Tactics in the Openings

[texian]

i discovered an interesting set of problems called Tactics In The Openings compiled by Richard Scholler at Chessville in a 96 kb zipped ChessBase file (0.3 Mb unpacked)

Richard Schollar has taken nearly a thousand games with a tactic in the first 10 moves (although there are some 13 movers too.) and made them available to all as a free downloadable database in ChessBase format.  He's included training questions and an analysis of the winning combination (thru CB8).  This is a great way to study an overlooked part of opening preparation and sharpen your tactical vision at the same time

i have opened and successfully used them with Chessbase Light .. annotation is included, but is limited in the first few problems i've worked .. they provide an interesting set of problems from the perspective of opening positions .. i intend to sort them by ECO and begin working the set for openings that i am beginning to use

btw, andrea, the presentation style is the Fritz training mode you told me about in another post .. it is close to what i am looking for

[andreacoda]

btw, andrea, the presentation style is the Fritz training mode you told me about in another post .. it is close to what i am looking for

It looks very close to what you wrote above - there is no commented analysis, of course (only the "automated one" that the engine can generate), but you can create it starting from any database.

Cheers,

Andrea

[texian]

these are an interesting set of problems .. sorting them by ECO, i picked C44, King's Pawn Game, with 15 problems to start, mistakenly thinking it was a Ruy Lopez code .. the set was balanced with problems for both black and white with the setup 8-10 moves into a game, a point where i tend to make my first blunder due to the crowded board and multiple opportunities .. several of the solutions in this set led to a checkmate in two to three moves but  i completely missed them even after several attempts .. by the end of the set, i had noticed a recurring theme and began getting a few correct

i'm going to continue working these problems cycling thru by ECO using the more familiar openings first .. i also plan to spend a little time using Wiki as an introductory overview of the openings as i work the problem sets .. next i began Ruy Lopez (C60-C99), an opening i use almost exclusively .. there are 32 Ruy Lopez problems for 14 variations .. i did much better with these more familiar positions, but dicovered a few new traps to avoid and set .. hopefully, this will be an interesting way to continue and extend my tactical study in a situations where i know i struggle and learn a little something about openings along the way