Recently I have been taking a new course on Chessable called Calculation: A Complete Guide for Tournament Players by CM Azel Chua and one of the methods that he introduces in that course is called The Burger Method, which is an efficient thought process when approaching puzzles and positions.
When solving puzzles, we are urged to look for checks, captures, and threats but Chua argues that this is not always efficient for three reasons.
- In a complex position, there are many checks, captures, and threats so it is incredibly difficult to look at all of them, calculating them all equally and intensely.
- If the best move is defensive, looking for checks, captures, and threats first gets us nowhere.
- The checks, captures, and threats first technique presupposes there is a tactic which is good for calculation when solving puzzles but not for practical play where a tactic might not be available.
So what method does Chua suggest instead? It’s called the Burger Method and just as a burger has layers (bun, meat, lettuce/tomato), this method also has different layers or steps. When solving a puzzle or a position, Chua suggests that we go through these steps as opposed to just first looking for checks, captures, and threats.
Step 1: Count material and look for material imbalances: This is an important step because it allows us to gather information about the position. For example, if we are up a lot of material, we will want to look for moves that preserve our advantage and prevent our opponent from drawing the game through perpetual check or stalemate. If on the other hand we are down a Queen or a lot of material, then this is a clue that we need to initiate some sort of mating attack, draw the game through perpetual check/stalemate or find a combination that wins the material back. Looking for a tactic that just wins one piece would not be sufficient in that puzzle. This is why a material count first is important.
Step 2: Identify the tactical motifs on the board. Tactical motifs are existing threats/potential threats: This step is super important because once we determine what the tactical weaknesses are we will be able to narrow down the pool of candidate moves to choose from. Some examples of tactical motifs include:
a. Hanging/Unprotected Pieces: Chua defines a hanging piece as a piece that has more attackers than defenders but I would like to also add that a piece is hanging if it’s attacked by a piece of less material value even if it has more defenders. For example a Queen could be defended by a rook and a bishop but attacked by just one pawn that’s protected. If the Queen doesn’t move, she will be captured and even though she is adequately defended and the pawn is captured there is a material loss. But let’s say a Queen is being attacked by a Queen but defended by the rook and bishop, then she is a protected because there is only one attacker and two defenders and by capturing the Queen, it’s an exchange of pieces of equal material value and there is no material loss. This is important to understand.
What we will often see are unprotected pieces. Now aren’t unprotected pieces and hanging pieces the same? That’s what I thought but Chua defines an unprotected piece as having 0 attackers/ 0 defenders or 1 attacker/ 1 defender. This presents us with a tactical opportunity because if we can add more attackers than the piece has defenders it can turn from an unprotected piece into a hanging piece and we win material or if we can remove or deflect a defender away, it can become a hanging piece and we win material. So when going through step 2, we need to look for and identity all of the unprotected pieces or pawns because there may lay the tactic and solution.
b. X-ray attacks: this is where a piece could attack a piece through another piece.
c. Mating possibilities: Can we threaten mate while at the same time threatening to win material? Or is there a mate in __ on the board?
d. Pins, forks and Skewers
e. Weakened or Exposed King
Step 3: Identify and Calculate Candidate moves: Once we know the tactical motif, now we can begin to identify candidate moves and look for appropriate checks, captures, and threats.
So now that I’ve presented the Burger Method, now I’ve selected some puzzles from chess.com that we can solve and use this method together.
Puzzle 1: White to play and win
Step 1: Count Material and look for material imbalances: Black is up a piece which means White doesn't have time to dilly dally.
Step 2: Identify the tactical motifs on the board. Tactical motifs are existing/potential threats: So here we see that Black's king is exposed in the center. White's king is also exposed. White's Queen on g4 is hanging, White's Bishop on h5 is unprotected, Black's Rook on h8 and Queen on d8 are unprotected with no attackers or defenders, the pawn on b2 is unprotected and the pawn on h4 is hanging. From doing this analysis, we see that White has some potential targets: the Rook on h8, the Queen on d8, the pawn on h4, and the exposed King. White can also activate more pieces around Black's King for example Nc3 and Black doesn't have any pieces in the center to protect his king. So being down material, Black's king is exposed, and no Black defenders nearby, White should seek out a knockout blow. The tactical motif is not to go after the rook on h8, the Queen on d8 or the pawn on h4 but to attack Black's King.
Step 3: Identify and calculate candidate moves:
Now that we know the tactical motifs of this position, we can look for checks, captures, and threats.
Potential checks:
Qf3+
Qe4+
d5+
So with Qf3+ and Qe4+, Black can play d5 and I don't see a good follow up for White. For example: Qe4+ d5 Qg6+ Qd6 and the Queen trade for Black is advantageous as Black is up material and without the Queens on the board, Black has an active King.
How about d5+?
1. d5+ Kxd5 2. Nc3+ Kc5 3. Qd4+ Kc6 4. Qa4+ (taking away the escape square on d7) , Kc5 5. Qb5#
or 1. d5+ Kb5 2. Nc3+ Kb6 3. Qb4+ Ka6 4. Qb5# is another line.
So we see that the pawn sacrifice with d5+ is winning and opens the 4th rank for the Queen to maneuver and attack the King.
Solution:
Puzzle 2: Black to play
So this one actually came from a game I was playing and is pretty simple. White played 1. Qa4 Nc5 2. Qb4. And we will begin our analysis from that point.
Step 1: Count Material and look for material imbalances: Black is up a pawn.
Step 2: Identify the tactical motifs on the board. Tactical motifs are existing/potential threats: So from a quick analysis we can see the Black bishop on d7 is attacked once but is protected by four pieces. Whites Bishop and Queen are both unprotected as well as both White rooks. Both Black rooks are also unprotected. The Black Knight on c5 and pawn on e5 are unprotected. Now this is a good example of an X-ray tactic as the White Queen on b4 is unprotected but is being attacked by the Black Queen on e7 through the Black Knight. So any candidate move should seek to exploit this x-ray attack.
Step 3: Identify and calculate candidate moves: Now the main candidate move presents itself once we know the tactical motif of the x-ray attack.
Nd3+
This move exposes an attack on White's Queen while giving check at the same time. White's Queen goes from being an unprotected piece to a hanging piece and Black wins it on the next move.
So the correct combination is:
1...Nd3+ 2. Bxd3 Qxb4+
And Black wins material.
Solution:
Puzzle 3: White to play and win
This puzzle came from the chess.com daily puzzle on the day of writing this blog post.
Step 1: Count Material and look for material imbalances: Black is up a pawn.
Step 2: Identify the tactical motifs on the board. Tactical motifs are existing/potential threats: So from a quick analysis we see that White bishop on c7 is hanging, the Black rook on d7 is unprotected, both Queens are under x-ray attacks, and the White knight on f5 is hanging. We also see that White has very active pieces (Bishop on c7 and Knight on f5) near Black's King. Black's King is exposed and there is a weak back rank that could be exploited. But we also see the knight on f5 and the bishop on c7 are both hanging so if Black has the opportunity to play Rxc7 then Black can capture the White knight on f5. So White should aim for a King attack on the back rank, but the question is how?
Step 3: Identify and calculate candidate moves: So two major candidate moves appeal to me: Qe4 and Re8+. Both of these moves create threats against Black's King.
Let's look at Qe4 first.
1. Qe4 Ne6 2. Qa8+ Rd8 3. Qxd8+ Nxd8 4. Rxd8#
1...Qe6 2. Qa8+ Rd8 3. Qxd8+ Qe8 4. Qxe8#
So this looks promising but Black can play.
1...Kg8 2. Qe8+ Kh7!
And now the Black king is safe for the moment on h7. So how can we make this line work and force Black from being able to escape to h7? The rook sacrifice, Re8+
Let's look at it now:
1. Re8+ Kxe8 2. Qe4+ Qe6 3. Qa8+ Rd8 4. Qxd8#
2...Ne6 3. Qa8+ Nd8 4. Qxd8+ Rxd8 5. Rxd8#
Using reciprocal thinking, we can refine the Qe4 line and make it better by playing Re8+ first, preventing Black's King from fleeing to h7 and bringing him closer to our pieces. But by understanding that the tactical motif was a king attack, we were able to narrow down the candidate moves in this complex position.
Solution:
So I hope this method has been helpful and that you can use it when solving puzzles and in your games. if you want to learn more, definitely check out CM Azel Chua's Chessable course. It's on sale now at the time of this writing.
