Chess lessons › Good chess habits
Playing stronger and weaker players
Against a stronger player, play sound moves and take what you are given. Against a weaker one, keep pieces on.
The idea
Take what a stronger player gives you; keep pieces on against weaker.
- Lasker, the world champion, leaves the knight on f5 unprotected.
- The pawn on g6 and the queen on d7 both attack it.
- Chajes takes with the queen and goes on to win.
In a game: Whoever your opponent is, look at checks, captures and threats every move.
How the lesson begins
A rating says who is more likely to win, not who will. Stronger players also make mistakes, and weaker players also find good moves.
What changes is not how you choose a move. Look at checks, captures and threats for both sides every time. What changes is the kind of game you aim for.
In a simultaneous display, one strong player plays many opponents at once, walking from board to board. This is Emanuel Lasker, then world champion, playing White against Oscar Chajes in a display in the United States, 1905.
Black to move. Look at the pawn on e4.
Find the move
The pawn on e4 is attacked twice, by the rook on e8 and the pawn on d5, and defended only once, by the queen. Black to move. Take what you are given.
A hint
Count the attackers and defenders of e4.
Show the answer
21... Rxe4
Rxe4 wins the pawn. It is the engine’s first choice, and Black is clearly better after it. A famous name across the board does not make a pawn safe. Count, and if it is free, take it.