Intermediate
Tactics and the endgames you must know.
- Hanging piecesNextSpotting the pieces left without defence, yours and your opponent’s.
- The forkOne piece attacks two at once, and the opponent can only save one.
- The pinA piece that cannot move without exposing something worth more.
- The skewerAttacking a valuable piece to win the one behind it.
- Discovered attacks and double checkOne piece steps aside and uncovers the attack of another behind it.
- Removing the defenderCapturing, deflecting or overloading the piece that defends another.
- Mate patternsThe back-rank mate, the smothered mate and Anastasia’s mate: three pictures that keep coming back.
- Checks, captures and threatsThe moves that force the rival, how to calculate them and when giving up material pays off.
- The in-between moveBefore taking back, check whether there is something better; and the pieces that attack through others.
- King and pawn endingsThe rule of the square, the opposition and the key squares: when a pawn promotes and when it does not.
- Rook endingsAn active rook, the rook behind the pawn, the seventh rank and how to cut the king off.
- How to save a drawPerpetual check, threefold repetition and stalemate: how to draw a game you were losing.