Okay, I'm a relative newcomer to chess (as the profile says, been playing about 3 months).
I've found I'm pretty good at exploiting mistakes that other's make e.g. they move a piece where it can be pinned or forked.
But now I am playing stronger players, who make less mistakes, I am finding that I am lost for ideas of how to attack.
Is it just the nature of the game (hence grandmaster draws)?
Are there ways of weakening an opponents position to force mistakes?
Any advice appreciated.
Originally posted by !~TONY~!I agree! It's an awesome book as long as you put time into working through it. Not a book to 'read only', you have to try to work through the positions to really gain anything from it but as far as I'm concerned that's the best way to learn.
The Art of Attack in chess by Vukovic! Great book! 😀
I'm still working through it slowly.
Bryan
You might also look at your openings. If you play gambits and aggressive defenses like the Sicilian or Pirc you'll probably get some attacks (and so will your opponents!).
There are a number of books that try to create an opening repertoire for the attacking player, but I don't know if they're any good or not. Randy Bauer, who is regarded as a good reviewer, recommends this one by Emms, and the review itself has some good comments on the genre:
http://www.chessopolis.com/br/attacking_with_1.e4.htm
Here are subtle things you can try to get advantage...
Exchanges that force enemy pawns to double up.
Exchanges that remove protection from an attacked piece.
Pawn moves that drive a piece away from what it is protecting.
Pawn exchanges that don't double up your pawns.
Pawn exchanges that isolate an enemy pawns from other pawns.
Work on the center of the board first, worry about mate later.
Use your king as an attacking piece in the mid to end game.
If you feel a piece is being attacked, find a better move than just moving it out of the way… don’t let your enemy dictate your moves!
Remember, it only takes one pawn to win a game!
Work on the center of the board first, worry about mate later.Great point. When I played in tournaments (very long ago) I went back and looked at my wins and losses and found that in my losses I almost always lost because of an ill-advised flank attack (or leaving a piece hanging), and in my few wins I won the battle for the center...