The Complete Guide to Chess Tactics
What you'll learn
- Be able to use a fundamental understanding of chess tactics and combinations to sky-rocket your results and rating
- Be able to make sure opportunities are not missed in Calculation using Weakness of last move, Common squares, and "In-Effect"
- Be able to make use of the important tactical motifs like Fork, Deflection, Decoy, Pins, Discovered Checks, and many more etc
- Be able to get a feel for downsides of opponents position which could imply a combination exists
- Be able to use chess combinations to often win by force from positions where no issues visually seem present
- Be able to know the philosophies of great tactical examples explained in depth and re-use them in your own games
- Be able to use inspirational calculation aids such as "The power of the pinned piece is illusionary" and "Combine and win"
- Be able to understand the importance of the prioritisation of forcing moves when calculating to limit the opponent's replies
- Be able to appreciate the examples of combinations from the World chess champions
- Be able to exploit the default downside often of the Weak Back Rank
- Be able to exploit your passed pawn potential through tactical means
- Be able to exploit loose piece liabilities of the opponent
- Be able to exploit King safety issues of the opponent
- Be able to detect tactical issues and "celebrate" them using the concept word of "down-sides" throughout the examples
- Be able to understand the Fundamentals of Chess Tactics - Forcing moves, checks, captures, threats of mate and limiting opponent options in general
- Be able to match appropriate combinations with the downsides of the opponents position
- Be able to maximise the differential imposed between strengths of your position and opponent weaknesses
- Be able to play brilliant and beautiful chess combinations - but be warned you may lose sleep over them
- Be able to detect if combinations exist using various approaches of detection and examples
- Be able to finish off opponents quickly and get a new game in the all-you-can eat online tournaments
- Be able to play with very high accuracy sharp combinations
- Be able to recognise all the key mating patterns that have been established through Chess History
- Be able to practice with multiple examples all key tactical instruments which are part of combinations
Requirements
- Knows the basics of playing Chess
Description
FIDE CM Kingscrusher has one goal of the course. And that is to make you a much stronger tactician than ever before in your life. You should be in a much better position by training with this course to create beautiful chess combinations on the chessboard which feature a wide range of patterns and demonstrate amazing calculation ability. In short, the goal of the course is to make you a very strong chess tactician and help you enjoy your chess to the absolute maximum.
This course has a structure which is essentially is "process" and "patterns".
PROCESS: The Art of Chess Calculation
The "process" aspect is the art of chess calculation. Even if you didn't know a single tactical pattern by name, you could still play amazing tactics just with great calculation which the course gives you a solid foundation in. Yes, even if you didn't know your forks from your pins, the "Process" part of the course as in the art of calculation, would still enable you to play great chess combinations using an entire orchestra of tactical patterns without even knowing their names.
But training yourself on patterns will enhance your art of calculation and you will be able to name the key tactical patterns that are important for searching them out to practice and discuss with others as well as prompt during your calculations.
"Process" is like the software of your chess mind. "Patterns" are like the Content for that software. You need both the software and the content to be really effective as a tactician!.
PROCESS and PATTERNS
YOUR STRENGTHS OF POSITION (PLUSSES +'s) MATCH WITH (MINUSES -'s)
DOWNSIDES OF OPPONENTS POSITION (FOR MAXIMUM DIFFERENTIAL between the PLUS AND MINUS)
BOTTOM UP APPROACHES vs. TOP DOWN APPROACHES
Patterns help feed the process of calculation. Your goal often is to create a maximum differential between the strengths of your position, which can be realised from very strong calculation skills, and the downsides of the opponent's position, which often requires a trained intuition and eye for potential downsides to ensure you are even aware combinational solutions might exist.
PATTERNS: Tactical Patterns, Mating Patterns, Weakness of Position patterns.
The "patterns" aspect is divided into three key "pattern" areas:
Bold ones below represent really key and frequent visitors to most people's games
Tactical Patterns (alphabetically)
These tactical patterns are very useful to practice and help internalise.
Absolute Pin
Advanced Pawn
Annihilation of Defence
Alekhine’s Gun
Attraction
Battery
Blockading defensive resources
Capture
Capture the Defender
Checks - gaining key tempo e.g. winning material via checks
Clearance
Combine and Win tactics
Connected passed pawns
Counterplay management move
Counter Threat
Cross-check
Cross-pin
Decoy
Deflection
Demolition of Pawns around opponent's king
Demolition of Pawn Structure
Desperado
Discovered Attack
Domination
Double Attack
Double Check
Draw Tactics
Endgame Tactics
Exchange sacrifice
f2 (or f7) weakness
Forcing Moves
Fork
Goal Hanging Tactics e.g. N on f5 (also see Thorn pawn)
Greek Gift Sacrifice
Indirect Defense
Interference
Intermediate move (synonym: Zuichenzug)
King Aggression in Endgames
King Chase
Liberational tactics
Opposition
Overload the defender
Weakness of last move
Passed pawn creation
Pawn-Fork
Pawn Tactics
Pawn Breakthrough
Perpetual Attack
Perpetual Check
Pins - Absolute
Pins - Relative
Pins - Celebration
Positional Tactic
Prophylaxis move
Removing King Escape Squares
Rook lift
Sacrifice (Positional)
Sacrifice (calculated)
Simplification
Queen and Bishop Battery
Quiet but killer move (greatly used in Alekhine combinations)
Relative Pin
Remove the Defender
Sacrifice
Simplification
Situational Pin
Soft spot sacrifice
Strategic Crush tactic - e.g. locking in bishop, good knight
Skewer
Stalemate Tactics
Tempo Tactics
Thorn Pawns
Threat making
Trapped Piece
Triangulation
Two Rooks Battery
Two Rooks on 7th Rank
Under-promotion
Weak Back-Rank
Weakness of last move
Windmill
X-Ray
X-Ray Attack
X-Ray Defense
Zugzwang
Zwischenzug
Mating Patterns (alphabetically)
These mating patterns are useful to practice and help internalise.
Anastasia's mate
Anderssen's mate
Arabian mate
Back-rank mate
Bishop and knight mate
Blackburne's mate
Blind swine mate
Boden's mate
Box mate (Rook mate)
Combine and Win Mate
Corner mate
Cozio's mate
Damiano's bishop mate
Damiano's mate
David and Goliath mate
Double bishop mate
Dovetail mate
Epaulette mate
Fool’s mate
Greco's mate
Hook mate
Kill Box mate
King and two bishops mate
King and two knights mate
Ladder checkmate
Légal mate
Lolli's mate
Max Lange's mate
Mayet's mate
Morphy's mate
Opera mate
Pillsbury's mate
Queen mate
Réti's mate
Smothered mate
Support mate
Suffocation mate
Swallow's tail mate
"Opponent Downsides" aka "Tactical Issues" aka "Tactical Liabilities" aka "Weakness of Position" Patterns
These help you intuitively identify if a combination may exist in the position.
Awkward Pieces (trappable)
King Safety Issues e.g. Back rank
Loose pieces (unprotected)
Overworked pieces
Pieces away from King
Tactical Liabilities in general
Weaknesses in general
Who this course is for:
- Chess beginner and intermediate players will get massive results improvement from this course
- Even more experienced players who want to sharpen their tactics. Every chess player can improve their tactical skills.
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Dive deep into the intellectual universe of chess with Tryfon Gavriel, famously known to enthusiasts as "Kingscrusher." Beyond my titles as a FIDE Candidate Master and British Regional Chess Master, I am a dedicated chess educator, committed to spreading knowledge and passion for the game.
Decades of Strategic Pursuits My engagement with chess is a 35-year-long odyssey marked by competitive achievements both online and offline, including a peak ICC blitz rating of 2625 and an exceptional ECF grading of 212. My early triumph in the Lloyds Under 18 national UK tournament back in 1989 set the stage for a life steeped in chess, culminating in numerous top finishes in Lichess marathons and more. A statistical blog on lichess indicates :
"CM @Kingscrusher-YouTube has been an icon on Lichess for over a decade, as a chess streamer and as a very active player on Lichess. He is currently in 2nd place in overall trophies in all arenas (behind the unstoppable @Hoegi), he has many top 10 places in various rankings, and he has been racking up marathon trophies on his profile as well." - blog titled: "lichess-arena-rankings" (2024)
Udemy's Chess Luminary While I once enjoyed sharing insights and high-level analysis on my YouTube channel, my current passion lies in crafting comprehensive chess courses for Udemy. My dedication has been recognized with the "highest-rated" award for my detailed course on José Raúl Capablanca's strategies and the "Best Seller" accolade for my "Complete Guide to Chess Tactics," which garnered widespread acclaim shortly after its debut.
Teaching that Transforms Teaching chess goes beyond explaining moves on a board. For me, it's about igniting a passion for the sport and developing a deep, enduring understanding of strategic thinking and tactical decision-making. And it is about giving students the necessary chess abilities and skills that they can make use of in every single game they play. Courses such as the best selling "The complete guide to Chess Tactics" and "The complete guide to chess visualisation". There are also some courses based on champions. Drawing inspiration from chess titans like Paul Morphy, Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer, and Garry Kasparov, my courses offer more than knowledge—they provide a window into the minds of chess's greatest masters.
Your Journey Towards Chess Mastery My offerings on Udemy are designed for learners at all stages of their chess journey. Whether you're just starting or seeking advanced strategies, my courses are a gateway to deeper comprehension and appreciation of chess. Through meticulously designed lessons, I aim to equip you with the skills, confidence, and strategic acumen to elevate your game.
Join me in this exploration of chess, delving into the intricacies that make it a timeless classic. With each lesson, we'll unravel the complexities and joys of chess, fostering not just better players, but lifelong enthusiasts.