Lessons From Torquay III: Use A Mantra

AUSTRALIAN international master, and first world correspondence champion, Cecil Purdy wrote many instructional articles aimed at club players.

One of his favourite themes was how to avoid mistakes - not only those of commission, ie making bad moves, but also those of omission, ie failing to exploit opponents' mistakes.

I mention this because if I had followed his advice I would not have missed the huge winning chance that arose in my round-three game.

Black has just played 32...Ng4-e5?

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It is easy to find White's winning move when given a position in which you are told the opponent has just made a mistake.

True, after 33.Rxe5!, Black can, instead of allowing 33...Kxe5 34.Nf3+ etc, try 33...Bxd4, but it does no good as White has 34.Rxd5+.
Purdy's advice was to use a mantra at every move, which makes missing such opportunities difficult, even for a rabbit.

His original mantra was a little long-winded, but he later simplified it, and I have adopted a simple version of my own, which is to be used every time the opponent moves.

Step One: work out the basic idea(s) behind the opponent's move. This is normally fairly obvious - it develops a piece, attacks an enemy piece, gains space, removes a piece from danger, etc.

Step Two: use the mantra CAPTURES CHECKS HANGERS THREATS.

First I look at every possible capture I can make, no matter how absurd at first glance. Most of these can be dismissed at once, but some will deserve further consideration.

Next I look at every possible check, assuming there are any, and again most of these will be of no consequence.

Then I look for hangers, ie enemy pieces and pawns that are unprotected, and so are 'hanging'. Two hangers can mean there are double-attacks available, and even one hanger can make for a tempo-gaining manoeuvre.

Finally I look  for threats, by which I basically mean possibilities for my pawns and pieces to attack higher-value enemy pieces.

Then I repeat the process for my opponent, ie I look at the opponent's possible CAPTURES CHECKS HANGERS THREATS.

All this takes quite some time to write down, but is usually much quicker to perform.

Step Three: I go through the normal process of selecting my move (the mantra may already have discovered a necessary or desirable move).

Step Four: I visualise the position after my intended move, and repeat the mantra for my opponent in the new position.

So what went wrong in the diagrammed position?

Well, it is is easy to get lazy and dispense with the mantra, especially when your position is already good.

And it is easy to forget the mantra in the heat of battle or, perhaps more pardonably, when short of time.

LESSON: adopt some sort of mantra for finding and avoiding mistakes, and use it!