The Secret of Strong Players

Part I
Hi,
Today we have a very interesting topic: The Secrets of Strong Chess
Players.
During a game of chess you demonstrate your way of thinking.
Obviously there is a difference in the way of thinking between strong
and not-so-strong players, but what is it about their way of thinking
that makes these players stronger and helps them to gain more
victories?
If you have pondered such questions before, you may have
discovered that finding the answer is not that easy. Perhaps you
have found that many of these strong players are unwilling to share
these insider secrets with you.

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Similarly, there are a lot of lessons out there prepared by strong

Grandmasters that will show you some opening moves or some
strong moves played in the games of strong Grandmasters.
However, they do not reveal the most important thing: How do these
players find such strong moves and how can you do the same?
Today, however, you are in luck as this is exactly the topic of this
lesson. Today we will be discussing powerful techniques for finding
strong moves!
Naturally I cannot cover everything in just one lesson. Nevertheless, I
will give you a couple of practical and powerful recommendations
that youll be able to implement and improve your results with right
after this lesson.
TO TAKE IS A MISTAKE

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In order to demonstrate the difference in the way of thinking

between strong and not-so-strong players, lets consider the
following example:
Diagram 1

GM Reinderman GM NyzhnykWhite to move

In this position White played 29. Rxd6 (winning a pawn) and then
Black played 29Qe5. Perhaps Black wanted to block Whites epawn while at the same time attack Whites queen and also keep
an eye on the d6-rook. But here I have a question for you.
How would you play here as White?

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Im pretty sure that most players would just take Blacks queen on e5.
Generally, when you have a material advantage it is good to
exchange pieces. However, in this position it is not the best move
because if White takes Blacks queen on e5, he will only have
succeeded in helping Black to activate his knight and bring it to a
good central square.
So what to do instead? If you have studied my previous lessons you
will know already that to take is a mistake and that in such positions it
is far better that you maintain the tension and let your opponent be
the one who releases this tension.
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Accordingly, White played 30. Kh2 and now you can see this idea
clearly. If White takes Blacks queen on e5 Black will activate his
knight and put it on a good central square. The opposite situation is
applicable for Black. If Black takes Whites queen on g3, it will help
White to activate his king and bring it closer to the center.
In the actual game, Black took Whites queen (30Qxg3+) and after
the recapture (31. Kxg3) White achieved an easily winning position.
Notice that White can bring his king to f4 and then push e5, he has
an extra pawn and Black has a lot of weaknesses. This is totally
winning for White.

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So now you know one secret of strong players: they understand the
rule that to take is a mistake. It may sound rather simple but most
players do not follow this rule or do not know about it. What they
actually do is the opposite thing and they take whenever they can.
Why do so many players make this mistake? Its actually quite easy
to explain. Consider for a moment the following example:
Diagram 2

Black to move
Now, imagine that you are playing Black and you are considering
the move 10d5. Which variations do you need to check before you
can play this move?
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Obviously you need to be sure that you dont lose any material and
so maybe you start your calculation and think to yourself, Okay, Ill
play d5 and after cxd5 Ill take with my knight (Nxd5), hell recapture
with his knight (Nxd5), Ill take on d5 again with my bishop (Bxd5),
hell take with his bishop (Bxd5), Ill take with my queen (Qxd5). And
then you see that everything is fine and say to yourself, Okay, I can
play d5.
This is the usual method of calculating variations and after some
practice it becomes a habit. Thats why most chess players follow this
way of thinking automatically. When they see that they can take
something they start their calculations right from that move. Stronger
players, on the other hand, know that to take is a mistake and that
they should look for something better.
Before we move on, let me just clarify something. Of course Im not
saying that you should never take. Sometimes you can win an
opponents material and sometimes you are forced to recapture in
order to keep the material balance. In such cases of course you will
naturally take. To give you an example, lets go back a few moves in
this game.

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If after Black plays 10d5 White responds with 11. cxd5, then of
course Black must recapture. If he does not he will lose material and
so there is nothing to think about. He has no other option but to take.
However, in the subsequent position after 11Nxd5 (see Diagram 3
below) White should not take on d5. This would be a mistake and
White should refrain from making this move because of the rule: to
take is a mistake.

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Diagram 3

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White to move
Now that you know the rule that to automatically take is a mistake,
and that you should always try to maintain the tension, lets move on
a little.
OFFENSE IS THE BEST DEFENSE
Okay. Lets continue our exploration of the way strong players think
with another example. Below is a theoretical position from the Sicilian
defense, Najdorf variation.
Diagram 4

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Black to move
Lets say that Black plays 12b4 attacking the knight, White retreats
the knight to e2 (13. Nce2), Black plays 13Qc7, White replies with
14. h4 (preparing an attack on the king-side) and Black answers with
14d5 (attacking Whites centre and more specifically, the pawn on
e4).
Diagram 5

Although we know that we should try to keep the tension and avoid
moves like exd5, here it is not so easy to find a suitable way to keep
the tension and somehow protect the e4-pawn:

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White to move
Okay? Now, here is a question for you. How would you play here as
White?
Ill be very glad if you decided not to take the d5 pawn. You know
already that to take is a mistake and in this position it is indeed not
the best option. After 15.exd5 Black will recapture with 16Nxd5.
With this move Black brings the knight into the centre, attacks
Whites bishop on e3 and gains more activity. As a result White needs
to find something better.

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White cant play 15.Ng3 because that square is under control of

Blacks queen on c7.
A move like 15.Bg2 would place the bishop in a very passive position
and after an exchange would cause the g4-pawn to be hanging.
Also Black can move his knight to c4, so none of this looks very good
for White.
If White tries a move like 15.Qd3, a rather awkward idea, then Black
can play 15Ne5 or 15Nc5 and gain extra tempi. Again, this is
certainly not something that White would want.

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Perhaps now you are thinking that if you dont have a good way to
defend the e4-pawn then maybe you just have to take on d5. This is
certainly how most chess players think in such situations. However,
this way of thinking has one major drawback: everything that weve
been considering so far in this position has been focused on an
opponents threats and we completely forgot about our own plans.
Let me give you a quick analogy. It is rather like a tug-of-war
competition. Each side is trying to pull the rope in their own direction
and the side who does it stronger will win the competition. A similar
thing happens in chess. Each player is trying to pull the game in the
direction that he wants, and the one who does it more insistently will
win the game.

Having said that, let us take this new approach and apply it in the
above position. Our task is to see what other resources we can find

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for White. We can do this by simply shifting our focus from Blacks
threats to Whites plans.
Okay, so what is Whites plan here? Obviously White wants to push
g5. That is why he played h4 and g4 on the previous moves.
However, he cannot play g5 immediately because after 15hxg,
White cannot recapture with 16.hxg because the h-pawn is pinned
to the undefended rook on h1. Therefore White needs to prepare this
move somehow. He just needs to solve this problem of the hanging
rook on h1.
We can find a couple of ideas for this purpose. For example:
White could play 15.Bh3 and cover the h-file. Then after 15dxe4
White can push g5 successfully. Also, the bishop on h3 attacks Blacks
e6-pawn. Maybe White will sacrifice a piece there or he could push
g6 and undermine this e6-pawn. All in all this position looks very
promising for White. So thats one interesting idea.
At the very least White can remove the rook from danger by playing
15.Rg1 with similar ideas of pushing g5 and then g6 and developing
an attack on the king-side. Thats another alternative.

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In the actual game, White found another move with a similar idea.
He played 15.Bf4 (attacking Blacks queen) and after Black played
15e5 White played 16.Bh2. With this maneuver White has covered
the h-file with his dark-squared bishop and he is ready to push g5. Of
course Black cannot take the knight on d4 because the pawn is
pinned and so he took on e4 (16dxe4). After that, White pushed
17.g5 (see Diagram below).

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Diagram 6

Black to move
As you can see, White is developing his attack. Of course it is still a
very complicated position but White has good chances to develop
a successful attack and Black should be really careful. For example,
if after 17hxg5, 18.hxg5 Black makes the natural move 18Nd5 he
is losing immediately as White can take with 19.Bxc5 (attacking
Blacks queen and unleashing a discovered attack on Blacks h8rook).
Okay, so lets now go back to the critical position (Diagram 5). The
important thing for you to take from this is that after we adopted a
new approach, we were able to find a lot of interesting and
powerful possibilities for White. This is a key difference between the
way strong players and weak players think.

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When attacked, weak players think of how to defend. Unlike them,

strong players try to pull the game in the direction that they want
and they always try to keep focusing on their own plans.
We can summarize these ideas by stating the rule: offense is the best
defense. While Im sure youve heard this several times in the past,
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without any real understanding of this idea the rule by itself is rather
useless.
Let me be clear that Im not talking about an active defense, or a
counter-attack, or anything like that. Im simply talking about
another approach for the game. What I mean is that you should
always try to push your own plan and try to lead the game in the
direction that you want. Its not about counter-blows or any kind of
tactical tricks. It relates more to your deep understanding of the
chess game and the adoption of the proper approach.
REVIEW
In this lesson we have been discussing the secrets of strong players.
You now know two powerful secrets of these strong players. Let us
review them quickly.
To take is mistake:
A major difference between strong and not-so-strong players is that
when there is the possibility for an exchange, weaker players will
usually just take automatically. Unlike them, strong players know that
to take is a mistake and that you should therefore look for a way to
keep the tension.

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Strong players understand that it is often beneficial to let an

opponent be the one to make the exchange and release the
tension because it can help you to be more active. Additionally,
they understand that such automatic exchanges can often just
make your opponents choice of moves easier. In general you
should provide your opponent with every opportunity to make a
mistake.
Of course if you can win an opponents material, then you can and
should take.
Offense is the best defense:

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Another key difference between strong players and not-so-strong

players is that when they are attacked, weaker players will usually
think only about defense. Contrary to this, strong players follow the
rule that offense is the best defense. They realize that it is a mistake
to focus solely on your opponents threats and forget about your
own plans.
Strong players understand that you should not make defensive
moves automatically. Very often you will have something more
powerful to play and you should look for it.
Strong players understand that chess is much like a tug-of-war
competition where each player is trying to pull the game in the
direction that he wants, and the one who does it more insistently will
win the game.
I will end this here for now, but let me say in closing that when you
know the secrets of strong players, everything becomes pretty
simple. If you adopt these rules you may not become a
Grandmaster overnight but your game will improve dramatically.

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I wish you well-deserved success!

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