This week I received another interesting query from a reader:
“Chess Doctor – I am an advanced beginner (around 1400 USCF). I have always relied on online videos and occasional books for my studies, mostly with analysis of various games. Meanwhile, my friends are all doing tactical puzzles on various websites just about 24 hours a day! This raises the question: how much do you think I should study tactics to improve?”
To begin this article, a quote from the old master Richard Teichmann comes to mind: “Chess is 99% tactics.” That may be true to some degree, but if so should we all spend 99% of our time studying chess tactics?
It would seem that Teichmann would probably say yes, but I don’t believe this is the right approach. There are many tactical motifs that are important to learn, and indeed almost all strong players will know positions such as the following:
These are all very basic tactics. And, of course, there are more advanced combinations such as these:
All of these tactics are good to know. In fact, I think it is important for players of all levels to study tactics. So yes, the person who asked the question would do well to study tactics. It has been said many times before, but up to roughly 1800 (and from my experience even into the 2000 range), chess is mostly tactics.
But I believe you should learn other areas of the game as well, even if you are only 1400. Basic endgames are very important, and could give you an edge over your rivals at that level. There are so many other parts of the game to study in great depth! For a quick checklist, here are some parts of chess I would suggest to readers for further study:
Openings are always important, as are endgames, tactics and positional play. As you all know, I highly recommend studying through books with annotated games. Also, apart from traditional tactics, I also recommend solving positions, whether it may be endgame studies or even calculation exercises in a normal position, that kind of work is very good for your calculation and chess as a whole.
One final point: while it can take a while to master, it is important to learn how to play calm, equal positions. According to Lasker it was one of the last things he mastered on his way to the World Championship title.
To summarize: yes, you should definitely spend time on tactics, but there is so much more to the game of chess!
As always you can submit your questions through the button below. Thanks for reading!
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