Ways to stop losing games at chess-Improvement SS-2 series episode 3

What we would cover-

So firstly there will be some tips/ways and then some important topics.

Note- So the blog is big but I would not apologize as it has so much information and u could easily reach 2000 elo if u read and follow this.

So there will be all sorts of things

So lets look at some ways

How to stop losing in chess 1. Stop Hanging Pieces

The number one reason why most games are lost is because of hanging pieces. These are generally blunder moves, when a player leaves his pieces unprotected or moves it to a square where they can be captured by enemy pieces with little or no compensation. Material disadvantage is the most common and easy way to get in trouble, for chess players of any level.
It is not possible to stop blundering whatsoever, but it is possible to significantly reduce the blunder rate. I have just two pieces of advice here. Solve tactics and double check your moves. Solving tactics will improve your overall board awareness, while double checking the moves will help you in avoiding leaving your pieces undefended.

How to stop losing in chess 2. Stop Missing Simple Checkmates

Missing checkmates in one and in two is another very common problem that causes lost games. You’d be surprised to know how many players lose games because of these simple slips. How hard is it to spot a mate in one? Apparently it is not always as simple as it sounds. Even elite GMs become victims of simple checkmates like that.
The solution to fight this problem is very similar to the one from the previous point: solving tactics and double checking the lines. The only difference is that you should focus on picking tactics related to checkmates, rather than on forks, pins and skewers.

How to stop losing in chess 3. Stop Exchanging into Lost Positions

This is another important thing to keep in mind. Many chess players under pressure prefer to “release the tension” by exchanging pieces. The truth is, oftentimes, it is not a good idea, especially when you are down in material, or have to exchange your good pieces for the bad pieces of your opponent. This is an easy way to arrive from a complex looking but playable position to a clearly losing one.

4. Stop Playing Without a Plan

Playing without a plan is a first step to disaster. if you don’t have a plan it means you have to wait for your opponent to come up with one. And if that happens you will most likely be on the defensing side. And that’s not what we recommend doing.
At chess, it is much harder to defend, than to attack. Whoever checkmates first wins. It doesn’t mean that you don’t need to know how to play defensively. It means you should have a clear plan and try your best to realize it.

How to stop losing in chess 5. Stop Playing Fast

Playing fast, without enough thought is one of the reasons why players drop pieces, miss simple checkmates and make moves just to make a move. To stay out of trouble, I suggest taking time to think about the moves you are about to make. The point of the game is to play high quality moves in reasonable amount of time, not low quality moves in minimum time. Don’t rush, take your time and play the best moves you can.
If you want to improve your chess level, you need to have a clear study plan. If you aim for a dramatic improvement at chess you need to work on all of the elements of the game in a systematic way:

• tactics
• positional play
• attacking skills
• endgame technique
• classical games analysis
• psychological preparation
• and much more

So now lets look at each of them

Tactics

1. Seven Fundamental Tactics.

Chess Tactics #1: Fork

If you attack two or more pieces at once, you have a good chance of capturing one of them. A fork is simply one piece or pawn moving to a square where it attacks two or more enemy pieces.
Let’s take a look at a simple fork. In the following position, black has played Qa1 and it forks both the king and rook.
fork
Since it’s a check, white has to defend the check and will lose the rook in the process.

Chess Tactics #2: Pin

An enemy can be pinned down in battles so their movement is restricted. A similar thing can happen to a chess piece. A pin keeps a piece from moving. So another way to look at this is that by pinning a piece you are temporarily making it lose its power.
Only Rook, Bishop, or Queen can give a pin when they attack an enemy piece and if that piece were to move, there would be an attack on another piece behind it.
Chess Tactics
In this position, the bishop on f3 attacks the enemy knight on d5. If the knight were to move, the Black queen on a8 would be under attack. The knight is pinned to the queen.
An important thing to remember is that the pin is unlikely to last for long so it must be exploited as quickly as possible if any advantage is to be gained.

Chess Tactics #3: Skewer

In day-to-day usage, a skewer is a device that keeps objects together by piercing right through from top to the bottom. A piece is skewered when it is attacked ‘through’ another piece.
In the position below, Black just captured the pawn on d5 with the queen. Although immediately it doesn’t seem like there is an attack on the queen the bishop on g2 is ‘piercing’ through the knight on f3 with a straight eye on the queen and the bishop on b7.
In the position below, Black captured on d5 with the queen. Now if you notice the bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal Is looking at the queen indirectly through the knight. Also, another thing to notice is that the bishop on b7 is just guarded by the queen and is also in the line of fire.
https://thechessworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3skewer-1_11zon-300x300-1.webp
So white plays Ne1! The bishop on g2 now attacks Black’s queen and skewers the black bishop on b7. Loss of material is inevitable at this point.
Chess Tactics

Chess Tactics #4: Double Attack

Attacking two things at once. The double attack is a very effective maneuver, often a deadly weapon.
After the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 g6? 3. Qxe5+
Double Attack
White’s queen is checking Black’s king and also attacking the rook on h8. It is a double attack. The position is now completely lost for black because he must defend against the check and then will lose the rook.

Chess Tactics #5: Windmill

If there was any tactic that embodied the idea of an unstoppable force, it is the Windmill. Windmill is rare in a practical game of chess but it’s so powerful that it can destroy the enemy position instantly.
It is a special type of discovered attack; it happens when a piece gives discovered checks repeatedly and the king has no choice but to repeat the position.

Chess Tactics #6: Double Check

If your opponent attacks the king from two directions, the only escape is to move the king. If the king must move, the rest of the army is unable to move for that turn. Therefore, a double check is a very powerful form of a discovered check.
Chess Tactics
In the position, white plays Ne7++ Check from the queen and knight simultaneously. The king must move, and then the knight gets the Black queen on c6. Notice that the double-check froze all the remaining pieces, so the bishop could not take the knight, even though it meant losing the queen.

Chess Tactics #7: Discovered Attack

This tactic is a more subtle form of attack than the double attack but it can be just as equally effective. In this attack, a piece or pawn moves off a line to “discover’ an attack by another piece.
In the position, white has a winning move.
Discovered Attack
White wins by Ne6! This threatens Qxg7 mate and Qxa7 winning material

2. How to get better at tactics?

Solving tactical puzzles is the best way to improve tactics. Regularly solving tactics should be your goal when starting with tactics or even if you are an experienced player.
If you are a beginner player start with simple one-move tactics and gradually increase the difficulty level. If you increase the difficulty level too soon, it may hurt your confidence. Therefore, it is advisable to take it slow and solve each position by understanding them carefully.

3. How many problems to solve in a day

This depends highly on your skill and focus levels.
Ideally, the focus should be on the quality of the puzzles you solve rather than rushing to complete a set required number of puzzles.

4. Tactics vs. Calculation

While it is often fairly simple to detect the presence of a tactical motif, calculating the variations is frequently difficult, requiring considerable mastery. In other words, tactics are impossible without the calculation of variations.
So, if you want to be good at chess, you need to work on your tactics and your calculation skills. But, remember, they usually go together, so you’ll need to be able to use them both at the same time. It’s not really about one being more important than the other. They are both really important, and you need to be good at both to do well.

5. How to learn to spot tactics quickly?

Just like any other chess skill you need to train tactics regularly to spot them quickly. Masters have a vast internal database of tactical patterns in their minds that they are subconsciously able to access in a practical game. This helps them to quickly identify all the tactical possibilities in the position.
Therefore, our goal must be to take in as many different tactical patterns as possible to develop a ‘feel’ for tactics.
But when starting to play chess, how to know if a tactic exists in the position? There are some markers during a game that you can use to look for tactics:

• Pieces are poorly guarded.
• There are loose pieces (these are the pieces that don’t have adequate support).
• Pieces are lined up on ranks, files, or diagonals in ways that expose them to attack.
• The exposure of the king.

6. Advanced concepts

After studying and acquiring a good grasp of the fundamental tactics, you can start learning advanced tactical concepts. These concepts are built on fundamental tactics and are also called combinations. This is because they combine two or more tactical ideas. Let’s take a look at one such idea,
Zwischenzug or Intermediate move is a very useful advanced tactical idea.
Chess Tactics
In the following position, white wins by Rxe7! because if the rook or bishop takes, we have Qxg4, or if Qxd1 White has the zwischenzug Re8+ forcing Kg7 and then Nxd1 leaves white a piece up.

Positional play

1. The Process

The process I went through when I was a kid was the process of going over a lot of the so-called classical games. These games are the games played by the players like Steinitz, Tarrasch, Reti, Lasker, Rubinstein, Nimzowitsch, Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Petrosian, Fischer, Karpov, to name just the most prominent positional player’s chess history has known.

2. The Books

I used the books available at the time – most of them written by the champions themselves, like Capablanca, Lasker, Tarrasch, Reti, Nimzowitsch, Botvinnik, Fischer, Karpov, etc.

3. How to study?

What I then did was the following:

• I would play the game over and also I would read the comments by the author.
• I would try to understand why certain moves were played and why some others were not. Mind you, this was in pre-engine times, so I had to figure out myself the whys. I would try to feel the moves and the position.
• I would stop at certain moments and try to figure out the plans, perhaps calculate a variation or two.
• When I would finish going over the game I would check with myself whether I understood that game internally.

The feeling I was checking for was a feeling if I knew what was going on in that game.
If not, if I would feel there were some moments where I did not understand why something was played, or just generally had no clue what happened in the game, I would play over the game again, following the same process. This was done until I would feel without any doubt that I knew and understood the game completely.
Often this process would take hours. Now you can imagine how much time it took me to go over all these classical games of the great players of the past. Check out our other how-to articles if you want to improve your chess skills.

4. Why does this work?

What I can say from today’s perspective is that this process worked because of osmosis.
It may sound surprising, but I think that after having played hundreds of classical games I subconsciously absorbed many things: the manner of play by the masters, the positional patterns, typical plans. Of these, I think the most important is the manner of play.
It is difficult to explain what that means.
It is a combination of a certain way of thinking, which mostly comprises of prophylactic thinking, and a certain, very particular and individual, manner of execution of that prophylaxis.
What makes it even more interesting is that since each player had a different manner of play, by studying them I absorbed even a little bit from all of them. Naturally, some I liked more and some less and this was sometimes at odds with my previous preferences.
For example, Fischer has always been my idol, but for a very long time, I could not understand his style. On the other hand, I immediately fell in love with Capablanca because I could instantly understand his moves and he has remained my favorite player ever since.

5. Let’s put it to practice.

To give you an illustration of what all this means in practice, here is one example featuring one of the most impressive (for me) prophylactic moves.
Positional Play
This position is from the game Rubinstein – Takacs from the tournament in Budapest in 1926. Black’s last move was 25...Kg8-f7, defending the rook on e8. But why is it important to defend that rook?
White has a very favorable position on the queenside, his typical minority attack will eventually crash through, either by a4, b5 or by Nc5 and then taking with the b-pawn, fixing the b7-pawn for life.
So Black needs counterplay, and the only counterplay is based around the move ..f5-f4. It was impossible to play that move before defending the rook because White would just take the pawn and then the knight on e6 could not move in view of the hanging rook on e8. Now we understand Black’s last move.
With this understanding we also know what Black wants to do next – it is to push ...f4. So how does White deal with that?
Rubinstein’s move is a fantastic display of deep prophylactic thinking. If you want to test yourself, first try to figure it out yourselves. Then take a look at Rubinstein’s move: 26 Rc2!!
Now try to understand how is this connected to the prevention of ...f4.
If you delve deep enough, you will see what the great Akiba had in mind. After 26...f4 his idea was to use the pin on the e-file again by playing 27 Rce2! fe 28 Re3 and we see that again the knight is pinned.
An incredible concept!
It is by playing over and absorbing these types of moves and ideas that you improve your positional play.
Even after many years they remain somewhere in your subconscious and will come to the surface when they are triggered by something in the real world, something in the game at hand that will require access to that deeply buried knowledge.
The method I described is the one that brought me success.
It is not an easy one, as it is time-consuming and we are all time-starved in today’s world. But it is a method that works and it will bring results to the student willing to put in the hours without an expectation of an immediate result.
The knowledge acquired in this way needs time to settle down, but once done, it will be there to access for as long as you play chess.

Attacking

1. Attacking Chess: Go over games of attacking players

There are many famous attackers. You can review their games and pay attention to the way they were building and developing their attacks. Do rush through the games, take your time. Try to guess their moves, find the reasoning behind them.
Understand the ideas and plans. Some people may find this too difficult, boring, or time-consuming, but this is one of the most effective ways of training.

2. Read books written by attacking players

Many of the above-mentioned attacking players have written books with collections of their best games.
Reading such books will help you inherit their fighting spirit and attitude.
Still, not only read the moves and annotations but also think on your own and guess the moves.
Later, you will be able to compare your thoughts with the thoughts of the great players by reading their annotations.

3. Attacking Chess: Play aggressive openings to practice

It is hard to learn a different style or acquire a new skill without any practice. Of course, you should try to play some games in an attacking way.
But what to do if you can’t get any attacking possibilities?
Try to play more aggressive openings!
The King’s Gambit is the first opening that comes into consideration, but of course, that is not everyone’s cup of tea. There are many other openings that lead to fierce fights as well. Also, you are not obliged to attack in every single game.
Play the Sicilian Defense with both colors; try the King’s Indian Defense as Black or the King’s Indian Attack as White. You can also adjust your current openings a little bit. For example, if you play the Queen’s Gambit with White and employ the minority attack, try to play the plans with the queenside castling instead.

4. Play training games

This kind of training is also one of the most useful ones. You can play training games starting from certain positions. These positions you can choose from the games of attacking players. Try to find the most interesting attacking moments.
This way you will get a better feeling of the arising complications and ideas and get yourself ready to attack in important tournament games. The strength of your sparring partners can vary. You don’t need to search for someone exactly of your level.

5. Attacking Chess: Analyze your games

It is always useful to analyze your own games. This way you learn from your mistakes and get a better understanding of your own strengths and weaknesses. Here let’s see how this can help with our topic.
If you played an attacking game then you can see if you were choosing the right ways to attack and where you could possibly do better. If it was a rather positional and maybe even boring game, you still can try to find where exactly you could make it sharper and spice things up.

6. Develop your calculation skills and tactical vision

Attacks are usually accompanied by many tactical possibilities. You have to be able to calculate variations properly to choose correct attacking continuations.
Seeing tactics is important too. Most of the time attacks get finished by tactical combinations. There are many players who are good at building and developing attacks, but they can’t complete them successfully.
The reason might lie in the issues with tactical vision. They are not able to calculate the variations properly, miss winning combinations, and often even lose the games started with promising attacks.

7. Attacking Chess: Develop your imagination

Sometimes direct and typical attacking ways do not work well. You often need to be creative and imaginative to complete an attack. Some of the above-mentioned methods of training will help you develop these qualities.
Apart from that, you can solve endgame studies or artistic puzzles such as mate in 2 or 3. They are quite complicated and often challenging even for grandmasters.

8. Improve your defensive skills

Defense is an important skill, but what does it have to do with the attack?
Sometimes there are many active continuations in a position. In your games, you should be able to find the most difficult ones for your opponents.
If you choose the wrong path, your opponent may find a defense and neutralize your initiative. This is why it is useful to learn how to defend.
This skill will help you foresee your opponent’s defensive ideas and see the better continuations for the attack.

9. Attacking Chess: Use specialized sources

There are many books, videos, articles, courses, and DVDs designed specifically to improve your attacking skills.
This can be used as a shortcut when learning how to attack. At the same time, remember that watching or reading is not going to be enough itself. You still should go over the ideas on your own, think independently, and practice.

10. Learn from attacking players directly

It is great if you can find a coach who is good at attacking chess and ask him to teach you.
Understandably, this option is not for everyone. But you can also find an attacking player in your local chess club.
Ask them to play some casual games with you or even to discuss the way they play chess. Such conversations are also quite useful: you will see their attitude and grasp some understanding.

Conclusion

There are many ways of training your attacking chess. You can try different ones and see which of them will prove to be more effective for you. I personally think going through the collections of attacking games is one of the best methods.
This way you will not only improve your chess but also get some inspiration from the great chess minds of the past. It will help you keep going and show better results. You can find such game selections in specialized sources too. Also, playing training games will help you a lot, especially if you analyze them thoroughly afterward.
There were many players who got rid of their weaknesses, successfully changed their style, and made huge improvements. Hopefully, this article will help some of the readers learn how to attack too!

endgame technique

Tip 1: Know your Theory

Endgame is a vast ocean. In the opening stage, we rely on tried and tested paths. In the middle game, we fall back on known plans and patterns to guide us through. But we cannot do the same for endgames. We can only take the help of rules and pre-analyzed positions or endgame theory.
Theory helps us guide in the right direction. If we are in a lost position, it helps us to aim for hope for a draw. When in winning positions it guides us with the correct technique to take home the point.
In the following position, Botvinnik playing Black looks lost. White has the active pieces and a material advantage. However, there is a way for Black to survive.
Black to Play
Know your Theory
Here Botvinnik played Rxa5, he had to see the continuation after Nd7+.
After Nd7+ Bxd7 Rxa5 Bxg4 it looks like we are exchange down. But in fact, this position is a known theoretical draw. Black can draw this position even without the h pawn.
10 Tips to Win in Chess Endgames
Botvinnik knew this and went for this endgame deliberately so that he could force this position on the board.

Tip 2: Let your Pieces be Active

One of the most common mistakes that chess players make in the endgame is to play passively.
Passive moves allow a free hand to the opponent. The inactive position of your pieces may hold out in the short term but it often leads to a slow but inevitable defeat.
Whenever your opponent threatens a pawn or a piece think twice to put the piece into an inactive post. Always strive to achieve counterplay with the activity of your pieces.

Tip 3: A passed pawn is an asset

Passed pawns grow in importance in the endgame. If you possess a passed pawn or threaten to create your own, the opponent cannot give you a free hand. The idea to create and use a passed should always be in the back of our minds.

Tip 4: Think in Schemes

In the endgame, it is a rarity to have a grand plan. We cannot account for all the possibilities. But it is possible to devise short plans to improve our position. This can be as simple as bringing the king to the center or a short plan coordinating multiple pieces. But having a plan is important in the endgame.
In the position below, White has a nice static advantage due to the doubled pawns. However, there is nothing immediate for White. In such situations, it is ideal to make a plan instead of applying random attacking moves.
Think in Schemes
White realized the plan of placing the rook on the fourth rank. From the fourth rank, it can swing to attack both a and h pawns. A possible continuation is Rd4 Rb8 23.b3 Rb5
After Ra4 a5 Kg2 white can make further plans to improve the position.
10 Tips to Win in Chess Endgames

Tip 5: Take your time

One of the differences between a strong player and a club player is that a strong player knows when to force a position and when to play slowly. This comes with training and experience. In many endgame positions playing too rashly just loses the advantage. So to win in the endgame it is important to learn the art of playing patiently.
The judgment to know when to play slowly and when to pull the trigger doing so differentiates legendary endgame players from the rest.
In the game below we see a masterful demonstration of patience from Salo Flohr. After playing through the example you can try out the position against a computer. This is to see how patient you are in the endgame

Tip 6: Exchange your way to victory

When you are ahead in material a simple but often overlooked strategy is to exchange pieces. This strategy can help you win many endgames. Whenever exchanging we just need to make sure that we don’t allow counterplay to the opponent.

Tip 7: Be Flexible with advantages

If you head into the endgame with an advantage you must be comfortable transforming it. We need to transform advantages to put more pressure or relieve pressure.
In the following example, White has the advantage due to weak Black pawns. Now White has to figure out a way to make progress. So what are the ideas? Relocate the knight to a4 and the King to c4. But that’s not feasible as Black has a light-squared bishop. Then can we create another weakness? From the pawn structure, creating another static weakness is impossible. So from this assessment, it is clear that White has to find a way to transform his advantage.
Be Flexible with advantages
White plays the move d4. At the outset, it looks like it eliminates the weakness on c5 but the transformation is that White now has superior piece activity. The king can enter through e5 or c5.

Tip 8: Use your Rooks

In the endgame, the position opens up. Lines become clear for Rooks to operate. This makes the rooks more powerful. Hence when the endgame stage is near one should activate the rooks. The rooks are generally stronger than a minor piece in the endgames.
Using this strategy, a neat way to convert exchange-up games is to enter an endgame. This gives your rooks more leverage and power to attack weaknesses.

Tip 9: Play on

One of the traits that makes Magnus Carlsen one of the greats is his ability to play in equal positions. An equal position is not a draw. Humans make mistakes and we should look to set problems for the opponent.
We should aim to make simple good moves in equal positions with pieces on the board. Whether something materializes or not is not of immediate concern. Just play on and who knows you might catch a lucky break.

Tip 10: Be strong in tactics

Endgames are rife with combinations. Even if the position looks calm, we should be on the lookout for tactics. Tactics also help you to advance short plans.