Here's the game I was referring to. Note how I just put my pieces on the king side in the hopes that tactics would magically appear, and it worked. I didn't really feel like I had a plan, but you could say that creating pressure on the king side with all my pieces WAS the plan. I've had stuff like this in other games, as well, but this is just the most obvious example that came to mind to illustrate the point.

[Event "USCF Tournament - U1800 section"]
[Site "Florida, USA"]
[Date "2008.04.27"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Opponent"]
[Black "Fromper"]
[WhiteElo "1679"]
[BlackElo "1524"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4
{London System}
e6 4. e3 Bd6
{This is how I play against the London System now - challenge the f4 bishop immediately. I saw at least one comment on the internet from a strong master who claimed this was instant equality.}
5. Bxd6 Qxd6
{My opponent makes it easy on me by trading.}
6. c3 O-O 7. Bd3 c5
{Going for my share of the center. This seems kind of like a QGD pawn structure with reversed colors. The problem is that I don't know how to play that type of game.}
8. Nbd2 Nc6 9. O-O Re8
{By now I had an idea about playing something akin to a Colle System with colors reversed, since I know how to play the Colle much better than the QGD for white. ie Push e5 to open up a path for my pieces to assault the king side.}
10. Rc1 e5 11. dxe5
{He had to take the pawn to avoid the pawn fork on e4 next move.}
Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Qxe5
{I think trading knights worked in my favor.}
13. Nf3 Qh5
{Just putting pieces on the king side with the vague notion of attacking on that side of the board, though I didn't have a specific plan for the attack yet.}
14. Be2 Bg4
{Pinning the knight, as the bishop on e2 is underprotected. I was half expecting 15. h3 next, to which I was looking at the sac 15. ... Bxh3 16 gxh3 Qxh3, followed by playing Ng4 to keep his knight where it was, then Re6, and Rh6 to go after his king.}
15. Re1 Re6
{Again, I wasn't sure exactly how to get in and checkmate the king, so barring immediate tactics, I just added a piece to the attack. I considered other squares for this rook, though, since the f6 knight is currently in the way of Rh6, but Re4 doesn't work in light of Nd2. So I figured the knight would probably move fairly soon, anyway.}
16. Nd2 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 Ng4 18. h3 f5
{I'm proud of that one. I saw it a couple of moves ahead. My original idea had been 18. ... Rh6, so that 19. hxg4 Qh1#, until I saw that allows 19. Qxg4 (Duh!). This solves that problem and blocks him from trading queens to stop the attack.}
19. hxg4
{A blunder. He thought he could defend the coming tactics better than he actually could.}
fxg4 20. Nf1 Rh6 21. f3 gxf3 22. Qxf3
{22. gxf3 Rg6+ 23. Kf2 {or Qg2 loses queen for rook, but at least it prevents mate) Qh4+ 24. Ng3 Qxg3+ 25. Kf1 Qg1 checkmate}
Qh1+ 23. Kf2 Rf8 24. Nd2
{I had expected just 24. Qxf8 Kxf8, but I still get the queen for my rook either way.}
Qh4+
{I calculated that he couldn't win my queen no matter what, but I decided to play it safe in case I overlooked something.}
25. Kg1 Rxf3 26. Nxf3 Qg3
{I actually just reached another "Now what?" moment in the game. I wasn't clear on how to use my slight material edge to win the endgame, so I figured just keeping my queen near his king would keep up the pressure and maybe something good would happen, and it worked. Again, it's about finding good squares for your pieces, even when you don't have a specific plan.}
27. c4 Rg6
{Threatening checkmate on g2 and Qxf3. White can't defend both.}
28. Rc2 Qxf3 29. Rf2 Qe4
{Keeping the pressure on g2.}
30. cxd5 Qxd5
{His best counterplay now is his passed pawns and/or the possibility of doubling the rooks, so I took pains to stop both of those.}
31. Ref1 Rf6
{It's worth giving up a pawn to force a rook trade, since those doubled rooks are so strong. Besides, I knew I'd get the pawn back right away, with possible queen forks available to win even more later. Notice how now that I have a solid material advantage, my number 1 priority is shutting down his counterplay, not actually using my own advantages to create threats.}
32. Rxf6 gxf6 33. Rxf6 Qe5
{Forking the rook and two pawns. I figured he'd play Rf3 to keep his passed pawn, since it's his biggest strength right now.}
34. Rf2 Qxe3
{Happily taking his passed pawn away and pinning his rook.}
35. Kf1 Qc1+ 36. Ke2 Qxb2+
{Like I said, queen forks to win more pawns tend to become available in this type of position.}
37. Ke3 Qxf2+
{My opponent was surprised by this, but I knew that having connected passed pawns (once the a pawns trade or my b pawn walks by his a pawn) would give me an easy win, so simplifying makes sense here.}
38. Kxf2 Kf7 39. Ke3 Ke6 40. Ke4 b5
{Intended to push a5 next, then walk the pawns up the board on that side. If his king plays defense on that side, then my king goes after his g pawn, allowing my h pawn to queen while his king is stuck defending my b and c pawns. At this point, my opponent resigned.}
0-1

I think an important issue has been raised, one that I'm struggling with. How do you know in an OTB game when to analyze for tactical punches?

-Must you be completely developed first?
-Must you 'notice' motifs or do you pause every few moves to look carefuly for them?
-If there isn't any immediate tactical blow available, do you attempt to 'set up' a tactical position, or do you allow it to naturally occur?

These are issues which solving tactical puzzles doesn't address.

You need to look for tactics on EVERY move.

This is why you should stick to playing slow games, so you have time to spend 20-30 seconds at the start of every move looking for things like loose pieces, pins, forks, etc to see if there are any possibilities for tactics. As you do more puzzles, you'll get used to instinctively spotting certain conditions that increase the chances that there will be a tactical shot available (for either side). And every move, after you've settled on the move you'd like to make, but before actually making it, spend another 10-15 seconds blunder checking before you move.

Even when playing a sequence of memorized opening moves, it's good to remind yourself on every move of what moves your opponent might make in response. This keeps you in the habit of blunder checking on EVERY move. While waiting for tournament games to start, I sometimes even look at the starting position and think about the fact that white can play any move, because I look at every one of black's pieces and pawns to remind myself that they can't capture anything yet.

I know I used to sometimes play the opening too fast and then when we hit the first "non-book" opening move, I'd forget to start blunder checking every move and end up in trouble. This is also why I don't play blitz before playing slow games, because I sometimes forget to slow down and double check everything once I have the time to do so.

As you go through lots of puzzles, certain tactics will just jump out at you automatically. This is why it's good to go through lots of easy puzzles. Even if you can spot the solutions to most puzzles in a book in 30 seconds or less, you should go through them again and again until you can spot the solutions INSTANTLY, and then just take a couple of seconds to double check your solutions every time. Once the basic motifs jump out at you instantly in puzzles, they'll also jump out at you instantly when they come up in your games.

As for your last question of what to do if there's no tactics available, see my previous post. If there's no tactics available, I put my pieces in a position to put pressure on my opponent until something breaks. It doesn't always happen, but when you've got nothing else going on, you might as well at least try. The game I posted is a pretty good example of this in action between two intermediate strength players.

--Fromper

Fromper, you have a habbit of being terribly helpful. Thanks.

Fromp, I don't have a board available right now so I can't check this for sure, but in positions such as the one in your game, white has a nice defensive maneuver:

14. Be2 Bg4
{Pinning the knight, as the bishop on e2 is underprotected. I was half expecting 15. h3 next, to which I was looking at the sac 15. ... Bxh3 16 gxh3 Qxh3, followed by playing Ng4 to keep his knight where it was, then Re6, and Rh6 to go after his king.}

This is all well and good, but white can play 17 Nh2!, preventing ...Ng4 and allowing the king to come to h1 if needed. Also, white may play Bf1 at some point for further defense. Before making a sacrifice on h3, I always check to see if I can either prevent Nh2 or if my attack is strong enough to overcome it (such as if your rook can join the attack swiftly enough).

I remember the first time this surprising and effective defense was played against me. I've since used it myself in such positions, including a game where I had castled queenside and played Na7!

Well, I did say I was just looking at the sac if the situation came up. I'd like to think I would have noticed that move before actually playing the sac, but I might have just blundered into it. This game is from 2 months ago, and I honestly can't remember if that possibility entered into my thinking at the time. Lucky for me, the situation didn't come up.

--Fromper

Yeah, I'm not trying to criticize, just share a maneuver. I know they say Chess is 99% tactics, but I think one element that is often left out is quality chess maneuvers. I don't know of any books devoted solely to this subject (maybe My System, but it's a bit restricted).

For example, the idea to put your knight on f4 against the Leningrad Dutch. It seems to make sense to blockade an advanced pawn, but beyond that it eyes the weakest square of this Dutch variation -- e6. It can also support an h4-h5 advance.

Another idea is that most players know the idea of answering an opponent's a6 pawn move with a4 to prevent the b5 advance. It's not always applicable, but is useful in some positions. A more subtle extension of this is if you put a piece on b5, to play a4 shortly after. The idea is that when black inevitably kicks your piece with a6, you'll have the b5 advance stopped. If you weren't to do it, black could play a6, then after you move your piece could play b5 immediately before you have time to stop it.

I think having these kinds of tools available helps you develop a plan and make sense of a position. In that Dutch variation, no one would instinctively play Nh3, but if they know about the strength of putting the knight on f4, then they'd play it as part of the plan to put the knight on that square. Interestingly, this is what I look for when I analyze GM, IM, or FM games. Maneuvers such as this.

One really interesting one I've picked up recently is seen in some Slav and QGA lines. Black exchanges pawns with dxc4 and after white plays a4 to stop b5 before playing e3 prepare Bxc4, black develops his bishop to f5. White chases it with Nh4. Black moves to g4 and white forces it to exchange after h3 Bh5, g4 Bg6, Nxg6 hxg6. Now the interesting part. After white plays Bxc4, it becomes apparent that the king is going to have a hard time finding a home. Castling long is risky w/ a soon to be fully open c-file after black plays c5. Castling kingside is also bad as black simply plays Rxh3. Amazingly though white can play Bf1-g2 and then castle kingside anyways. It's actually very safe and can also assist white's queenside advance by eyeing the b7 and c6 pawns.

Calculate and analyze if setting up a tactical position will do you good, if it does not then continue playing based on the strategic possibility of the position.


You should always look for tactical possibility on every move, if you can't see one then again continue playing based on a plan, may it be a short or a long plan. Deploying your pieces in chess, is like the commander of soldiers ordering his men to position themselves on their proper places before they attack the enemy base. Soldiers can't just attack without positioning first. If they attack not in their proper places, the chances of defeat is high. In chess your are the commander that order your pieces to go on their proper places.


Question: But how can you know where to deploy your pieces?

Answer: It depends on the opening system that your opponent uses. Pawn structure is also a big factor in determining where to put your pieces. Consider the sicilian dragon. Many gm consider that the proper deployment for white is to castle queenside, and have a pawn storm on the enemy queen. Look for games of great players against the dragon so you will gain more idea on how to deploy your pieces properly against this opening.

Another example is facing the sveshnikov(pelikan) variation of the sicilian. The good way of deploying the pieces here, is to control the d5 square and plant a knight there. Usually you will give up your dark square bishop to control d5.

Question: You must be wondering, what has controlling d5 and planting a knight there has to do with tactics?

Answer: If your pieces is in their proper place, (as the case in sveshnikov in which white should put a knight on d5)then tactics will just naturally appear. But if tactics did not appear just continue building up your position base on a plan. Good book about chess planning is "How To Reasses your chess", "Best Lessons of a chess coach" is also a good one.


Another thing that you should learn is to sacrifice a pawn not necessary to mate the king but to gain a strong initiative. If it has taken a lot of years for expert to find a good refutation on some gambit openings in which their initiative is not as strong compare to the middle game pawn sacrifices that can give you a tremendous initiative, just imagine that with only limited time, how difficult it will be for your opponent to find the proper defenses against your initiative which is initiated after you sacrifice a pawn. Good book about this initiative is "Best Lesson of a chess coach" You could also sacrifice a piece for strong initiative, but be careful cause if your initiative did not materialize, you are in trouble.

Read "The best lesson of a chess coach,How to reassess your chess and "pawn structure chess by soltis", also solve chess puzzles and play a lot. "The idea behind chess openings" is also a good book. It will not show you a lot of opening lines, instead it will teach you the proper piece deployment on specific openings. A beginer should not focus on memorizing opening line, he must focused on understanding the specific plan of an opening system. Let say you memorize a line but you don't know that plan of that particular opening, you will be lost if your opponent play a move that your are not familiar. Where if you know the strategic ideas behind that opening even if your opponent play a move that you did not memorize you will not be confused, cause the strategic idea behind that opening will be your guide in deploying your pieces.


Question: Must you be develop first before you attack?

Answer: Chess is a sport of setup, certain moves that work on that opening will not work on another opening

Consider this example.

1. e4.....e5
2. Qh5???.....

In this setup this a horrible move, as the queen will be only forced to move back and will help the opponent to develop his pieces.

Vienna Copycat

1.e4.... e5
2. Bc4.... Bc5
3. Nc3..... Nc6
4.. Qg4

What is happening have white gone nuts?? White is not fully develop and yet he is attacking early with the queen? Well this is a common knowledge that in this setup this is a strong move for white cause it will give him a good initiative. In short this is a good place for the queen. So the question of if you should attack early will be answered by these conditions.

You should only attack early on these conditions

1. You know that the opening setup allows you to attack early, such as the vienna copy cat.
2. Your opponent made horrible errors that can be punished by attacking early.



You are right on the mark. If your just begining at chess don't focus on memorizing lines, focus on learning the right plan based on that opening. Regarding the book about the proper chess maneuver base on an opening and pawnstructure, try pawn structure chess by soltis

You often hear that dead people do go to a better place. In this case, I guess the queen does go to a good place: 4. ... Nxg4

my bad wrong notation what i mean is

3. Nc3.... Nc6
4.Qg4