Defensive puzzles: the move that saves the game
Almost all tactics training assumes you are winning. Real games are mostly the other thing, and defence is the least-trained skill in amateur chess.
- 120 positions in the course
- Difficulty 605–2480
- Section: Sacrifices and Quiet Moves
- 5 levels
Why defence is a separate skill
Attacking tactics and defensive tactics use the same patterns, but they are found by different searches. An attacker looks for the move that wins; a defender has to look for the move that survives, which is often a move that gives up material voluntarily, walks the king forward, or concedes a position that looks terrible and holds.
There is also a psychological component that no amount of pattern knowledge replaces. Positions get lost because the defender stops looking, and the single biggest defensive improvement available to most players is to keep calculating after the position turns bad.
How to spot it
- Find the opponent's threat precisely before you look for a move. Not 'they are attacking' -- which move, on which square.
- Then ask what stops exactly that: capture it, block it, defend it, move the target, or counter-attack faster.
- Consider giving material back. Returning a pawn or the exchange to kill an attack is the commonest saving resource and the most commonly rejected one.
- Look for perpetual check and stalemate. In a lost position they are not consolation prizes, they are the objective.
Three defensive positions
Three positions from the 120 in this skill, easiest first. The highlighted squares are the move your opponent has just played. Work it out before you open the answer.
Position 1
Black to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
62.Qd6+ 62...Qxd6+ 63.Kxd6 63...f4
The line comes out level on material and ahead on position. One move holds and everything else loses, and the move that holds usually concedes something in order to remove the threat entirely.
The position comes from an endgame of a real game, rated 605 for difficulty. The answer reaches a winning advantage.
Position 2
White to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
66...Rh1 67.g7 e5+ 68.f5
The line comes out level on material and ahead on position. One move holds and everything else loses, and the move that holds usually concedes something in order to remove the threat entirely.
The position comes from an endgame of a real game, rated 1352 for difficulty. The answer reaches a clear advantage.
Position 3
Black to move. Find the best move.
Show the answer
44.Re5+ 44...Kf6 45.Re4 45...Rxd5
The line wins a piece. One move holds and everything else loses, and the move that holds usually concedes something in order to remove the threat entirely.
The position comes from an endgame of a real game, rated 1917 for difficulty. The answer reaches a clear advantage.
The habits that lose held positions
Playing the move that looks like it defends rather than the move that answers the threat. If you have not named the threat, you cannot know whether your move meets it.
And resigning mentally two moves before the position is actually lost. A very large fraction of amateur losses in objectively drawn positions come from a defender who stopped calculating variations and started playing plausible-looking moves.
Questions people ask
How do I get better at defending in chess?
Train it separately from attacking. Solve positions where you are the one under threat, always identify the opponent's exact threat before choosing a move, and practise the resources amateurs skip: returning material, simplifying into a worse but holdable endgame, and perpetual check.
Is it worth giving material back to defend?
Very often, yes. Returning a pawn or the exchange to eliminate an attack converts a dangerous position into a slightly worse one, and a slightly worse position is a result you can usually still hold.
Nearby patterns
Defending sits in Sacrifices and Quiet Moves. The rest of that section: