Instant Checkmate Chess: How To Get The Upper Hand

By Author: Walker Wild
Total Articles: 279
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There's no doubt about it; instant checkmate chess players love to win. They live for the thrill of that instant checkmate; they savor the words "I resign" spoken by an opponent who simply doesn't have a chance and knows it.

But chess players hate to lose. Seeing your king surrounded by hordes of enemy pieces, seeing your chess army cut down mercilessly, watching your position fall apart; these are anathema to any red-blooded chess enthusiast.

No one wins every game. But how much better is it to win often, and win well? Getting the upper hand, keeping it, and driving the advantage home to victory is what makes a true chess lover get up in the morning.

There is no one strategy that leads to chess success. But at the level of most chess players, from beginner on up to the expert ranking, tactics is what makes the difference.

Certainly, you should know a few chess openings and know them well. You should understand basic principles of a chess strategy, such as not doubling your pawns or creating weaknesses in your king side position. But the greatest payoff comes from learning instant checkmate chess ...
... tactics.

It has been said with much truth that most chess games are won by the player who makes the next to last mistake; and that mistake is usually one of tactics. The player just doesn't realize the opponent has a checkmate lined up, or can win one of his pieces for free.

Games that could have been won, but weren't, can also generally be chalked up to errors in tactics. The player missed a instant checkmate, or missed a win of the opponent's material.

Tactics in chess refers to moves that create or avoid direct threats to quick checkmate or win material. To become strong at chess tactics means learning different things at different levels of skill.

At the basic level, tactical skill involves recognizing threats of capture or instant checkmate, and either taking advantage of them or avoiding them, as the case may be. This means something as simple as, for example, realizing that your opponent can capture your queen on the next move, and getting the queen out of harm's way and off to a safe square.

At a somewhat higher level, tactical skill requires knowledge of basic maneuvers such as the pin, the x-ray attack, the fork, and so on. These are all explained on many web sites and in many books. Learning these concepts results in a great advance in skill and many more won games.

At the highest level, players need to understand combinations. This is the art of making more than one piece work together to achieve a checkmate or the win of material.

Many books are available to help learn tactics, and there are a number of excellent web sites that provide guided training in instant checkmate chess tactics.

A good 80 percent of your chess training time should be spent on tactics until you approach an expert rating level. Getting the upper hand in chess is all about tactics!

Hank Rawlly is a chess enthusiast. His wife and he met while playing chess in a local park in New York City.They have dedicated their free time to playing and talking about chess. Read more chess tips and tactics on his instant checkmate chess blog here http://instant-checkmate-chess.blogspot.com/ .