It starts with board vision. Everything else comes sooner or later. Even thinking system is drawn later.
Dan's book - Everyone's 2nd Chess book go through this Beginner to next level so thoroughly.
According to him the space between Beginner vs next level is not well researched and people jump directly into tactics, mate etc - without having board vision.
I had tested some of these myself long back when coaching. Eg Knight vision exercises.
Now when teaching to my kids, I following same techniques after researching.
All other books for beginners [plenty of books out there] and next level [move by move, basic tactics etc] comes later. For adults there may have been books like Rapid Chess improvement from Michael da la maza but they come later as well.
As I wrote to you on Twitter, Martin: I think up to 800-1000, it's "stop hanging pieces". From 1000 to 1400 it's tactics, tactics, tactics -- but at the lower end it's very simple tactics (allowing a pawn fork, or a knight fork on c2 -- or, conversely, on offense: missing that pawn or easy knight fork).
As to "how"? In OTB, some suggest (as a last resort, when "sanity checks don't work") writing the move down, and *then* looking one more time. (Sometimes not allowed)
In blitz (where I really stink) I hang pieces because I fail to see long diagonals. E.g., I'm focusing an attack against f7, and I fail to see that my opponent has a bishop sitting on a2.
I can't help but think that long diagonal captures and knight captures are the hardest to see.
I found that the four golden rules have helped, although I am not always disciplined enough to apply them every single move. 1. Can I checkmate? 2. Threats to my pieces. 3. Possible captures. 4. Is it safe to move?
Next to checks, threats and captures... I try to keep these 4 questions in mind. Does not work always...
1. How can I lose?
2. What are the weak squares/pawns in the position?
3. What is the opponent's plan?
4. What is my worst piece and why?
It starts with board vision. Everything else comes sooner or later. Even thinking system is drawn later.
Dan's book - Everyone's 2nd Chess book go through this Beginner to next level so thoroughly.
According to him the space between Beginner vs next level is not well researched and people jump directly into tactics, mate etc - without having board vision.
I had tested some of these myself long back when coaching. Eg Knight vision exercises.
Now when teaching to my kids, I following same techniques after researching.
All other books for beginners [plenty of books out there] and next level [move by move, basic tactics etc] comes later. For adults there may have been books like Rapid Chess improvement from Michael da la maza but they come later as well.
As I wrote to you on Twitter, Martin: I think up to 800-1000, it's "stop hanging pieces". From 1000 to 1400 it's tactics, tactics, tactics -- but at the lower end it's very simple tactics (allowing a pawn fork, or a knight fork on c2 -- or, conversely, on offense: missing that pawn or easy knight fork).
As to "how"? In OTB, some suggest (as a last resort, when "sanity checks don't work") writing the move down, and *then* looking one more time. (Sometimes not allowed)
In blitz (where I really stink) I hang pieces because I fail to see long diagonals. E.g., I'm focusing an attack against f7, and I fail to see that my opponent has a bishop sitting on a2.
I can't help but think that long diagonal captures and knight captures are the hardest to see.
I found that the four golden rules have helped, although I am not always disciplined enough to apply them every single move. 1. Can I checkmate? 2. Threats to my pieces. 3. Possible captures. 4. Is it safe to move?
my coach told me to ask the following question before making a move: What can my opponent do to me after it?
What has helped me recently improve on this is focusing on hanging pieces tactics.
Been ages since I played or even knew how to play or think I knew to play...
I must still be an amateur ...