A course in chess tactics

Short, violent games of chess, organised by theme

Vukovic's mates

Some time after writing the piece about checkmate patterns, I bought V. Vukovic's famous book The Art of Attack in Chess. In it he gives a chapter full of mates, shown below; the numbering and terminology are his.

UPDATE: PGN file attached [PGN]

A first opening repertoire

A First Chess Opening Repertoire: [DOWNLOAD PDF | PGN]

Some suggestions to get you through your first chess games.

You can play through all the examples below:

Mate with Two Bishops

Mate is possible with two Bishops against a bare King.

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Upon the pin

Pins are one of the first attacking ideas you learn about. Here's some colourful examples you might not have seen before. Try and find good examples of forks, skewers, discoveries and so on.

The pin

from Lombardy, 19??

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f4 Qc7 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Nf3 g6 9. O-O Bg7 10. Qe1 e6 11. Kh1 O-O 12. Qh4 b5 13. f5 Qe7 14. Bg5

Get your eye in -- basic practice in noticing attacks

Chess is the art of noticing...

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The Fianchetto: a user's guide

Fianchetto basics

A Bishop developed in fianchetto reaches deep into the opponent's position and influences two important central squares.

We can see this effect in IQP positions.

Lessons in Philidor's Defence

Introduction

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 How many times have you seen played the following moves?

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3

What is Black's best reply?

2...Nc6 is undoubtedly the best reply, but sometimes you see others. Let's have a look at the move

2...d6.

No more Old Stodge! (2)

This club is a GP-free zone

~~1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d3 d6~~ [Giuoco Pianissimo]

Support the campaign for d2-d4 by playing 4. c3, 4. b4 or 3. d4!

MiddleGame Endings and Endgame Openings

What is an endgame, and what is a queenless middlegame? I'll look at a couple of the latter, then a game of mine which moved from one into the other. Lastly, I include some examples of lines to practice with.