I finding that one of my major problems in play is that I'm not aggressive enough.
This is starting to get irritating especially for my partner in bughouse when I have the opportunity to put a lot of pressure on the opponent but fail to do so.
Is there any direct way to increase my chess aggressiveness?
This is where chess computers are very handy. Chessmaster, for instance, can be used to set up personalities. My suggestion is that you set up a WEAK opponent that plays very aggressively (easily done, by instructing the computer to ignore own king safety and setting its own pieces to be worth less than yours). Now, start playing against it... trying to mate it as quickly as possible... once you reach move 25 without a checkmate, you start again... gradually increase the strength the opponent so that you are aggressive, but not reckless!
why not just play lots of bughouse -- and play recklessly - play REALLY recklessly -- perhaps even being willing to make impulsive sacrifices -- let your partner know about your "new approach" so he/she won't be too upset with your sacrifices.
the worst that can happen is that you lose -- and then you just play another game. The whole point of bughouse is the mayhem -- and a really bad position can be improved in a hurry once your partner hands you a queen or a rook
with your normal games, take the same approach - play unrated games against good opponents - and then deliberately play more aggressively than you should - take some "stupid" chances - and then see if you can extricate yourself from any messes that you make -- there are probably positions that appear to be dangerous for you that turn out to actually be safe.
since these games don't affect your rating, who cares if you lose? -- in fact, resolve to lose LOTS of games -- if you win too often, play even MORE aggressively until you stop winning. Over time, you'll develop a ever better sense of when aggression will work and when it will backfire.
I suppose (although no expert) that you become more aggressive as you gain more experience. As you gain more experience you can look deeper into the game and know when, for example, it is safe to make sacrifices which can lead to a win later.
I figure it isn't so much aggressive to the player doing the attacking, but appears aggressive to be player who isn't as experienced being attacked.
- One problem might be that you're not comfortable enough with tactics... so if you don't feel confident with your attack skills. then try to improve this! it will naturally come if you play regularly! do not avoid fight because you think you will not be able to go until the end! when you make an aggressive move, plan it carefully (try to be as systematic as possible when calculating! )
- the other thing you can do is play blitz. In blitz, aggressive sacrifices are more likely to be successful, since the opponent do not really have time to think. Then you may get used to it... it will give you an idea of what a good sacrifice look like...
- Now, think that aggressive does not mean fast!!! It means you increase your speed; but it may still remain relatively slow!!
the distinction is very important! you may have a very aggressive play (sacrificing pawns, pieces, quality) only to get lasting initiative, but then, you can take your time to get results from the better position you got by doing so... So don't be afraid, when you are some material down, not to take it back the following move: you can have material down for ten, fifteen, twenty moves, if it gives you a good situation enough (and getting a sense of the "enough" is the difficult point, sure) it is fine. But it always happens, really!
more generally, be conscious of the importance of speed in chess! it is essential to evaluate a position.
- an important point, to play aggressively is sacrifice of course. I talk about positionnal ones, not pseudo tactical sacrifices... A few things may help you to evaluate a good sacrifice.
1. sacrificing a pawn in the opening (a gambit) may be worth the price if:
- it gives you the equivalent of 2 or 3 tempi (3 you can go without too much doubts, 2 not so obvious): by this I means: after the sacrifice, you have two pieces and one pawn out more, or one pawn, castling, and one piece, or castling and one piece and a good situation... etc. etc.
- it opens lines. My personal rules is: when sacrificing a pawn open a Rook file AND a bishop diagonal at the same time; it is probably a good sacrifice.
- of course when there is a threat on the King, it is interesting...
- when it destroys the opponent structure: for instance, if when you sacrifice, he has to take back with a pawn, and have two pawns on the same file... or when it very much closes his position, etc.
Most of the time, it can be a combination of all these things: for instance, you sacrifice one pawn, and get back for it one piece developed, him slowed down because he cannot castle for instance, and you open file/diagonal.
2. Other sacrifice patterns :
- regularly consider sacrifice on the enemy castle: especially when you have a Queen, a Knight and one or two other pieces around it, especially with one that can be sacrificed, it smells pretty good!
- quality sacrifice: give up your rook against one piece to get a better situation. Some typical situations of this: you give your rook against his fancietto bishop protecting his king. if you still have your bishop, it is clearly worth considering it, because there are quickly mate threats on his king (a fancietto without its bishop is a great weakness for a castle, it is at least worth one pawn!).
- more generally, rooks are pretty long to bring into the game. so you may want to sacrifice one, to destroy his defence while bringing your second rook in the game, for instance, or to get one pawn and a good Knight on the sixth rank. Tell yourself that if he cannot exchange your Knight with one of his Knight or bishop, he will soon or late sacrifice his rook on it, to get rid of the threat !
So what you can do, is whenever you are in one of these situations, take the aggressive option... You will get a sense of what a good sacrifice is!
- Finally, if you're not an aggressive player, why don't you play 1.d4 ? it will be easier for you! being aggressive is not an aim in itself! you may prefer to give up brilliancy and acquire the reputation of a terrible machine ! (though d4 has many many aggressive lines available too!)
EDIT: have a look at this game, where I played pretty aggressively (please no comment, it is not over !) Game 5910976 I didn't make so much tactical exploration on these sacrifices, because they sounded positionally relevant!)
Maybe underneath you're very aggressive. So aggressive you dare not tap into it as years of suppression have fooled you into beleiving you lack aggression. Next time you play make
a decision that you're going to win no matter what and winning is all that matters. Don't even
consider losing. Just relish the prospect of winning wanting it so bad that you can almost taste it.....do this and see what happens.
Originally posted by Macpoawesome, positional sacrifices, one day i aspire to make positional sacrifices. for me that is the ultimate in chess excellence! 🙂
- One problem might be that you're not comfortable enough with tactics... so if you don't feel confident with your attack skills. then try to improve this! it will naturally come if you play regularly! do not avoid fight because you think you will not be able to go until the end! when you make an aggressive move, plan it carefully (try to be as systematic as p ...[text shortened]... h tactical exploration on these sacrifices, because they sounded positionally relevant!)
Originally posted by MahoutOdd,I would think the opposite.Try not to care about the result and just have some fun.Something for the psychologists to ponder 🙂
Maybe underneath you're very aggressive. So aggressive you dare not tap into it as years of suppression have fooled you into beleiving you lack aggression. Next time you play make
a decision that you're going to win no matter what and winning is all that matters. Don't even
consider losing. Just relish the prospect of winning wanting it so bad that you can almost taste it.....do this and see what happens.
Imo,agressive play is an attitude or character trait more than a trade you can learn.
Btw,I quickly went over a few of your games.I don't understand what makes you think you lack agression.
I tend to believe that the interest and the beauty of a chess is all in giving value to your pieces. Giving your own value to pieces, or to say it differently, distorting the average value of pieces, as defined in the p1/NB3/R5/Q9 scale...
In this perspective, of course, positional sacrifice is pretty beautiful, because, when successful it completely transform the value of pieces.
it is not so complicated though!
Originally posted by RomanticusThe few games that you've viewed of mine may look like their aggresive...
Odd,I would think the opposite.Try not to care about the result and just have some fun.Something for the psychologists to ponder 🙂
Imo,agressive play is an attitude or character trait more than a trade you can learn.
Btw,I quickly went over a few of your games.I don't understand what makes you think you lack agression.
On most parts when I either go down a piece or etc. I'm actually stuffing up 😛
What I'm saying is that when I play, I always seem to go into closed positions then attempt to break them open, or have my opponent do so (quite obvious in my french and ruy)
It's just that sometimes, there is just that step where a lot of people would instantaneously go for a sac with an overwhelming attack, whereas I prefer to be conservative and grind down for pawn advantages 😕
I guess the point about it being a character trait is fair enough though...
Originally posted by banx99"It's just that sometimes, there is just that step where a lot of people would instantaneously go for a sac with an overwhelming attack, whereas I prefer to be conservative and grind down for pawn advantages"
The few games that you've viewed of mine may look like their aggresive...
On most parts when I either go down a piece or etc. I'm actually stuffing up 😛
What I'm saying is that when I play, I always seem to go into closed positions then attempt to break them open, or have my opponent do so (quite obvious in my french and ruy)
It's just that sometimes, the ...[text shortened]... n advantages 😕
I guess the point about it being a character trait is fair enough though...
Could you give an example of such a position?
Btw,there's nothing wrong with grinding down small advantages.In chess you have Shirovs and Karpovs.