Günter Amann wrote on 04/17/09 at 17:42:45:


1.Bd8! wins, cutting off the black's king route to safety and threatening the deadly 2.Qe4+. Black cannot avoid material loss.

Unfortutunately sometimes i forget to employ this rules in the practical  game. Recently i had this position and missed a forced win.



White to play and win. If you consider all points  consequently, the solution is easy.

Sandman wrote on 04/10/09 at 17:25:59:


Simply playing more chess is good for this.

But one thing I teach my chess kids is that the bigger your advantage in activity, the more likely it is that you have a good tactic.

Also I teach my better students that if you've played unobjectionable moves but your opponent seems to be gaining the advantage, or if you've played better moves than your opponent but he seems to be equalizing, look for a tactical solution.

Another time to look for tactics is when your opponent has committed a clear "chess sin."

I find very useful the "Seven Circles" of Michael de la Maza, but the idea is repetition of the patterns to "see" tactics.

I have a book entitled "Rapid Chess Improvements" by Michael de la Maza, but in the chesscafe website you could find a couple of free articles dealing with his method entitled "400 points in 400 days".


http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles148.pdf
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles150.pdf


Sandman wrote on 04/15/09 at 12:52:57:

Matemax wrote on 04/11/09 at 12:13:28:

Not my idea, that came from the guy who set up the site, whose speciality is ... publicity!

GMTonyKosten wrote on 04/11/09 at 10:45:39:

Just read my nomination for the best chess advertisment ever there:

"Unlock your genius"

Sandman wrote on 04/10/09 at 17:25:59:


The ratings in CT-Art are not very trustworthy. I got a 2300 rating there so far (I'm doing the levels really thoroughly with lots of repetition so I'm still on level 40). A friend of mine went through the whole program and got a 10.000 (!) CT-Art rating, but I still out-calculate him in blitz most of the time. Actually we are more evenly matched in long games.

I agree with the others that repetition is key. The goal should not be merely to get them right, but to see the solution almost instantly. This goes particularly for the easier levels.

You could also try some exercise books that don't give any hint as to what type of problem (tactical or positional) you are facing: Silman's Reassess Your Chess Workbook or Cheng's Practical Chess Exercises f.ex. Actually I think this kind of book should be more common!

The difference is that you know there is a solution when working at home but you dont know during the game. Therefore you should practise what you need: You dont play "tactical solution competition" but "chess". You need to play through random games (ending with a win for one side) in a "training mode" (you dont see the score board) and then guess the next move. If you follow the winners ideas you will meet a mistake somewhere and mostly need to exploit it tactically.