Do You Really Understand Positional Chess?

For those that enjoyed my previous article, Test Your Positional Chess, let’s do it again. It’s fun to follow positional concepts, and it’s also extremely instructive.

Please keep in mind that these puzzles aren’t like usual tactical puzzles. You usually won’t have to find the “one and only one” move since the position might offer several reasonable choices. So, if you think you found the right move but the software says nyet, keep trying.

Also, this isn’t for 1000-rated players or for masters; it’s for everyone. After all, when you’re playing a serious game you’ll need to deal with the game’s complexity (or lack thereof) whether you like it or not. Anyway, the real goal is to understand the position and THEN and ONLY THEN look for moves that cater to the position’s needs.

I’ve made sure that all the puzzles have notes, so make sure you take a look at them since those are often the key to improvement.

Of course, you don’t have to agonize over the puzzles. Just click on the “?” at the left-bottom of the puzzle and the puzzle-board will open up its wonders.

One other thing: At the end of the puzzle (in my notes) I give the puzzle’s main LESSONS. So please take a look at them.

PUZZLE 1

PUZZLE 2

PUZZLE 3

PUZZLE 4

PUZZLE 5

PUZZLE 6

PUZZLE 7

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.Rc1 dxc4 8.e3 c5 9.Bxc4 cxd4 10.exd4 Nc6 11.O-O

PUZZLE 8