Skip to content

Comment on Ask HN: Why are chess problems attack oriented?

Comments

I'm not really sure what the difference is. The best defense is a good offense, no? I'm only about 600 puzzles in, on lichess. Sometimes you must out-attack (race to checkmate), other times you just want to get ahead before you disable their attack.

Maybe you like the Quiet Move type puzzles? Those are a weak spot for me.

The best defense is a good offense, no?

Not exactly. E.g. your opponent offers a material sacrifice and gets a big attack if you accept. If you survive the attack, then you are ahead material because of the sacrifice, and you probably win. So it's about whether you can wriggle your way out of a lot of possible attacking lines. That's a bit different from attacking, which in these puzzles is usually about finding a single forcing line.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.