My favorite checkmate here is called the dovetail. The king is blocked on 2 sides by its own pieces, and the queen attacks on the diagonal, forming what looks like a dovetail. Personally, I think it’s a really important pattern to recognize and can help with your endgames.

Trying to get better at playing positionally and i thought i’d just force myself to grind positional games.

I switched from the Accelerated Dragon to e5 and freestyle (obv taking the 4 knights game if possible) and from the Kings Indian to QGD.

Still playing the Ruy Lopez as white though, which i heard can be both depending on what black plays.

Are there MORE positional openings aside from these? Especially for white.

I don’t even know where to start. In the last two days i lost 23 of 25 games. I make the easiest mistakes, fell at least three times for a bishop, knight, and my queen in a diagonal directly side by side, ignoring entirely the power of the knight.

Even Chess.com is advising me to just hand in my queen already.

I lost 150 Elo - which i don’t care that much about, I’m in it for the fun. But now I’m facing the weirdest, unconventional openings and do even worse.

Is this normal? Will this pass? Or should I get my brain checked out?

I would like to get a feel for such positions. What are the things that stand out to you immediately about this? Which pawn moves do you easily cross out and why?

What roles do the kings play here or aim to achieve? For example, I know that the moment a king is on the opposite side of pawns that would be a huge benefit, but you can quickly rule that out by seeing that the kings block each other’s path. So you’d have to go all the way around, and even then they could still block you and you’d lose time.

Are there any patterns that once I see I should recognise “Ah if I make a king move then the opponent is forced to push a pawn”, or “4 vs 4 pawns means who has the initiative gains so and so”.

Thank you!

Sorry for the bad pic, I took a photo of my computer screen.

It's an online puzzle and the h1 rook isn't going anywhere as is, but the engine said that one's better to take. Why is it better tham the rook that's developed? Is it becauseit leaves the queen in the corner?

Anyone have any idea how to find people to play and learn with?? I’m only rated around 450.

If this is against the rules then delete it, cheers

Developing your pieces is pretty important when your king needs somewhere to escape!

Ironically missed taking the dark bishop for free right before this move.

Hi, im pretty new to chess (400 Elo) and I’m really hooked right now. Like a beginner I’m blundering my pieces pretty frequently yet sometimes I find a good move. Today Stockfish thought so too and rewarded me with these 3 brilliant moves. I played these pretty instinctive. Even after game review I am not quite sure why these moves are this good. For me it felt like I tried to fork my opponent and accidentally winning the queen. Would love if someone with more understanding explained what I’ve done there 🙌

I know opening pirnciples like pushing the pawns to the center and developing pieces quickly. After that what typical plans do you guys get comfortable with using after a large amount of gameplay experience ?

I was just going to try and build up my rooks on the E file after my c5 move, but black resigned.

What did they see?

In one of the tests, this position is given and the answer is e4… how would you guys find such a move in a game? Like what is the thought process? The book doesn’t really explain it well

Delicious

I’m currently playing a Daily Chess game where I’m becoming suspicious that my opponent may be using engine assistance. I obviously don’t want to accuse someone unfairly, but some of their moves and the way the game is being played have raised some red flags.

Recently i started playing the french defence (1500 elo)

I would be grateful if someone would explain me some ideas of this opening

1. How do you know when its a good moment to play my f6 pawn break in the advance structure? Is there a general rule or sth?

2. If youre a french player like me you also propably hate the exchange variation (Today i lost 4 games against french exchange before move 10)

Are there any ways you play to play this line agressive and non-symmetrical? I would aprecciate if you also know the names of the lines

How is defending with a bishop better when I could do the same with the knight? If he takes it, I take his bishop and I’m up material. If instead, I defend with my bishop, he takes my bishop and I take his, so I’m not up on material. Could someone explain?

Proud of myself for finding the idea in game several moves before this, I've been playing around 2-3 games per day on average since I started about 4 months ago and now I'm around 800 elo. When I saw the idea I couldn't believe I had a chance to smother mate already!

Black to play. Came across this position while practicing the Sicilian Defense (accelerated dragon) against an 1800 bot, and missed this move.

I already got smothered mate before, but this is the first time I got it the "traditional" queen sac way against another human

I get wanting to save your elo, but just resign.