Model analysis?

I've been doodling with a piece over at DJCA about calculation and as part of that task I watched a few YouTube videos about how to calculate. Almost none of these actually tell you how to calculate, although several do show you.

Here's one for you to think about from Black's point of view:

How to get better at calculation

Readers disappointed by lack of new coaching material on this site may be aware of the activity on the website of the Devon Junior Chess Association . Most of it is pretty basic and/or already covered here, but I've recently been thinking about calculation, and there is a page How to get better at calculation which I might equally have placed here.

Levitsky-Marshall 1918

As mentioned by El Presidente on Bubble Blitz night

A course in chess tactics

Short, violent games of chess, organised by theme

The Windmill

[Event "Moscow"]
[Site "Moscow URS"]
[Date "1925.11.25"]
[EventDate "1925.11.10"]
[Round "12"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Carlos Torre Repetto"]
[Black "Emanuel Lasker"]
[ECO "A46"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "85"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 c5 4. e3 cxd4 5. exd4 Be7 6. Nbd2
d6 7. c3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 b6 9. Nc4 Bb7 10. Qe2 Qc7 11. O-O O-O
12. Rfe1 Rfe8 13. Rad1 Nf8 14. Bc1 Nd5 15. Ng5 b5 16. Na3 b4

Blunder-proofing your game

Three quite shocking examples from junior chess.

What are the odds?

We discussed odds-giving last Friday - that is, starting without one or more of your pieces.

I mentioned one of my favourite Lasker stories, where he teased a player who didn't know hime, which I quote from Chernev (1948):

Lessons in Philidor's Defence - live action version

This page is a play-through version of lessons in philidors-defence

[Event "Lessons in Philidor's Defence"]
[Site "Exeter"]
[Date "2014.06.07"]
[Round "1"]
[White "NN"]
[Black "Philidor"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C41"]

The six basic tactics

Here's eight of them!

The different types of tactic are:

jumps (discovery)
mates
forks
pins/skewers
nets
ties (undermining and overloading)

Here's one of each:

Click on [...] to see games list.


[Event "Basic Tactics"]
[Site "Italy?, "]
[Date "1801"]
[White "Greco,G"]
[Black "NN "]
[ECO "C41"]
[Annotator "An ancient Queen fork"]
[Result "1-0"]

Vukovic's mates

Some time after writing the piece about checkmate patterns, I bought V. Vukovic's famous book The Art of Attack in Chess. In it he gives a chapter full of mates, shown below; the numbering and terminology are his.

UPDATE: PGN file attached [PGN]

Exeter Chess Club

A place to enjoy and learn about chess

Tactics