The Phases of a Chess Player Revisited
Hey Impressive Chessers!
Today, I’m revisiting a blog from last year that, funnily enough, revisited a blog I wrote all the way back in 2016. Talk about layers! If you’re curious to dig into the archives, here’s the original post that started it all: Why Do We Lose? The 3 Phases.
Click --> here to skip directly to the puzzle
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4
To help illustrate the point, that I'm trying to make, we'll be going over the lesson of "The Tired Queen" AKA stopping the 4 move checkmate. You might be thinking, I already know how to stop the 4 move checkmate, I learned that in elementary school! You'd be right, but it's easiest to learn newer concepts by building upon ideas that we already know by heart.
Phase 1
In this phase, you’re usually just beginning to learn the game, but this phase can, unfortunately, creep up into anyone's game. It’s easy to overlook threats entirely, whether they’re direct (like a hanging piece) or indirect (like a positional weakness). Understanding what your opponent is trying to achieve is the first big step.
Take this position as an example of phase 1 play:
Here, you start recognizing threats, but your responses are often overly cautious. You might make moves that solely focus on defense, which can lead to passivity and a loss of initiative. In this phase you might play:
Instead of reacting passively, you begin addressing your opponent’s plans while also advancing your own. For example:
In the final phase, you learn to discern which threats are real and which are not. Sometimes the best response is to ignore a threat entirely and focus on your own powerful plan. This requires deep calculation and confidence in your position.
Can you play like a Phase 4 player in the puzzle below?
Bonus Puzzle!
Conclusion
Now that you know you want to try to play in phases 3 and 4, that can greatly increase your chess strength. A word of warning: trying to play in this way will lead to astronomical chess growth but may also lead to blunders in the short term. It’s up to you—are you going to let a few rating points stand in the way of breaking out of phase 2?
I hope not, but either way, stay impressive!
NM Craig C.
