chaalwise

Strategy

Plan long-term

Know what you are trying to achieve, and make each step serve it.

Why it matters

Without a goal every move is a reaction. With one, small choices add up: the piece goes to the square it will be needed on, the hour goes to the work that moves the project, and you can tell busy from useful.

The question to ask

What am I trying to achieve, and does this step move it forward?

At work

Write the quarter's one outcome at the top of the plan, and cut or delay the tasks that do not move it.

In study

Work back from the exam date: what must be known by when, and what this week's sessions are for.

Lessons

  1. Small steps that stickEach step should leave fewer ways for things to go wrong, and the last step needs as much care as the first.
  2. Basics before brillianceGet the plain, sound steps right first. Clever ideas pay on top of them, not instead of them.
  3. Lead or answer wellMove first when your move commits you or anchors the other side; answer when their move tells you something. When you answer, choose on purpose, to level things or to change their shape.
  4. When the script runs outPrepared plans run out. When they do, act on the reasons behind them.
  5. Fix your weakest linkWhen nothing is urgent and the parts depend on each other, improve the part doing least.
  6. A plan, step by stepTurn a goal into a route of small steps, each worth having on its own, and look again after each one.
  7. Resources change valueWhat a thing is worth depends on the situation. When the situation changes, value what you hold again.
  8. Finish the jobA winning position is not a win until it is finished. The last steps need as much care as the first.

Shown and practised in chess: Mate with king and queen, Mate with king and rook, The three phases of a game, A map of the openings, What the middlegame is about, What changes in the endgame.

Use it in a work case, a short story of linked decisions: The group project, Hiring a designer.

New to chess? The examples here use it. Play your first moves (five minutes), then learn chess from the beginning, one short lesson at a time.

Practise and review

Questions from every lesson above, in mixed order. You do not need to finish a lesson first.

Your level
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In the games
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Review Plan long-term questions

In the reference

  • Fix your weakest linkWhen there is nothing urgent, improve the part of your position that is doing least.
  • Lead or answer wellEither set the agenda with threats, or answer the other side precisely. Drifting between the two loses.
  • Shrink the problemWhen there are too many options, cut them to a few good candidates, then compare those properly.