Tarrasch's opening trap is a course in tactics

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1892.01.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tarrasch"]
[Black "Marco"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "C66"]
[Annotator "DrDave"]
[PlyCount "35"]

{Just for contrast, here's a Good Trap, discovered by Tarrasch. White plays
only good moves, but if Black doesn't choose correctly, White can spring a
trap!} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {The Ruy Lopez. In this line, Black goes for
the most solid and safe moves they can find, hoping their strong point in the
centre will provide shelter...} d6 (3... -- 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nxe5 Qd4) 4. d4 Bd7

How good is your chess? 3

Can you guess White's moves in this game?

It doesn't matter if you don't get them all -- the main thing is to have a good reason for everything you play, and you don't miss any chances for either side!

How deep can you go?

Can you find and set up knight forks?

1 move deep

[Event "analysis: visualisation"]
[Site "analysis: visualisation"]
[Date "1997.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "knight fork combination"]
[Black "one move deep"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3k3/3n4/1p6/3N4/2R2P2/4K3/8/8 w q - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "0"]

{Easy enough I hope: if you know the pattern, it should jump out at you.}  1-0

2 moves deep

[Event "analysis: visualisation"]
[Site "analysis: visualisation"]

Winning one square at a time

Study on the black keys

[Event "weak pawns: weak colour comple"]
[Site "weak pawns: weak colour compl"]
[Date "1921.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bernstein"]
[Black "Mieses"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[PlyCount "97"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 {Black has pawns on light squares.  Good job he has his dark-squared bishop!} 7. e5 
{Trying to fix the hole on d6} 7...Nd5 8.

Tarrasch-Kurschner 1889

A game to play along: what would you play if you were White?

A course in chess tactics

Short games of chess, showing all the types of tactics you need to know. See also: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-EelE8CWxB7QXbb36Dgl2lToy8Lwa9Zy

Click on [...] to see the list of examples.

The Pillsbury Attack

1895:

[Event "Logical Chess, Move by Move #22"]
[Site "Paris FRA"]
[Date "1900.??.??"]
[Round "22"]
[White "Pillsbury"]
[Black "Marco"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D55"]
[PlyCount "55"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 b6 7. Bd3 Bb7 8. cxd5
exd5 9. Ne5 Nbd7 10. f4 c5 11. O-O c4 12. Bc2 a6 13. Qf3 b5 14. Qh3 g6 15. f5
b4 16. fxg6 hxg6 17. Qh4 bxc3 18. Nxd7 Qxd7 19. Rxf6 a5 20. Raf1 Ra6 21. Bxg6
fxg6 {White now demonstrated mate in 7} 22. Rxf8+ Bxf8 23. Rxf8+ Kxf8 24. Qh8+

Capablanca's Endgames

Elegant and subtle, Capablanca was the perfect endgame machine. His opponents were often in losing positions before they realised it. In other games no-one could decide if he should have won or not... but he did! There is a fine book by Irving Chernev which collected and annotated Capablanca's endgames: here are the games to play along with the book.

These games stretch from when he was 12 to late in his career.

How Good is Your Chess? Game 1

[Event "Logical Chess, Move by Move #17"]
[Site "Hastings ENG"]
[Date "1895.??.??"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Pillsbury"]
[Black "Mason"] 
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D53"]
[PlyCount "71"]
[EventDate "1895.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nf3 b6 
{# Choose White's next move}
6. e3 $14 (6. g3 $11 dxc4) (
6. Rc1 $14) 6... Bb7 
{# Choose White's next move}
7. Rc1 $14 (7. Bd3 $11 dxc4) (7. Qc2 $14) 7... dxc4 8.
Bxc4 Nbd7 9. O-O O-O 
{# Choose White's next move}
10. Qe2 $16 (10. Qd3 $14) 10... Nd5 
{# Choose White's next move}

U14/U18 games Chepstow 2020

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Supporting junior chess in the county

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