AI slop
That was useful to me
I love this it helps me a lot
@MostlyHarmlessGambit said in #9:
> AI slop
The text is not AI. I hope it was useful for you :)
A nice guide for beginners, I unfortunately still fail at these some times.
To take is a mistake is also used by GM Igor Smirnov in his videos
While I agree with the first 3 points, and points 4 & 5 are true but a bit "it depends" (hard to make a rule here), overall you did not do a good job here.
The hanging rook on a8 is hardly a typical hanging piece. From black's point of view ...b6? is a natural move to make. If I play the black pieces and the game starts 1.Nf3 ...g6 - yes, my rook on h8 is hanging. It is almost always hanging if I play b3/b6, and even more so if I play g3/g6.
For the "to take is a mistake", you let the AI explain this. While it is true, and a very useful rule, the explanation is terrible.
If you capture something, you tend to draw your opponent towards the center. Typical caputre is the move Bg5xNf6, black re-captures with (good example) ...Nd7xBf6 - what is the result?
Square g5 is now void, but on f6 there is still a black knight. White's turn again, just without his active piece on g5. White's capture Bg5xNf6 activated the defender Nd7.
There are good examples to this rule ("to take is a mistake") and if you did not know this rule, sit on your hand and tell yourself: "dont" (meaning: "dont capture - find something better" - but that is too long to tell you during a game).
A useful rule you missed (instead of 4 & 5) is: "keep your options" = if you have a discovery or a check, dont undiscover or dont give check if it does not gain you anything. Beginner's like to give check whenever they can, and they like to undiscover a discovery to directly attack the opponent. But if you keep instead that option, you annoy the opponent so much with that constant threat in the air that he eventually react to that threat without you needing to execute it. There is a relative to this rule: "the threat is stronger than its execution", a rule that is well known but hardly understood. "keep your options" is more clear, or even clearer: "Dont give check just because it is check." - that will help most players sub 2000 already.
Steinitz, Capablanca, later Karpov all won games by not capturing, over-protecting, and improving the worst piece while opponents played “hope chess.”
Think of Karpov calmly declining exchanges, keeping tension, and watching opponents self-destruct ,no tactics needed. These aren’t modern tricks; they’re classical principles that engines just happen to agree with now totally
This was really helpful and I am reading this on 31 dec 2025 and on 2 Jan 2026 i have a state tournament
Happy new year to all
@NikolaN98 said in #7:
> Interesting topics, there is potential to explore them further :)
no, common knowledge and [^1] lifelong experience.
feel free to integrate!
i second munich's point of
###**• beginners giving bad checks**
[^1]: even though not even needed