How do you learn to make combinations?

<p><p>In every book it says " find the pin " or Whatever. But what makes it work is there are always one or two supporting pieces to make it work. It seems you have in most cases got to have more than one piece to make it happen. Is there a book that focuses on this or do I just have to plod along with studying basic tactics? Stwils </p></p>

Most of the time, it will take more than one piece to execute a pin. The trick is not making it so obvious to your opponent. Your opponent should be constantly observing the positions of his pieces in relation to the range of attack of your pieces. If you control more space on the board than your opponent, your chances of executing a pin, skewer, or fork will be greater because his movement is limited.

Even if the execution requires a sacrifice, it should be a gain for you regardless if your pieces complement one another. There are several books to choose from to learn about executing such tactics. Personally, I learned from the series of books written by Yasser Seirawan.

~The Doctor 

Combinations are always cropping up in chess games.  You find them more than you make them.  Three of the main things that signal the presence of a combination are:  exposed king, loose piece, and three pieces on a line.

All tactics can be reduced to basic motifs , with the most basic being en-prise and your garden-variety pins, double-attacks and skewers.  

I tend to think of combinations as merely a "grouped collection"  of  motifs (usually 2 or more ) that are usually forcing and  yield something positive to the player playing it.

With that being said, I would think that mastering single-motifs (being able to spot them in less than 1-2 seconds of looking at a board) is a necessary prerequisite before one notices combinations more easily.

With enough practice, your brain starts to see these motifs in chunks ... so it is more likely that you will spot a combination if you've already chunked a whole bunch of basic patterns.

Pattern recognition.

Use the tactics trainer on this site. It's great.

 Play Winning Chess, Winning Chess Strategies & Winning Chess Tactics are two really good books. Working with the exercises and tests in these and other similar books will greatly strengthen your insight and ability to execute on the board exponentially.

~The Doctor 

 Most definitely. I meant to include this in my last post.

~The Doctor

always play against higher rated players than you , you will soon learn them when they catch you with them!!

Here's a list of tactical motifs:

pin, skewer, fork, attraction, distraction, clearance-sacrifice, overloading, capture defender, x-ray, interference, trapping pieces, zugzwang, Zwischenzug (intermediate move), pawn promotion, various mating patterns,

I really liked Winning Chess Tactics for Juniors by Hays when I was starting out.  It's all the standard combinations but shortened down to 2 or 3 moves.

They flow naturally from good positional play.

No help at all that is it, but that's Chess.

You don't make combinations, they just are. Your part is spotting them.

EDIT: Let me expand a little. Normally, combinations arise because your opponent makes a duff move, allowing a good/winning combination.

Sure, you can set these things up against ignorant opposition but that's a trap, really. Good players see traps and usually make you pay for being so cheeky.