Checks, Captures, and Threats: A Simple Board-Scanning Habit
When looking for a good move to play, a useful habit is to scan the board for checks, captures, and threats.
Let’s explore the reasons behind this, and why and when they can help you.
First, it’s important that you check (pun intended) all checks. Checks are moves you always have to consider, since you must make a move in response to them. When scanning for opponent’s possible checks:
- look for rook and queen checks on ranks and files
- look for bishop checks on diagonals
- look for knight checks on the squares where a knight would jump to
You first find all your opponent’s legal checks, and then you find all your own legal checks. Even though not all opponent checks are useful moves to play, finding them ensures your opponent won’t be able to surprise you with checks.
Next, we scan the board for captures. Captures can be considered by looking at all attacked pieces. For each piece, ask yourself, what happens if it is captured?
Asking the above question requires looking at how many pieces are attacking or defending a particular piece. A common mistake is to assume a piece is free, but an opposing piece is watching that square. When counting attackers and defenders, it’s important to remember if any recent moves could affect whether a square is safe or not. Pieces may have moved, opening up diagonals. Pawns may have advanced. These can all make a difference when considering captures.
After scanning for checks and captures, we scan the board to see if there are any threats the opponent might have. This is less straightforward compared to checking for checks or captures. A good way of spotting threats is to imagine, what would the opponent play next, if they were ignored? Some examples are:
- Can a knight fork multiple pieces?
- Can a rook enter a file that is completely open?
- Can queen and bishop form a battery on your king?
- Can a pawn push in an endgame to promote?
When looking at the threats your opponent may have, this can open the player’s eyes to possible tactical lines and patterns like pins, double attacks, and back-rank weaknesses.
It’s important to consider all opponent checks, captures, and threats because there is often the temptation to play a move. You see a piece that can be moved to an attractive square but ignore the opponent’s possible replies, which could include a winning tactic. Scanning the board for checks, captures, and threats helps you focus on the right areas for deeper calculations. After scanning for checks, captures, and threats, you’ll have a clearer idea of what pieces to move and why.
After scanning the board for checks, captures, and threats, you can think about your candidate moves. Maybe you were thinking of developing a piece, capturing a pawn, or castling. But by scanning the board, you find a different plan of action, one that is more important and has to be played immediately. You could now be looking at a different type of move such as an attacking move, a developing move, or perhaps even a pawn move.
Incorporating this habit isn’t easy and takes practice. However, each time you scan the board for checks, captures, and threats, it will take less time, and you’ll find it less like a chore, more like second-nature. You won’t necessarily find a brilliant move every time. But it’s a good sign of progress if you find you’re missing fewer tricks and moves thanks to blind spots.