1. Joined
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    05 Apr '11 21:281 edit
    I was wondering if tactics by opening books or programs exist. I had this position in one of my last games:



    It turns out that white has a pretty decent move here with Bxf6. Either black's king gets exposed or black loses material. I didn't see it of course, someone showed it to me after the game.

    The thing is that I see positions like this fairly often, but rarely (if ever) do I see positions like this in generic puzzles. I'm hoping to find puzzles that show positions that I'm more likely to run into while playing 1.b3.
  2. bedlam
    Joined
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    05 Apr '11 21:561 edit
    Originally posted by Eladar
    I was wondering if tactics by opening books or programs exist. I had this position in one of my last games:

    [fen]r2q2k1/1p3ppp/p2bbn2/2p1B3/8/1P1B4/P1PN1PPP/3Q1RK1 w - - 0 1[/fen]

    It turns out that white has a pretty decent move here with Bxf6. Either black's king gets exposed or black loses material. I didn't see it of course, someone showed it to m ing to find puzzles that show positions that I'm more likely to run into while playing 1.b3.
    I think any decent opening book will show the most common tactics.If not separate then at least in example games.Problem is you have to wade through a load of uninteresting prose and reems of variations to actually find them.

    You have a potential good idea.Contact a publisher or author!

    Btw,nice three mover!Too bad you missed it.
  3. e4
    Joined
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    05 Apr '11 23:01
    "Problem is you have to wade through a load of uninteresting prose and
    reems of variations to actually find them.

    You have a potential good idea.Contact a publisher or author!

    They are 100's of books on Opening Traps.

    The good ones cover all the tactical themes (and just the tactical themes)
    related to that opening.
    Infact they are laid put in order of opening.

    Opening traps are 99% tactcial, though I have few books
    which also give positional traps.
  4. Joined
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    06 Apr '11 00:15
    It seems to me that there would be both opening traps and strategic traps that would be more likely to arise from different openings.

    When I play 1.b3 I try to keep my a1-h8 diagonal open. I'd like to be exposed to certain tactical positions that arise from a bishop on b2. I'm not sure if traps are the same thing as tactics.

    What's the difference between the two? Are traps simply ways of trying to set up tactics?
  5. Joined
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    06 Apr '11 02:04
    Originally posted by Eladar
    I was wondering if tactics by opening books or programs exist. I had this position in one of my last games:

    [fen]r2q2k1/1p3ppp/p2bbn2/2p1B3/8/1P1B4/P1PN1PPP/3Q1RK1 w - - 0 1[/fen]

    It turns out that white has a pretty decent move here with Bxf6. Either black's king gets exposed or black loses material. I didn't see it of course, someone showed it to m ...[text shortened]... ing to find puzzles that show positions that I'm more likely to run into while playing 1.b3.
    Chesstempo.com has this feature but you have to buy a gold membership for $35.
    The feature allows you to search tactics by ECO code and by player.
  6. e4
    Joined
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    06 Apr '11 02:361 edit
    An Opening Trap is where one takes a risk trying to suck out a plausible blunder.

    The Shilling Gambit is tjhe best example I can think of at the moment.
    Black moves a Knight twice in the opening leaving his e-pawn as bait.
    And why not, it has over 100 victims on this site.



    Here:


    The ref given in most books is either 4.Nxd4 or 4. c3.

    However I like 4.Nxe5 Qg5 5.0-0!? Qxe5 6.c3.


    With a stonking attack and good fun for White.

    Most openings have a few traps that fit the risk criteria.
    This one is loathed by theory. And yet it scores well OTB under 2000.
    The Alekhine's Defence.



    All openings have Pitfalls. Big Difference.
    This is where a player sets out his stall without taking a risk and yet
    there is a plausible piece of ice in the position for a player to slip on.

    A Black player trying to hang onto the pawn in the Queens Gambit
    often gets himself in hot water and there are a few quick White wins here.
    And yet there is nothing wrong with offering the gambit. 1.d4 d5 2.c4.

    The Sicilian Najdorf is loaded with Pitfalls for Black to fall into.
    That opening has the most short White victories (under 20 moves ) than any other.

    All a player has to do is know the pitfall is there or spot it should
    their opponent trip up.

    A classic example of a player falling into a pitfall
    was Christiansen - Karpov Hollan 1993.



    The Mammoth Book of Chess, an excellent book.
    Gives traps/pitfalls and strategic examples of most openings.
  7. Joined
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    12363
    06 Apr '11 14:32
    Originally posted by Eladar
    I was wondering if tactics by opening books or programs exist. I had this position in one of my last games:

    [fen]r2q2k1/1p3ppp/p2bbn2/2p1B3/8/1P1B4/P1PN1PPP/3Q1RK1 w - - 0 1[/fen]
    That isn't exactly the opening any more. But for this kind of position, you might like to try Reinfeld's Complete Book of Chess Tactics. It's an interesting approach. The positions vary from so easy even I spot them off the page, to quite a bit too subtle for me. They vary from late-opening to early-endgame positions, with the majority well into the middle game; yours would fit right in.

    Richard
  8. Joined
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    06 Apr '11 16:501 edit
    Greenpawn,

    It seems that so many opening traps are based on 1.e4. I think I'm going to pick up that Mammoth book you suggest. It looks like I can pick it up for about 10 bucks which includes shipping! From what I read in the description the book should really help me in all phases of the game. It looks like I'm a prime candidate for the book. Hopefully it isn't too much for me. I've run into that problem with opening books.

    Shallow,

    I wasn't able to find the tactics book on my google search, all I got was a Strategy book. Are they one in the same?

    I know it isn't an opening anymore, but it is a very possible board based on the opening I use. I'd like to narrow my study to puzzles that deal with boards that are more likely based on my opening.
  9. SubscriberPaul Leggett
    Chess Librarian
    The Stacks
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    06 Apr '11 19:35
    Originally posted by KneeCaps
    Chesstempo.com has this feature but you have to buy a gold membership for $35.
    The feature allows you to search tactics by ECO code and by player.
    Wow, if you can search tactics by player on the losing side, you could search for patterns and possibly find a player's weakness or blind spot, and look for ways to exploit it.

    Very interesting...
  10. Standard membernimzo5
    Ronin
    Hereford Boathouse
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    06 Apr '11 20:11
    Hmm, for those who have chessbase or fritz, I would just grab a ton of games in the opening you want, throw them into fritz blundercheck and then tell fritz to make training questions for say 2 pawns or greater that arise.

    Voila your own personalized collection of tactics by an opening.

    The real challenge is finding a useful database of games that will yield tactics problems or in the case of you 1. b3 afficionados, enough games period.

    🙂
  11. SubscriberPaul Leggett
    Chess Librarian
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    06 Apr '11 20:38
    Originally posted by nimzo5
    Hmm, for those who have chessbase or fritz, I would just grab a ton of games in the opening you want, throw them into fritz blundercheck and then tell fritz to make training questions for say 2 pawns or greater that arise.

    Voila your own personalized collection of tactics by an opening.

    The real challenge is finding a useful database of games that will yield tactics problems or in the case of you 1. b3 afficionados, enough games period.

    🙂
    That's a good idea. I'm going to try that!
  12. e4
    Joined
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    06 Apr '11 23:37
    Hi Paul.

    More righteous stuff coming up. (but the game given good) 😉

    Actually this Blunder Check for Tests and few other tips for getting
    the most out of a box are mentioned by Burgess in Mammoth.

    Hi Eladar

    It seems that so many opening traps are based on 1.e4.

    The 1.e4 e5 opening have many tricks and traps and more in the
    first 15 moves than the others.

    The opening allows freedom of development with pieces
    going naturally to attacking squares and the game can be torn open
    with all the minor pieces hand to hand fighting right away,
    Queens getting tossed onto the fire and Kings trembling.

    The sharpest openings lurk here, The King's Gambit, Danish, Two Knights,
    Bishop's Opening, Scotch Gambit, the Vienna and a whole host of gambits
    hide within these openings.
    The Wilkes Barre, The Frankenstein Dracula, The Fried Liver, The Moller etc...

    Fortunately (else chess would dead) theory has pulled the teeth of these
    hot openings but essential knowledge if you go in for 1.e4 e5.
    At the lower level these sharp and tricky lines still catch players.

    But all the openings have their own unique pitfalls.

    There is a book called traps in the Fianchetto Openings which is
    whole different breed of trap.
    Bad title as often players sneer at traps but a lot of the tactics/strategy ideas
    are quite subtle.
    Should have been called Pitsfalls and Strategic Traps in The Finachetto Openings.

    But beware It's not traps you should be memorising but short games
    you should be studying. Remember the ideas behind the move and
    playing these moves in your own games will surely follow.

    Usually a player makes a slack move which may have gone unpunished
    in previous games. Then suddenly BANG and the game is alive with tricks.

    A fianchetto v a fianchetto is often called boring because it's
    not a 1.e4 e5 opening. The 100's of short games I've played over with
    these produce some of the best lessons I've ever seen.
    Rooks on h1 and h8 are hanging the moment g2 or g7 is played.
    Just be ready to seize the moment should the chance appear.

    This is the type of game you should be looking for.
    No trap set by White, he just seized the moment.

    Feuerstein - Bennett New York 1955

    I love games like this. Both players are thinking the other player
    has blundered and both go for the quick kill.

  13. Joined
    12 May '09
    Moves
    2779
    07 Apr '11 14:59
    Originally posted by Eladar
    I was wondering if tactics by opening books or programs exist.
    Yes:
    http://www.newinchess.com/Tactics_in_the_Chess_Opening___Complete_Series_-p-142.html

    I guess 1.b3 is covered in volume 6.
  14. SubscriberPaul Leggett
    Chess Librarian
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    07 Apr '11 15:34
    Originally posted by greenpawn34
    Hi Paul.

    More righteous stuff coming up. (but the game given good) 😉

    Actually this Blunder Check for Tests and few other tips for getting
    the most out of a box are mentioned by Burgess in Mammoth.

    Hi Eladar

    It seems that so many opening traps are based on 1.e4.

    The 1.e4 e5 opening have many tricks and traps and more in the
    first 15 mov ...[text shortened]... ng up. Do go back and look at the attack Black gets if he is allowed to play Ne4+.}[/pgn]
    That game was so different than what I expected after the first 3 moves, that it almost defies description. It wasn't just good, it was... righteous!
  15. Standard memberThabtos
    I am become Death
    Joined
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    07 Apr '11 17:32
    You can create custom problem sets based on ECO with a membership at chesstempo.
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