Chess thinking habits

You cannot consciously search for every chess pattern at once. A usable thought process is made of smaller checks: one question, then the next.

WayChess breaks that process into specific things you learn to notice. Each habit is one of those checks, drilled on many positions until it is quick enough to use in a game — not only when a puzzle already tells you to look.

The point is not a catalogue of 17 exercises. It is a way to see the board and think during a move.

Three stages of a move

Before you calculate deeply, notice what deserves attention. Then think in this order:

1. Threat assessment — What does my opponent threaten? What is wrong or vulnerable in my position?
2. Find the best move — What opportunities do I have? What can I do to them?
3. Blunder check — I have a candidate. Does that move hang a piece, walk into a fork, or abandon a defence?

Most patterns can be viewed from both sides. Their undefended piece is an opportunity. Mine is a danger. Training has a lesson for each side. The last group is only for the blunder check: it looks at a specific candidate move, not the position before that move.

See how the process is trained.

Threat assessment, then finding the best move

Same check, flipped side. First the threat, then the opportunity.

• Attacked pieces — every attack: on you, then on them
• Undefended pieces — unprotected pieces: yours, then theirs
• Risky situation — a piece attacked at least as many times as it is defended (not a simple capture): yours, then theirs
• X-ray — a line of attack through another piece: available to them, then to you
• Useful x-ray — x-rays that actually matter: available to them, then to you
• Vertical fork — two targets on a file for a rook or queen: available to them, then to you
• Knight fork — two pieces a knight can attack from one square: available to them, then to you
• Bishop diagonal — two pieces a bishop can fork on a diagonal: available to them, then to you
• Rook attack — two pieces a rook can fork on a rank or file: available to them, then to you
• Advanced pawn — a pawn close to promotion: theirs, then yours
• Trapped figure — a piece with little or no escape: yours, then theirs
• Queen attack — queen attacks you must meet, then queen attacks you can play

Blunder check

When you know the move you want, check it before you play. You also train the opponent’s candidate the same way.

• Walking into an attack — a move that hangs a piece
• Walking into a pawn fork — a move that lines two pieces up for a pawn fork
• Walking into a knight fork — a move that puts two pieces on a knight-fork geometry
• Walking into a bishop diagonal — a move that puts two pieces on a bishop diagonal
• Walking into a rook attack — a move that puts two pieces on a rook rank or file
• Abandoned defence — a move that leaves a piece undefended
• Moving to an undefended square — a move that lands the piece where nothing defends it

Guest tries: attacked pieces, undefended pieces, knight fork.