The Mentor Thread-Tips for Beginners

Post help for the needy chess players here.
Give insight into the mysterys of the worlds most fascinating game.
Ask questions, post games.
Us know-it-alls will try to answer to the best of our abilitys

Originally posted by Grandmouster
Post help for the needy chess players here.
Give insight into the mysterys of the worlds most fascinating game.
Ask questions, post games.
Us know-it-alls will try to answer to the best of our abilitys

This is a wind up isn't you cannot be for real..can you?

Originally posted by Sicilian Smaug
I need ALOT of help! But your rating is lower than mine, are you sure you can help?

sorry.. you will have to seek the wisdom of a much more enlightened player..😀

Im serious, I think its good to help other players, less knowledgable.
Of course my tounge in cheek style may have thrown some people off, but fell free to help out, and ask away

I think a teaching ladder would be a good idea for RHP, though it may well collapse at the top because of a lack of really high rated players.

I'll start; what I'd like to see somewhere a DEFENSIVE tactics site with problems where a player needs to make a move to stop a material winning tactic. Most games I see by lower rated players here are not lost because of simply hanging pieces (though many are) but by missing a fork, being caught in a pin that leaves a piece unprotected in reality or the pinned piece being trapped and unable to be defended adequately or (my favorite) a winning skewer. All the tactics sites I see concentrate on problems where there is a winning solution for you when, sadly, in reality inadequate defense to fairly obvious threats loses most lower rated games.

Originally posted by no1marauder
I'll start; what I'd like to see somewhere a DEFENSIVE tactics site with problems where a player needs to make a move to stop a material winning tactic. Most games I see by lower rated players here are not lost because of simply hanging pieces (though many are) but by missing a fork, being caught in a pin that leaves a piece unprotected in reality or th ...[text shortened]... , sadly, in reality inadequate defense to fairly obvious threats loses most lower rated games.

D Fence
D Fence
D Fence

This ain't NFL football. This is chess. White to move and win! 😛

Originally posted by Regicidal
D Fence
D Fence
D Fence

This ain't NFL football. This is chess. White to move and win! 😛

Apparently you missed the title of the thread. Since my advice is sooooooooooooooo worthless, perhaps you'd like to share your expertise with those less fortunate.

Originally posted by no1marauder
I'll start; what I'd like to see somewhere a DEFENSIVE tactics site with problems where a player needs to make a move to stop a material winning tactic. Most games I see by lower rated players here are not lost because of simply hanging pieces (though many are) but by missing a fork, being caught in a pin that leaves a piece unprotected in reality or th ...[text shortened]... , sadly, in reality inadequate defense to fairly obvious threats loses most lower rated games.

This seems like a matter of technique. With good endgame knowledge, you should know how to trade down to avoid tactics.
Some books on defense are by Soltis and Poulugayevsky

Originally posted by no1marauder
Apparently you missed the title of the thread. Since my advice is sooooooooooooooo worthless, perhaps you'd like to share your expertise with those less fortunate.

Perhaps you missed the tongue hanging out of my mouth.
Seriously though, good idea. Threat recognition is good! Maybe I'll do that.

Originally posted by Grandmouster
This seems like a matter of technique. With good endgame knowledge, you should know how to trade down to avoid tactics.
Some books on defense are by Soltis and Poulugayevsky

Good endgame knowledge isn't of much use in seeing middlegame tactics.

For people wanting to improve their endgames, I recommend Irving Chernev's Book 'Capablanca's Best Chess Endings: 60 Complete Games'.

Originally posted by no1marauder
[b]I'll start; what I'd like to see somewhere a DEFENSIVE tactics site with problems where a player needs to make a move to stop a material winning tactic....

A month or so ago I started my first book on tactics (Pandolfini's "Chess Target Practice"😉. Solving the chess problems in this book has definitely improved my game, as many at this site said it would. But what took me totally by surprise was how much it helped me see the potential threats to MY position. It helped my defensive game every bit as much as my offensive.

Originally posted by basso
A month or so ago I started my first book on tactics (Pandolfini's "Chess Target Practice"😉. Solving the chess problems in this book has definitely improved my game, as many at this site said it would. But what took me totally by surprise was how much it helped me see the potential threats to MY position. It helped my defensive game every bit as much as my offensive.

If you can't see tactics then you can't defend you position. So to play good defense you need to learn tactics, hence offense.