I would like advice about rules you use for what I have seen (in my chess reading) refered to as counting. Counting means examining the attackers and defenders of a square to determine if you can win a pawn or a piece at that square.
I have not yet come up with any general rules to help me with this, as it seems to be more complicated than it at first appears. In the end, I always calculate (if I move here, they recapture, then ..., then ...), which is always tedious. It seems that there must be shortcuts I can take, I just haven't read about them, or figured them out on my own yet.
Any advice?
Thanks
Originally posted by gambit3For example (from one of my games at random):
I do not know what you are talking about.
in game Game 569644
at move 14:
white is attacking d2 twice, black defends once.
white is attacking c6 once, black defends twice.
I think there must be some ideas (rules) that I can use to puzzle through such a situation.
Hope this example clarifies.
this rule is very helpful for me as I don't wish to go through all the tedious recapturing thinking, however you should also do the recapturing thinking, just in case.
the general rule is to count the attackers on a square, such as pawns and pieces. next you count the defenders of that square. if the attackers outnumber defenders then you will gain something. if attackers equal or are less than defenders then you will not gain anything.
try it out on a board, and practice thinking in this fashion.
Originally posted by KyoThis is exactly what I have in mind. Thank you.
...count the attackers on a square, such as pawns and pieces. next you count the defenders of that square. if the attackers outnumber defenders then you will gain something...
However, I find that this rule alone gets me in some trouble. I have to also consider the value of the pieces attacking and defending, and sometimes capture order, and sometimes any discovered attackers or defenders.
Also, the counting rule is "off-by-one" if just placing your piece where it is vulnerable.
I am definitely not good at this yet. Often I focus on the squares that I think are interesting only to miss one that is more important.
By the way, I noticed that my Fritz8 program has a feature under "Help-->Threatened Squares" that colors squares that are at risk, but the program doesn't seem to count attackers and defenders correctly (it is too simple).
Perhaps you could have played 11. ....d6, 13. ...Qc7. This game is game of logic and art. Thus both Botvinnik and Tal both had a bit of mastery of the game. The logic is in the playing of accurate piece positioning. The art is the beauty of accurate timing and piece coordination.
Originally posted by zucchiniof course, you have to think in different ways. you must also consider value of pieces, the sequence (capture order) in which pieces will capture etc.
However, I find that this rule alone gets me in some trouble. I have to also consider the value of the pieces attacking and defending, and sometimes capture order, and sometimes any discovered attackers or defenders.
Also, the counting rule is "off-by-one" if just placing your piece where it is vulnerable.
when doing the counting rule:
if you are defending, you do not count the piece/pawn/square that is being attacked, e.g. if a piece on a square has two defenders (e.g. a queen and a rook), the piece will be lost if 3 attacking pieces ganged up on it.
if you are attacking, you count ALL pieces that are attacking any square, piece, etc.
this rule is one of the first rules that i learned when starting out in chess, its always helpful in most situations.
Originally posted by martinbeaverThanks. This helps. I had actually already downloaded the series, but I have only read about 10 articles. Since they do not have titles in the filenames, I didn't even know I had this yet. I hope this can help some others.🙂
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman15.pdf
I am still looking for additional material on this subject. And this article did not contain any specific rules along the lines of counting and adding piece values. If any of you know of more resources on this topic, please post them.
The rest of this post is my summary of Heisman's article: A Counting Primer
=======================================================
Counting is more fundamental than tactics, because correct tactics require accurate counting.
The Value of the Pieces
--------------------------
Explains how to calculate the pawn point value of capture sequences.
knight = bishop = 3.25 pawns
rook = 5 pawns
queen = 9.75 pawns
having both bishops when opponent does not = 0.5 pawns
3 tempi ~= 1 pawn
Counting Exercises
---------------------
This gives related problems of increasing complexity to explain how to count in each situation.
starting with en prise = 1 attacker, 0 defenders
adding a piece on each side to build up complex situations
Couting Rules summary
=======================
- Capture with lowest valued pieces first. Sometimes it is better to capture with a piece rather than a pawn -- consider the resulting pawn structure.
- Stop a capture sequence when a trade will go in your opponents favor (that is, keep re-evaluating the position as play progresses through a capture sequence). You usually do not need to count past this point.
- A defending pawn can defend against any number of non-pawn attackers.
This is complicated so practice.
Also, in capture sequences, beware of those in-between moves that can throw that I-take him, he takes me off. There's a German name for it that I can't recall (zwietchwensug?) or something like that. Many times there's an opportunity to veer from a straight line sequence by side threats, often a check, that makes the original capturing chain irrelevant.
Originally posted by martinbeaverThanks. I skimmed these. While useful, they do not directly address "counting".
dan heiseman also has similar articles on jeremysilman.com (under thinking cap instruction) which deals with similar themes.
I prefer the first Heisman article referenced above for this.
Originally posted by buddy2Zwischenzug....I think...
Also, in capture sequences, beware of those in-between moves that can throw that I-take him, he takes me off. There's a German name for it that I can't recall (zwietchwensug?) or something like that. Many times there's an opportunity to veer from a straight line sequence by side threats, often a check, that makes the original capturing chain irrelevant.