Back to Basics

What is the basic toolkit of the amateur Chess player? A bit about the openings to be sure - 'sortez les pieces' is enough... get the piece out! Shove the King towards the centre in the endgame, this is generally a good idea.

But 95% of all games below Master level are won by statistics!

Let me repeat that. 95% of all games below Master level are won by tactics. Tactics! Tactics! Tactics!

Until basic tactics are second nature, that combination, the 'crowning glory of good positional play' will not materialise while it remains unseen.

Fred Reinfeld's "1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations" is divided into 20 chapters by tactical motif, with 6 diagrams to a page. A week or so ago I began on the grand plan.

• Work through the first page of each chapter, then compare your analysis to the solutions.
• At the second pass, review the first six problems, then solve the next six.
• Continue the cycle reviewing all previously attempted problems, until all 1001 problems have been completed.
• Start at problem 1. Review all problems in the book through to 1001.
• Do it again.
• And again.
• And again.
• DO IT AGAIN.

This should breed a familiarity with each problem, each time revealing a few more of it's secrets (and let's face it Fred, sometimes your solutions can be a little... well.. vague!) until it should be possible to pass through the whole book in around an hour. This is will now become a once or twice weekly tactics training session, and a quick tune-up to get into the right frame of mind before a game.