The CHESSFOX Thinking Method

One of the biggest challenges in chess is developing a clear and logical thought process, so you don’t get stuck overthinking and second-guessing every move.

That’s why I developed the CHESSFOX Thinking Method—a set of five questions designed to improve your thinking process. Over time, as you internalize these questions, they will naturally enhance your decision-making and help you think with greater clarity and confidence.

The 5 Questions

These five questions are rooted in the most fundamental concepts of chess and provide a framework for a highly effective and efficient thinking process:

1. What’s My Opponent Up To?
2. Can I Strike with a Tactic?
3. Can I Improve My Worst Piece?
4. Can I Neutralize Their Best Piece?
5. How Do I Increase the Pressure?

To start, I’ll briefly explain the purpose and nature of each of the five questions, followed by examples to show how they can be applied.

1. What’s My Opponent Up To?

Being aware of your opponent’s tactical threats is crucial—not just to avoid blunders, but also to keep your mind clear and focused. If you don’t take the time to identify the threats, that nagging sense of uncertainty can cloud your thinking.

Following the thinking method:

1. What Is My Opponent Threatening? 2… Qxf3 is a threat because the pawn on g2 is pinned.

Important: You should make it a habit to always examine the upsides and downsides of your opponent’s last move. It contains the information you need in order to answer the first 2 questions.

Even when your opponent creates a threat, you should consider whether you can respond with an even stronger one.

This leads us to the second question:

2. Can I Strike with a Tactic?

Staying with the same position, before we address the threat, we should consider whether we can create an even stronger threat of our own.

Following the thinking method:

1. What Is My Opponent Threatening? Qxf3 is a threat because the pawn on g2 is pinned.
2. Do I See a Tactical Opportunity? Yes, Qb3+ forks the black king and rook.

In this specific example, the beauty of this counter-tactic is that once our queen captures the rook on g8, our pawn on g2 will no longer be pinned. As a result, Black will no longer threaten Qxf3.

Note: The Value of Gaining a Tempo

In chess, a tempo means ‘a move.’ Gaining a tempo occurs when you make a move that improves your position, even slightly, while forcing your opponent to respond passively, preventing them from taking any useful action. These moves help you maintain pressure, take control, or strengthen your position while gaining time. If you find such a move, there’s often no need to search for other options. Gaining a tempo is fundamentally a tactical concept. Even if it doesn’t result in immediate material gain, it can set the stage for tactics later on.

These first two questions deal primarily with tactics and require accurate calculations. But most of the time, there won’t be a tactic or even a tempo move available in the position. In that case, we shift our focus to strategic objectives. The next 3 questions are designed to help us find ways to improve our position strategically.

3. Can I Improve My Worst Piece?

When identifying our worst piece, we look for the one contributing the least to our position. This could be an undeveloped or poorly placed piece. The goal is to reposition this inactive piece to a square where it can have a stronger impact on the game, boosting our overall firepower.

Following the thinking method:

1. What Is My Opponent Threatening? No tactical threats.
2. Do I See a Tactical Opportunity? No tactical opportunities.
3. How Can I Improve My Worst Piece? The rook on a8 is my least active piece and I want to increase its firepower.

Rd8 is a completely logical and practically useful move, as it places the rook on the open d-file, giving it a far more active role and even applying pressure on the white queen.

In the next example, we’ll see a situation where no tactics are found, all our pieces are active, and the path forward is unclear. In this case, a highly effective strategy is to focus on neutralizing your opponent’s best piece.

This brings us to the fourth question:

4. Can I Neutralize Their Best Piece?

Neutralizing your opponent’s most active piece is a simple but powerful strategy that significantly reduces the overall firepower of your opponent’s forces. If you can neutralize this piece, it will be an important strategic achievement.

Following the thinking method:

1. What Is My Opponent Threatening? No tactical threats. Note how our bishop covers the d1-square, preventing Rd1.
2. Do I See a Tactical Opportunity? No tactical opportunities.
3. How Can I Improve My Worst Piece? I can’t. The rooks are tied to the defense of the b7 and f7-pawns respectively.
4. How Can I Neutralize My Opponent’s Best Piece? 1… Ne8 will force a trade of the knights.

Now what if the first four questions still didn’t reveal a productive move? That is when we move on to the fifth and final question: “Where should I direct my forces?”

5. How Do I Increase the Pressure?

At this stage, we want to pinpoint a specific area on the board where our opponent is vulnerable and then “point the spear” in that direction. Coordinating our pieces toward a common objective increases our chances of breaking through. In other words, we are looking for a way to create a “local majority of firepower” where our attackers will outnumber and overpower the defenders.

The following example is a bit more complex, but also illustrates how the questions can work together as a whole.

Following the thinking method:

1. What Is My Opponent Threatening? Even though this question primarily refers to tactical threats, you should also make an effort to understand your opponent’s strategic ideas. White would probably be happy if they can play Nd4.
2. Do I See a Tactical Opportunity? Nf4 is a potential tactical resource.
3. How Can I Improve My Worst Piece? For the moment, there isn’t a good way to activate the a8-rook.
4. How Can I Neutralize My Opponent’s Best Piece? The white bishop on g2 is a critically important defender of white’s king-side.
5. Where Should I Direct My Forces? Black has already concentrated their forces on the king-side and can continue with 1… Nf4 2. Qc2 Nxg2 3. Kxg2 Rf8! (Now White can’t save the pinned knight on f3.)

Finding a way to outnumber your opponent’s defenders in a specific area of the board is the main idea behind most strategic plans in chess.

The Takeaway

Although the CHESSFOX Thinking Method isn’t meant to be an algorithm you apply on every move, I still recommend practicing these five questions—whether in your games, while observing others, or even when solving puzzles. The goal is to internalize the questions to the point where they come to you intuitively in positions where you’re unsure what to do. This will greatly help you develop a clear, logical, and efficient thought process.

The great thing about this thinking method is that it evolves alongside you, adapting to your growing tactical and strategic skills as you become stronger. In other words, your thinking process will grow with your progress as a chess player.