Chess is a game of thinking. But if you don’t guide your thinking, your mind can easily become overwhelmed by all the possible moves and ideas.
That is why a clear thinking process is one of the most important skills you can develop.
In this lesson, you’ll learn three simple questions that help you avoid blunders, notice tactical chances, and find useful improving moves.
The goal is to keep the process simple. A thinking method should help you solve problems, not create a new one.
An effective chess thinking method revolves around these three key questions:
- What’s my opponent up to?
- Can I strike with a tactic?
- How can I improve my position?
Question 1: What’s My Opponent Up To?
A common mistake weaker chess players make is to focus too much on their own ideas and not enough on what their opponent is trying to do.
That is why one of the simplest ways to improve your chess is to develop the habit of checking your opponent’s threats and ideas before you play your move.
This helps you:
- Avoid tactical blunders by noticing your opponent’s threats
- Stop your opponent’s good ideas before they become dangerous
Your ability to quickly understand what your opponent is trying to do depends on two important skills: tactical vision and positional understanding. These are skills you can train and improve.
In the diagram below, Black has just played 1… Qh5. What’s are they up to?
Black wants to capture our knight with 2… Qxf3, because the pawn on g2 is pinned by the rook on g8.
Now, in the same position, ask the second question:
Question 2: Can I Strike with a Tactic?
Once you understand what your opponent is trying to do, you can look for tactical opportunities without ignoring their threat. Since black has a threat, Qxf3, white will only consider counter-threats that are potentially stronger than black’s threat.
1. Qb3+ forks the Black king and the rook on g8. Also, now the pawn on g2 is no longer pinned.
When Black moved the queen from e8 to h5, they created a threat against our knight — but they also left the rook on g8 undefended.
After we capture the rook with 2. Qxg8, the pawn on g2 will no longer be pinned, so the knight on f3 is no longer under attack.
In this position, we found a concrete way to gain an advantage. But in most positions, there will not be a clear tactical strike. When that happens, we move on to the third question.
Question 3: How Can I Improve my Position?
If there is no urgent threat to stop and no clear tactic to use, the next step is to improve your position. This usually means improving the activity and coordination of your pieces. Look for pieces that are poorly placed, blocked, undeveloped, or not helping your position enough.
But improving your position does not always mean improving one of your own pieces. Sometimes the best move is to reduce the activity of your opponent’s best piece.
In the diagram below, White’s knight on d6 is clearly the strongest piece on the board.
Ne8! At first, this move may look strange. Black moves the knight backward and does not create an immediate threat.
But the idea is strong: Black is preparing to challenge White’s powerful knight on d6. If that knight is exchanged or forced away, White loses one of the main strengths of the position. Neutralizing White’s knight is more effective than simply trying to improve one of Black’s own pieces.
This is an important point: improving your position does not always mean moving your own pieces to better squares. Sometimes the best improving move is the one that reduces the power of your opponent’s best piece.
Improving your position is a challenging skill. It depends on positional understanding, tactical awareness, and calculation — all of which can be trained and improved.
Key Takeaways
Clear thinking is one of the most important skills in chess.
The value of these three questions is that they give your mind a clear direction:
- What’s my opponent up to?
- Can I strike with a tactic?
- How can I improve my position?
At first, you may need to remind yourself to ask them. But with practice, they become a natural part of how you think during a game.
Although the three questions include threats and tactics, the lesson fits best under the strategy section because the final questions helps you find useful improving moves and depends on your knowledge and understanding of chess strategy.
Note: This lesson is also available as an interactive lichess study.