategy in mind for attack in the beginning itself ?

3) I have found that I am unable to use pawns strategically to the optimum level and also cant have them well co-ordinated . Appreciate if you could suggest how to have a co-ordinated pawn structure and also how best to use pawns to defend and attack

A key question to which nobody seems to have the answer. I've been experimenting with this by a divide-and-conquer method. If you start with only units with limited range and motions, like with only two pawns (and of course the two kings) on the board in a race to queen, you should have few problems, and that success should give you confidence to try more difficult positions: more units, longer ranges, more interactions, etc. With pawn race endings a trick I found that works well is to mentally call out how many more squares to go before queening. For example:

mentally advance White pawn

mentally announce "4 squares to go"

mentally advance Black pawn

mentally announce "4 squares to go"

mentally advance White pawn

mentally announce "3 squares to go"

mentally advance Black pawn

mentally announce "3 squares to go"

etc.

I'd be interested in other tricks people have developed.

Study/watch these videos in order as it will help you improve. Also solve tactics problems to help your visualization ability.

Chess Fundamentals #1: Undefended Pieces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9i...2l1fI7Z0bYuwwO

Chess Fundamentals #2: Coordination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWJ6751RRis

Chess Fundamentals #3: Typical Mistakes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5o2d9slUCM

Chess Fundamentals #4: Pawn Play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-JGqEiNs-I

Chess Fundamentals #5: Trades

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kdjSqNcViw[/quote]

The basics of each phase of the game

Opening:

Follow the Opening principles:

1.      Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5

2.      Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key

Ø  Complete your development before moving a piece twice or starting an attack.

Ø  Move pieces not pawns.

3.      Castle

4.      Connect your rooks

Ø    By move 12, you should have connected your Rooks, or be about to do so.

Middle game:

When you have completed the Opening Principles, you are now at the middle game.  Now you need to formulate a middle game plan.  The middle game is a very complicated part of a chess game.  A simple way to develop a middle game plan is to perform the following steps.

1.      Scan your opponents 5th, and 6th ranks (3rd, and 4th if your black)

2.      Look for weak pawns, and or weak squares.

Ø  Weak pawns and squares are Pawns, and squares that cannot be defended by another Pawn.

Ø  Knights are excellent pieces on weak squares.

Ø  When deciding on weak squares, and weak Pawns to attack, the closer to the center the better

End game:

Start with the basics:

1.      Learn basic mates – KQ vs. K, KR vs. K, KRR vs. K

2.      Learn Opposition, and Key Squares

3.      Learn basic King and Pawn endings

1) I am finding it difficult to visualise more than 2 moves ahead as I am an amateur. what can I do to improve my visualisation skills ?

2) generally I play move to move without any strategy and wait for reducing pieces  . Any suggestion for developing strategy in mind for attack in the beginning itself ?

Move Checklist

3 Ideas to follow:

1. What was the idea of my opponents last move?

   1. Does he have any threats?

   2. What is my opponents intentions?

2. Candidate Moves.

3. How would you respond to your candidate move, if you were playing from the opponents side?

Doing these 3 things on every move will help you analyze the position deeper, than just general analysis, and calculation.

1. What was the idea of my opponents last move?

1. Does he have any threats?

2. What is my opponents intentions?

Concentrate on just your opponents last move. DO NOT concentrate on his plan, or what they are trying to do, or what the opponents last move does in regards to their game plan. SIMPLY, what is the intention/threat of my opponents last move.

2. Candidate Moves.

   1. When do you really evaluate a position/make a game plan?

      • Only during certain points of a game.

      • Cannot be done on every move.

      • Game Plans cover 4-5 moves ahead.

        1. Game Plan = Strategy. What do I want to do in a given position?

        2. Area = What part of the board do I want to play on?

        3. Candidate Moves. Candidate moves should support your plan by:

           • Creating pressure.

           • Support your game plan.

           • Prophylactic move – prevent your opponent from doing anything dangerous.

   2. Finding Candidate Moves.

      • Create a list of moves, not necessarily the best move.

      • Always begin with Forcing Moves.

      • Don't drop a Candidate Move until you have ask yourself “What are the problems with the move?” Understanding why a Candidate Move is bad will help you understand what to look for, and what you need to do.

2. How would you respond to your candidate move, if you were playing from the opponents side?

1. What kinds of threats, or possibilities does my opponent have to attack undefended, unprotected squares, or pieces that I have?

3) I have found that I am unable to use pawns strategically to the optimum level and also cant have them well co-ordinated . Appreciate if you could suggest how to have a co-ordinated pawn structure and also how best to use pawns to defend and attack.

Possibly helpful (Sorry to rip off a line from kindaspongey ):

Heisman's Novice Nook, "Improving Visualization":

(Some links are broken, but still a useful NN)

https://chesscafe.com/dan/heisman164.pdf

Heisman's Chess.FM video, "The 3 Types of Chess Vision":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdwMRS-_Bd0

So wonderfully explained. shall try to incorporate the same into my games

thanks so much everyone for taking the time out and helping

Brilliantly explained Godspawn2016. Thanks so much for covering comprehensively .

I just have two queries. 1) Any example of any game  to provoke weakness in opponents.

2) How to break the pawn chain of the opponent whereby he tries to cramp down spaces?

Here is good example of pressuring weakness of your opponent by top 10 player Lagrave.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1565420

Let me ask an obvious question: Why couldn't Black just recapture White's rook with 49...Rxa5? I don't see any combinations there, and I find it hard to believe that passed pawns would be worth a whole rook there. What am I missing?

1) Don't worry about it it's completely normal.

2) Don't worry about it , again it's completely normal.

3) Forget anything with a word "strategy" and focus on tactics tactics tactics untill you are above 1500.

At amateur level chess is all about patterns and tactics. You get patterns by solving tactics and you see tactics thanks to pattern recognition.

There is one magical thing nowadays that no chess coach, no book can match for instant improvement.

Hit start tactic training now button and solve 25 each day for months. You can thank me later.

It took me quite awhile but i thinks its becuase of 49...Ra5 50.Rb7

Wow, you're right. Clever. Once Black's rook has been forced off the 7th rank, it can't ever get back there safely, and because Black is so uncoordinated with holes around his king, he can't defend that g7-square where mate will occur. I've never seen such a tactic before!

Dont feel bad, it took me quite awhile to find, and i can guarantee that i would have most likely missed it in OTB play, or used up most of my time finding it.

I really like to see new *types* of tactics I've never seen before, like that one. It was a quiet move, not a forcing line, a type of deflection without check or obvious threat. That adds to my impression that high level chess is largely a collection of tricks, so the more such tricks a player can accumulate in one's "trick bag," the more chance he'll be able to outwit his opponent.

Below are three examples of the same kind of provoked weakening pawn advance, all from the same Chernev book (an excellent book to own, by the way). There exist other types of provoked weaknesses, but I believe this type is the most common and the most obvious.

Chernev. Irving. 1998. Logical Chess: Move by Move. London: Faber & Faber.

(1)

(pp. 23-29)

(2)

(pp. 39-43)

(3)

(pp. 47-53)