Tactics Essentials
The basic patterns that win games · by Kapilash Chess Academy
Loose pieces, forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, removing the defender, deflection and decoy, mating patterns and defence. Every exercise comes from real opening play: your opponent makes a natural mistake, and you find the move that punishes it. All positions are checked with a chess engine.
Lessons
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1
Loose Pieces and Counting — Attackers and defendersOpen →
Loose pieces drop off: how to count attackers and defenders, capture with the cheapest piece first, and run a blunder check before every move.
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2
The Knight Fork — One knight, two targetsOpen →
The knight fork: royal forks, the fork squares c7 and f7, and how a knight attacks pieces worth much more than itself.
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3
Forks with Every Piece — Pawns, bishops, rooks and queensOpen →
Forks with pawns, bishops, rooks and queens; the pawn-fork trick in the opening; queen checks that hit a loose piece.
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4
The Pin — A piece that cannot moveOpen →
Absolute and relative pins; attacking a pinned piece with a pawn; the Elephant Trap: when a pinned piece is not really pinned.
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5
The Skewer — The pin turned aroundOpen →
The skewer: a pin turned around; skewers with check on diagonals, ranks and files; rook skewers in the endgame.
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6
Discovered Attack and Double Check — The hidden attackerOpen →
Discovered attacks, discovered check and double check; the Petroff trap; why only the king can answer a double check.
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7
Removing the Defender — Capture or chase the guardOpen →
Removing the defender: capturing, exchanging or chasing away the piece that holds the position; overloaded pieces.
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8
Deflection and Decoy — Sacrifices that drag pieces awayOpen →
Deflection and decoy: sacrifices that pull defenders away or lure the king onto a fatal square; the smothered mate.
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9
Checkmate Patterns — Back rank, smothered and moreOpen →
Back-rank mate and how to prevent it; Légal's mate; forcing sequences that end in checkmate.
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10
Defending against Tactics — Find the only moveOpen →
Spotting your opponent's threat and finding the only move: move, protect, block or counterattack.
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11
Combining Tactics — Two patterns, one combinationOpen →
Combinations: how one forcing move prepares another; the Lasker Trap with its knight promotion.
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12
Test Yourself — Mixed tactics from real openingsOpen →
Forty mixed tactical positions from real opening play: find the strongest move.