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Practicing Tactics
by S. Evan Kreider

In my “Suggestions for Improving Your Play” article, I discussed the importance of practicing tactics. In this article, I describe a more detailed plan of tactical training; or rather, three different plans, depending on your current level of chess ability. However, all three plans contain information and suggestions which may be of interest to players of any level, so I highly recommend reading through the entire article start to finish before deciding which plan to undertake.

Two disclaimers, before we begin:

1) Within these plans, I recommend certain books and CD-ROMs. I chose these simply because they are products with which I am personally familiar, and not because I’m receiving a pay-off from the companies . . . ;-) Of course, I’m sure there are quite a few other products which would work just as well. If you are interested in investigating the matter for yourself, try browsing the companies listed in our Chess Shopping Links. In addition, Chessville has Downloads of Tactical Exercises available for the budget-minded.

2) There are many different ways to practice tactics. I do not mean to imply that my suggestions are the only way, or even the best way. I simply present them as one possible approach for your consideration. Any plan at all is probably better than no plan, so I provide these primarily for those of you who may not be sure how to even start going about tactical training. However, no plan is perfect for everyone, so it’s up to you to decide if these recommendations are for you.

Now, without further adieu . . .

Tactical Training for the Novice Player

If you’re relatively new to chess, you should begin your study of tactics with Yasser Seirawan’s Winning Chess Tactics. This is an excellent instructional text which I recommend without reservation. It will teach you all the essentials of chess tactics and prepare you for more advanced training.

Don’t put yourself on any particular schedule to finish the book – this isn’t a race! Just make sure you spend time on it every day, so that the previous day’s study is fresh in your mind as you begin the current day’s study. Put in as much study time each day as you can spare, but no more than you can spend productively. Feel free to break up your study periods over the course of the day in order to maximize your concentration and attention: three quality ten-minute periods are better than one sloppy thirty-minute period.

Make absolutely sure to read through the entire book thoroughly and carefully – don’t rush through it or skip anything! Make sure you’ve thoroughly understood and absorbed each chapter before moving on to the next. Finish by working through all of the tactical exercises at the end of the book and see how well you score – if the answer is “I scored rather poorly, thank you very much” then re-read the book and try again. Don’t move on until Yasser gives you a reasonably competent score! :-)

Once you’re through with Yasser’s book, I recommend getting a copy of Lazslo Polgar's 5334 Chess Problems, Combinations, and Games. Don’t worry! At this level, you’ll only be using the first 450 positions, a collection of basic mate-in-one and mate-in-two problems. Each individual position is very easy to solve, but the constant repetition of basic patterns really imprints the motifs onto your brain. Work through them carefully, clearly visualizing the pieces moving into position, and clearly visualizing the squares that each piece controls in order to checkmate the enemy King. After working through all 450, work through them again, at least a couple more times, until you can sit down and do all 450 of them easily in one brief sitting. At that point, you should start noticing a real difference in your ability to visualize the mating patterns and the movements of the pieces during your games.

Let me share a little story with you. A while back, when I actually had time to train and play, I had been reviewing these 450 Polgar positions regularly. One day, while playing a friendly game, I found myself in a losing position. I desperately lashed back at my opponent’s King, giving a check here and a check there. Then my opponent moved his King into a vulnerable position, and suddenly, Polgar-esque patterns seemed to jump out of the board at me – I could almost literally physically see the patterns on the board. With very little time left on the clock, I unleashed my attack! My opponent could only avoid mate by giving up his Queen, and he resigned a few moves later. Yea! :-)

Once you can look yourself in the mirror and honestly say that you’ve learned all of the above thoroughly, you’ll be ready for the next step . . .

Tactical Training for the Intermediate Player

Once you’ve mastered the basics, it’s time for some serious training. At this level, I recommend taking a large collection of tactical exercises sorted by level of difficulty and working through each level multiple times before moving on to the next. The product I recommend for this is the ever-popular CT-ART 3.0 by Convekta (and also available via various Chess Shopping sites, usually for about $25 US). This is a stand-alone product – no other software is required. It presents over 1000 tactical problems sorted by tactical method, combinational method, and ten levels of difficulty (each level containing anywhere from about 50 to about 300 exercises). The interactivity of computer programs such as this one is a big advantage over books: after working on a position in your head, you can play it out over the board, and the program will verify the accuracy (or lack thereof) of your solution, showing not only whether you’ve solved the position correctly, but also providing variations to show why the solution works or not. It also has a built-in analysis engine if you want to examine other variations. It can also keep track of your performance, and has many other features to boot.

Start with the level one problems. The first time through, work each problem out very slowly, step by step, making sure you see and understand everything there is to see and understand about it, and visualizing the tactical patterns clearly. It’s especially important to work through the entire problem in your head before moving pieces on the board. Don’t cheat and move the pieces around while you are trying to solve them! You don’t get to do that during a real game!

When you start looking at a new problem, the first thing you need to do is try to identify the key elements in the position. Tactics are usually present when:

a) there is an obvious mating pattern
b) there are typical geometric patterns: e.g., pieces lined up on diagonals, ranks or files often indicate potential skewers or pins; pieces on the same-colored squares near each other may be ripe for a knight fork; etc.
c) the King is vulnerable; i.e., is in a central location, has a damaged, weakened, or missing pawn cover, has no defenders (or fewer potential defenders than potential attackers), or has no legal move (i.e., is stalemated)
d) there are pieces which are un- or in- adequately defended
e) there are critical squares; i.e., squares containing pieces or squares on which mate could be delivered which currently have the same number of attackers and defenders and which could be weakened by adding attackers (often while simultaneously attacking something else) or removing defenders, via typical tactical methods

If you spot one or more of these, start calculating. When doing so:

a) look at every possible capture, check, and threat against weaknesses
b) double-check calculations by varying the move-order (both for you and your opponent)
c) always look one move further than it seems you need to – sometimes after the checks and captures come to an end, there will be a powerful "quiet move" or rejoinder, either for you or your opponent
d) keep in mind that most combinations involve some form of double-attack

Spend no more than 5 minutes looking for the key idea, and no more than another 25 minutes calculating the entire line – if you can’t solve the position within those time constraints, you probably won’t at all, so it would be a more efficient use of your time to simply should go ahead and look at the solution. However, don’t just glance at the solution: really work through it thoroughly. Then go back to the start of the position, and make sure you can see the key ideas and can calculate the lines in your head. Only then should you go onto the next problem.

Once you’ve worked your way through the entire set of level one problems, go back through them again. This time, you should be able to go through them with greater speed and accuracy. You’ll probably remember some of them, and be able to solve them instantly. Some of them may require that you work through them again as described above, but will go more quickly. Others will take a just as long as before, and still others will stump you all over again. Just make sure that you work through them again as thoroughly as you need to solve the ones you can and understand the ones you can’t.

Q: "How many times should I go through the same set?" A: Until you can go through the whole set (preferably in one sitting, or at the very least in as few sessions as possible) and score at least 90%. Then you’ll be ready to move to the next level of problems. Repeat the process until you’ve worked through all ten levels. There’s no set schedule for this – take as much time as it requires, even if it’s a year or two or more, as long as you work through them thoroughly and spend at least a little time on them every day. As you can probably tell, it’s quality rather than speed or quantity that I’m advocating. Once you’ve finished the entire collection, you’ll be ready for the advanced plan.

Tactical Training for the Advanced Player

Seirawan’s Winning Chess Tactics is still useful to more advanced players. I recommend re-reading it every so often, at least a couple of times year. This might sound like a waste of time to advanced players, given how simple the exercises in the book will be for them. However, it’s exactly that simplicity which makes it useful. An important element of tactical skill is pattern recognition, and one way to really “burn” the essential patterns into your brain is to regularly review the same small set of basic tactical positions. Seirawan’s book provides the perfect set of positions for this purpose. It’s also a great refresher course if you’re returning to chess after having taken some time off, or if you’re in a tactical slump.

You should also review the Polgar exercises 1-450 at least once a month to keep those essential patterns fresh in your head. You could also start working through the rest of the book in your spare time, although it’s not the main training tool I’m recommending.

What I am recommending is George Renko’s Intensive Course: Tactics by Chessbase (and also available via various Chess Shopping sites, usually for about $25 US). This is a stand-alone product – no other software is required. It presents well over 4000 tactical problems sorted into more than 120 tactical themes. Like it says in the title: intense!

I don’t need to spend too much time explaining how to use it – Renko provides explicit directions in the introductory text. Basically, you work your way through the entire database sequentially. A position is presented to you and you are given a short period of time to solve it. It you answer correctly, great! If not, you’re given the solution, and then the next tactically-related problem is presented, which will be a little easier this time, now that you know what method to look for. Renko works you through a hefty set of related problems in a fairly short period of time, hammering home the important patterns and motifs by means of intensive repetition. Then you move on to the next set, and so forth.

At this advanced level of tactical training, you can see that speed and quantity are emphasized, rather than agonizing over the basics. The idea is to throw so much at you that you absorb and abstract the important concepts in an almost subconscious manner. Try to go through an entire theme in one sitting, maybe two sittings at most if absolutely necessary, and try to spend time on it everyday. Even at that rate, you’ll probably spend at least a year on it! After that, you’ll be a tactical monster, or George will refund your money (OK, I made that last part up . . . ;-) You can read more about this product and how to use it here: http://www.chessbaseusa.com/T-NOTES/041600.htm , so I won’t blather on about it any more . . . ;-)

That’s it! These are my suggestions! Good luck! Now get to work!!! :-)