The Importance of Move Order in Chess Tactics - Chesstempo Standard 1590 | #05

[@unrequited119]

it is okay to count the material at the start, and see which pieces are loose. pieces with 0 defenders are loose, pieces with equal defenders and attackers are still subject to tactics but require more advanced execution, but in order to make this as close to a game thinking process, you should ask yourself what the opponent is intending to do on the last move, and after that, what changed as far as safety of the opponent's pieces is concerned. after bxc4 immediately the knight on a4 becomes loose. so here logically you should try to exploit that. the most direct attempt is qb4 which is what you found. if you continue to calculate this to where it fails this may give you an idea of how it might work if you improve on why it fails. the key here is seeing that 1..qb4 fails because of 2 rxe3 when you have to take on e3 again because re8 is hanging, and white takes on e3 again no matter what you take with, because here additionally your bc8 is hanging and your king is weak, this maybe the hard part for you to appreciate right now, as usually you need to reevaluate piece safety in a tactical sequence like this since the safety swings erratically, here when the rooks disappear suddenly both your king and your bc8 are tactically weak because of a check on e8, and this makes white resist in the qb4 line, since now he has qe8+ at the end if you take the knight on a4. but what if white did not have counterplay on the e file, and how do i eliminate that, this should help you find 1 ..rxe1 forcing 2 nxe1 when now white has no counter anymore to 2...qb4, additionally now the queen has to guard ne1 so that he cannot even go qc2 to save both na4 and rc3 as ne1 drops to ..rxe1. so you should try to overcome resistance in your calculation. a line that fails sometimes fails for one idea that the opponent has, and if you manage to find a counter to this idea the line can be improved to where it actually works. so when you calculate a line that fails, try to make it work by tinkering your calculation a bit. ask yourself why specifically does it not work and maybe you can do something about that.

[@KeepChessSimple]

@@unrequited119Wow thanks for the awesome reply! Learned a lot from it. I have a lot to improve when it comes to calculation.