Chunking: Breaking Down the Combination Into Elements

Hi!  Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl) here to discuss the idea of chunking in chess.  Sound weird?  Read on.  A combination is a bunch of tactics squished together into a long string of moves.  We are often wowed by GMs' ability to pound out a tactical sequence.  Are they all just geniuses?  Remember, they didn't start out as GMs.  "Every master was once a beginner!"  --Chernev.  The strong chess player will see a combination when s/he practices the simpler tactics first.  

You all know these basic tactics.  The tricky part is A) finding them in your own games when not prompted; and, B) putting them together with other tactics to form a "combo."  We are going to chunk the combo!  That means we are going to break it into little, understandable parts.

Here is a puzzle by Phillip Stamma, who wrote a chess book in 1737.   This puzzle is a little hard because it's a mate in 6, and it looks like white is about to be mated easily.

First, pretend it's black's move so you can find the mate threat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, now, the next step is to stop the mate threat.  What should white do, even if it sacrifices a piece?  It also is a deflection (it gets the black queen away from guarding c8) and a line-clearing move!   Click on the move list when you have it...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, sacrifice the queen in a decoy!  If the rook takes, notice you have a nice smothered mate with Nf7.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another line clearance with a knight check.  Do you see it?  What line are you clearing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another knight check!  This tactic is overloading.  The rook is doing too much...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, look at the weak back rank.  It's a mate in two now.  You can do it!

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent work!  You just solved a mate in six moves!  How did you accomplish this?  By chunking!  You may or may not be a genius, but solving tactical puzzles can be done by breaking them into little parts.  If you understand each of the individual tactics, you will be more likely to find them in your games.  

Does that make sense?  I hope so!  With a keen eye (and lots and lots and lots and lots of hard work) you will be a GM in no time...Look carefully!