Determining Safe Chess Moves

NM Dan Heisman defines what it is to say a move is safe. He then gives 4 examples of positions where intermediate chess players (1300-1800) might make a mistake in determining piece safety.
A companion to this video, somewhat more basic, is • Learn Chess: Is Your M... . Watch for NM Laura Smith and my new Chessable course on the Counting tactic called: "Can you take it? A beginner's guide to winning pieces"
This channel is / danheismanchess with 350+ videos covering all chess improvement topics! Check out our playlists at / @danheismanchess .
NM Dan Heisman has been a full-time chess instructor since 1996 and is the author of 13 chess books, the TV show "Q&A with Coach Heisman" on Chess.com and the radio show "Ask the Renaissance Man" on the Internet Chess Club. Radio personality Howard Stern was one of Dan's students. Dan tries to answer comments on KZbin but for a quicker, more comprehensive answer (or questions about lessons), contact Dan via email, skype, or phone via Dan's website www.danheisman.com. His Chess Tip of the Day is @danheisman on Twitter, which won the awards for "Best Twitter Feed" in 2021 and 2023 from the Chess Journalists of America. #Chess #ImproveChess #ChessInstruction #ChessThinking #ChessLesson #LearnChess #ChessImprove #ChessTactics #ChessDecisions #ChessSafety #ChessAnalysis #ChessCalculation

[@danheismanchess]

Thanks for watching. Please tell your chess friends about kzbin.info! A companion video to this one about piece safety is kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKKcqHyrf8ujnbs.

[@shanastroskyphazer8172]

Thanks Dan, great lesson. I wish a chess teacher would explore in depth the concept of which rook, or which pawn or which knight to recapture with ? The nuisances, and tips and tricks to navigate these situations would be great.

[@danheismanchess]

Thanks. I have something similar; it may not be exactly what you asked, but it is Handling Multiple Choices: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faiufXSLgph9m6M. I also had two Novice Nooks called "The Fun of Pros and Cons" and "Chess is Decisions". See p.127 of my book "A Guide to Chess Improvement" :)

[@TheGrizzled]

Im adoult chess improver. I have studied your book "A Guide to Chess Improvement: The Best Of Novice Nook" it helps me to improve my play. I also work on "Looking for Trouble" and "Is Your Move Safe?"@@danheismanchess

[@jimmccann3856]

"1700 Hope Chess Barrier"? I am guessing that this means that 1700 is the highest reasonable ratings aspiration, regardless of knowledge or positional acumen, if a player lacks Ply 2 Completeness. (The last 3 examples are this issue.) But the first example is a branching Ply 6 or 8 Calculation (ie BxNe5 is Ply 2, BxB (say) is Ply 3, NxBe5 is Ply 4, dxN is Ply5, and Ng4 on Ply 6 is finally "Houston we have a Problem", with the front e dropping on Ply 8. I am currently LiChess 2070 and my results vs peers are mostly this sort of stuff...

[@danheismanchess]

Thanks. No, the Hope Chess barrier is what I have designated for players who don't consistently use analysis to see if their moves are safe. They may sometimes use it or just look for safety with their tactical vision, but don't analyze every move for safety, asking "If I make this move, does my opponent have a forcing sequence that wins material or mates?" It has very little to do with what I assume you mean by "Ply 2 completeness". I have discussed this at length in other videos (search on my channel for "Hope chess") and my books like The Improving Chess Thinker and A Guide to Chess Improvement.

[@thebottman1]

"AWL" is something William Karneges refers to as "Power Move #5".

[@danheismanchess]

OK, not familiar with his work, but once authors start identifying and naming a concept, hopefully one of the names will catch on and become standard. I think "AWL" (Attack with something Worth Less) is a lot more descriptive than "Power Move #5" but I'm prejudiced. A good example is in the 1940s in Pawn Power in Chess Kmoch called a concept "Liberating Levers" but by 20 years later we were all calling them "pawn breaks" or "break moves".

[@thebottman1]

@@danheismanchess Well, he also refers to it as "Little Guys Harassing Big Guys" in his book, "The Six Power Moves of Chess". I think you'd like it, he also stresses asking yourself questions prior to making moves, one of them being the safety of your move. So you both seem to stress similar things and just use different terminology.

[@danheismanchess]

Interesting, thanks. Yes, when a concept is important but doesn't have a name we instructors tend to name it but until the "big boys" buy into the name and help publicize it across all levels of players, that name might not stick. For all the concepts I have given names, look for the designation "(Dan)" next to definitions at www.danheisman.com/definitions.htm.

[@Achbiter]

thanks coach.

[@danheismanchess]

You are quite welcome.

[@nomoreblitz]

I can do this diligently for a lot of moves but still somehow forget on just one key move late in the game, like move 34, or move 64. I forget to look for a new check that will appear after my move on just that one move... 🙄 I think it happens less often now than last year. But my hand sometimes makes the move. And then my mind says, "wait!"

[@danheismanchess]

Yes, consistency is an important trait. 95% of the moves is not a good percentage because in a 40 move game there would be 2 moves where you don't check safety & it only takes 1 to lose a game. You want to get into the habit that the first thing you do when you identify a candidate move is ask "Is it safe?" - and you can't move without determining that, unless you are playing a blitz game with no increment.

[@mathewsamuel1386]

With all this knowledge, I'm surprised you were not a grand master!

[@danheismanchess]

Thanks. But I started serious play when I was 16 so I had basically no chance. By that age Fischer was already 2-time US Champion! So I did pretty well to become the highest rated HS player in PA by age 17 and one of the top-25 US Juniors before I turned 21. Then I had college and an engineering career.

[@mathewsamuel1386]

@@danheismanchess I see. Your achievement was amazing still.

[@Achbiter-hy1ku]

At 1254 you say the nc3 is loose. 😮 What don't I understand. Thanks

[@danheismanchess]

Yes, you are correct; it was a "mouth-slip" - I meant to say c2, not c3 (the pawn in c2 is unguarded).

[@Alex-xk6md]

This is great

[@danheismanchess]

Thanks, much appreciated. If you can, please tell your friends about kzbin.info :)

[@raajeshchess]

Sir can you cover karpov vs yusupov 1993 tillburg game where karpov' s knight takes the last knight of yusupov on b8 And sir whenever we play e5 or d5 as white we r gaining central space or kingside and queenside space respectively. Please help me to understand this

[@danheismanchess]

There's no one universal answer to whether playing d4-d5 or e4-e5 early in the game is a good way to gain space. In many cases yes, in others it's just bad. There are usually pros and cons involved that have to be weighed, position by position. It would be like asking if going around the corner in any part of the world is always a good way to be safe! I learned to weigh these chess issues by analyzing with better players and reading a ton of annotated master games; Lots of free instructional videos here on my KZbin channel and others' as well.

[@raajeshchess]

@@danheismanchess thankyou sir