Chess Skills: Progressive Tactics

15 March 2022

Progressive Tactics

Some of the worksheets for my after school students the past two weeks have been Progressive Tactics 1 and 2. The idea behind these worksheets is to present simple exercises such as a mate in one, followed by slightly more difficult mate in two, then longer mates or a combination with mate threats that wins material against best defense. What is "progressive" about the sequence is that they are taken from a single game, or a couple of closely related games. Students learn to visualize the combination by solving problems from simple to complex.

I have used this idea in the past and presented such worksheets in my "Lesson of the Week" on Chess Skills in March 2014: "Progressive Tactics" (11 March 2014) and "Progressive Tactics" (20 March 2014).

These are the current sets in use.

Progressive Tactics 1

White to move

There are two source games from these six exercises, but in teaching the solutions to the students, I also reference Von Holtzhausen,W. -- Tarrasch,S. Frankfurt 1912, a game which has received some attention from Edward Winter (see Chess Notes 6382).

Piter,Slawomir (2070) -- Murach,T (1800) [C50]
POL-chT2 U18 Augustow, 1996

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Be7 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Bb3 Re8 9.h3 Nd7 10.Bxf7+ Kxf7 11.Ne6 Kxe6 12.Qd5+ Kf6 1-0

Tal,Mihail -- Straicher [B06]
Riga-ch Semifinal Riga, 08.1950

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nd7 3.Bc4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ng5+ [6.Ng5+ Kf6 (6...Kf8) 7.Qf3#] 1-0

Progressive Tactics 2

White to move

The source game is Greco's best known. Most of the positions are derived from variations, some of which also appear in Greco's manuscripts.

Greco,Gioacchino [C54]
France and England, 1622-1625

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.0-0 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Bxc3 10.Qb3 Bxa1 11.Bxf7+ Kf8 12.Bg5 Ne7 13.Ne5 Bxd4 14.Bg6 d5 15.Qf3+ Bf5 16.Bxf5 Bxe5 [16...g6 17.Bh6+ Ke8] 17.Be6+ Bf6 [17...Ke8] 18.Bxf6 Ke8 [18...gxf6 19.Qxf6+ Ke8] 19.Bxg7 1-0