Black to move and win the Rook on a2. Can you spot it?
So I am currently going through Paul Littlewood's Chess Tactics for my training. I go through one chapter a day, along with the problems at the end of the chapter. The next day I go back over the previous chapter's problems, read the next chapter and do the new set of problems. In this way I am trying to cement in the tactics learned from the previous chapter along with introducing a new set of tactics each day.
When I've gone through the book once I will go through it again with the only difference being that with each new chapter I will go through all of the previous problems in the book. Call it my own personal Circles. Solo Circles. ;-p
ANYWAY, the above problem is from the "Skewers" chapter from the aforementioned book. I was laying in bed going through the problems in that chapter, had just solved this particular one, when my wife came in and started loving on me. For some reason, when I looked at the problem afterward, I had completely forgotten the solution. I've studied it a few times since then and have not been able to remember the solution.
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I see it in about 5-8 seconds. Here's my process in case it helps:
I see two pieces (Ra2 & Bc4) lined up for a pin/skewer. Be6 is possible but it doesn't work because the enemy middleman is a bishop. So I replace it and the tactic works: 1...Nxc4 2.Qxc4 Be6.
The Solo Circle process sounds like a fine idea; keep up the good work!
I saw that as well. Nxc4 followed by Be6
likesforests, that's exactly what my thought process should have been! Thanks for the help, as always!
Blunderprone, thanks man :-)
With the "Black to move and win the Rook on a2"-info + "skewer"-mentioning + "my own work on removing the guard" even I saw this one!
If you really wish to put them into your system (and have some time), you could create a pgn-library with all positions of the book and eventually do them at random without any info and afterwards saying out lout what tactic(s) were involved. See Phaedrus' chess vison blog for explanaition on this, this post: http://chesstrainerphaedrus.blogspot.com/2008/04/freedom-is-to-loose-open-letter-to.html
The tought proces likeforests displays is quite simular to what Nunn discusses in one of the first two chapters of Learn Chess Tactics.
It's always much easier to find the solution if information is provided about the kind of tactic you're looking for. I read your entire post before looking at the puzzle, and as soon as I read "skewer" it took me only a few seconds to see the solution. That's the problem in general with many tactics books - they tell you what to look for, which nobody does during a real game...
" . . . had just solved this particular one, when my wife came in and started loving on me. For some reason, when I looked at the problem afterward, I had completely forgotten the solution."
Did your ability to find "skewers" on the board leave you after doing a little 'skewering' in the sack? ;-)
hiddenleaf: that's an awesome idea! I think after I've completed phase 1 and 2 of my own little Circles that will be my 3rd phase, entering them all into diagram format and doing them randomly without clues! Thanks for the tip. :-)
Chessaholic: I agree...so I'm really looking forward to starting "Practical Chess Exercises" by Ray Cheng...600 problems with no information except for whose move it is!
es_trick: ...no comment...LOL
You might like this article by Heisman as it is useful for finding tactics in real games.
I use a acronym, FSTDR (pronounced 'fisteder'. After looking at simple captures and mating attacks, I look for tactics:
F: forks
S: straight-line (skewers/pins)
T: traps
D: discovered attacks
R: removal of the guard (decoys nd deflections)
Mastering these simplest of tactics is key, and I find it helpful to work through the list as part of my guided pattern recognition (example here).
Each of these has a 'seed', as mentioned in Heisman's article.
Other bloggers have slightly different lists, but I find the above helpful. When I'm firing on all cylinders, recognizing such simple 1-2 move tactics, I'm winning games, or at least not losing them in embarassing fashion.
Actually, I didn't see how to win the Rook on a2 straight off (that's because I was looking at the puzzle without the words).
My attention was focused on the key square f2. Then I started to look at overloaded pieces, then work out possible pins... and finally the skewer - which I saw instantly.
Speaking of "wife loving on me", I was working on my own chess tactics book earlier this week when I got "jumped" by my wife in bed. I couldn't even remember what puzzle I was working on afterwards.
BDK, thanks for the tip and the article, I'll check those out.
Tanc, its funny the effect that women have on our chess skills!
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