Here is a collection of very short games organised by tactical
theme. The main aim is to give you a quick run-through the basic
tactical ideas in genuine positions.nbsp; One advantage of using short
games is that you can set the positions up on a board very quickly and
accurately.nbsp; You can of course just use the diagrams as test
positions.nbsp; If you have a database that you can use with a group,
you might like the PGN regardless.
Anyone could have done this, and maybe you would have done it
better, but you might find it useful that it has been done by someone
else.
Actively sacrificing a Rook depends on you having an open file and something to aim at. So the best-rehearsed exchange sacrifices are ...Rc8xNc3 in the Sicilian, ...Rf8xNf3 in the French and to some extent the Dutch, Rf1xf6 against the Sicilian... You need some compensation for your Rook: either a good central pawn, or the weakening of the opposing King's defences, or all three!
1. Chess is 99%
tactics
, said Richard
Teichmann.nbsp; However, 90% of the time, there is no tactic for
either side.nbsp; So, as well as any difficulty presented by a
complicated position, we also have to counter our natural laziness in
not looking out for a rare event, as if each move we are crossing the a
quiet country road, and not bothering to check for oncoming
There is, of course, a very famous saying from Rueben Fine: "I'd rather have a pawn than a finger." It's often quoted during analysis. One of my favorite sayings, though, came as a response to this. About 40 players were watching an online broadcast of a major match. One of the players was a pawn down, and there was some argument as to how much compensation the other had. One of the masters present quoted Fine, "As Reuben Fine said, "I'd rather have a pawn than a finger."
![[cool tip]](/chessx/cool_cat.gif)
