Chess tactics can be learnt. Studying tactics will undoubtedly help you to improve your game. Here are some commonly occurring tactical motifs which can be applied in many different situations.

Problems on the e-file

1. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4?? (3. ... d6 is normal and best) 4.Qe2 d5 ( 4. ... Nf6 5. Nc6+ [also] wins black's queen) 5.d3 Nf6 6.Nc6+ winning black’s queen.

2. 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d6?! 3. Nf3 Qe7?! 4. Bc4 ef 5. O-O QxP?? 6. Re1 winning black's queen.

3. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qf6?! this is not a good way of defending the e-pawn. 3.Bc4 Qg6 This looks like a good idea in that it threatens the e4 and g2 pawns simultaneously. However, black is lagging behind in development and is likely to come a cropper. 4.0–0 Qxe4?? This is just a blunder. 5.Bxf7+ Kd8 (If black had taken the bishop on f7 with 5. ... KxB white would win black's queen with 6.Ng5+ Ke8 7.Nxe4.) 6. Nxe5 Qxe5?? (This loses on the spot but black is already in serious trouble) 7.Re1 Qf6 (7. ... QxR would have been better, but still hopeless of course) 8.Re8 checkmate.

Checks on b4

1. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 (This is really a move order trick in that if white plays the best move here - 5. e3 - black can simply play 5. ... Be7 transposing back to the main line.) 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Nxd5?? (It wasn't too late for white to play e3 or Nf3.) 6. ... Nxd5 7.Bxd8 Bb4+ 8.Qd2 Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2 Kxd8 and black is simply a piece up.

2. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bf4 c5 5.Nb5?? (the idea is clearly to play Nc7+ forking the black king and rook, but unfortunately black has a tactic of his own up his sleeve...) 5. ... cxd4 6.Nc7+ Qxc7! 7.Bxc7 Bb4+ 8.Qd2 Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2 dxc4 and white is simply two pawns down.

Queen Checks on a4 and a5

1. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 Nxe4 5.Qa4+ winning the knight on e4.

2. 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 e5 4.Nxe5 Qa5+ winning the knight on e5.

3. 1.c4 d5 2.cxd5 Nf6 3.e4 Nxe4 4.Qa4+ winning the knight on e4.

4. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cd 4. NxP Nf6 5. e5? Qa5+ winning the pawn on e5.

5. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Ne7 5.Nxe5 c6 6.Bc4 Qa5+ winning the knight on e4.

6. 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5?! Ne4 5. NxN de 6. e3?? Qa5+ winning the bishop on g5.

Checks on h5

1. 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 f6 5.Nxg5 fxg5 6.Qh5+ Ke7 7.Qxg5+ Ke8 (Black is already lost. If he plays 7. ... Nf6 then he loses to 8.Qe5 checkmate. If he plays 7. ... Kd6 then he loses to 8.Qd5+ Ke7 9.Qe5 checkmate) 8.Qh5+ Ke7 9.Qe5 checkmate.

2. 1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 g5 4. Bg3 f4 5. e3 fg?? 6. Qh5 checkmate.

3. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.Ng5 Ne5 6.Nxf7 Nxf7 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qh5+ picking up the bishop on c5 and leaving white a pawn up.

The unexpected h4!

1. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.d3 Nf6 5.Ng5 0–0 6.Nc3 h6 7.h4 hxg5 8.hxg5 Ne8 9.Qh5 with mate on h7 or h8 immanent.

2. 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d3 Bc5 4.Bg5 0–0 5.g3 h6 6.h4 hxg5 7.hxg5 Ne8 8.Qh5 with mate on h7 or h8 immanent.

3. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Bf4 Nf6 5.Nf3 0–0 6.e3 c6 7.Bd3 Nbd7 8.Ng5 h6 9.h4 hxg5 10.hxg5 Ne8 11.Qh5 with mate on h7 or h8 immanent.

The inconvenient Qg5/Qg4

1. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Nxe5 Qg5 and white cannot protect both the bishop on b5 and the knight on e5.

2. ‘Symmetrically’; 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Bb4 4.Nd5 Nxe4 5.Qg4 and black cannot protect both the bishop on b4 and the knight on e4.

Unprotected Queens on the d-file

1. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 c5 4.e3 cxd4 5.Bxc4 dxe3 6.Bxf7+ winning black’s queen.

2. 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 Bg4 6.Bc4 c5 7.dxc5 g6 8.Bxf7+ winning black’s queen.

Trapped bishops

1. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 trapping the bishop on h5.

2. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 Bd7 6.Nc3 exd4 7.Nxd4 b5 8.Bb3 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 c5 10.Qd5 c4 and the bishop on b3 is trapped.

3. 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.g4 trapping the bishop on h5.

4. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bf5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3 b6 7.e4 dxe4 8.Ne5 e6 9.Bb5+ Nfd7 10.g4 Bg6 11.h4 a6 12.Bxd7+ Nxd7 13.h5 trapping the bishop on g6.

5. 1.e4 c5 2.f4 Nc6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e5 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.g4 Bg6 7.f5 trapping the bishop on g6.

6. And here's one which doesn't quite work! 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a5? 4.O-O Na7 5.Ba4?! b5 6.Bb3 a4 and it looks like after 7.Bd5 c6 the bishop is trapped. However, white has the rather flashy 7.Bxf7+! Kxf7 8.Nxe5+ Ke7 9. Nf7! Kxf7 10.Qh5+! Ke7 11.Qe5+! Kf7 12.Qd5+! Ke8 13. Qxa8.

Reckless Queens

1. 1.e4 e6 2. d4 Qf6?! 3. e5 Qf5?? 4. Bd3 and the black queen is trapped.

2. 1. e4 d5 2. ed Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qc6?? 4. Bb5 pinning the black queen against the black king.

3. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Nc6 6. Qa4 Bd7 threatening Nxe5 with a discovered attack on the white queen from the black bishop on d7) 7. Qb3?? Na5 trapping the white queen.

4. 1. d4 f5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. Re1 Qg6 8. e4 fe 9. Nxe4 Nxe4 10. Rxe4! Qxe4? 11. Nh4 trapping the black queen on an open board.

Random tactics

1. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Nxe4 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.Nxe4 Kxf7 7.Qf3+ Kg8 8.Ng5 threatening 9.Qd5# and 9.Qf7#. Black will have to give up his queen with 8...Qe7 or 8...Qf6 9.Qd5 Qe6 10.Nxe6.

2. 1.e4 e5 2.Ne2 Bc5 3.f4 Qf6 4.c3 Nc6 5.g3 Nh6 6.Bg2 Ng4 7.Rf1 Nxh2 8.fxe5 Qxf1+ 9.Bxf1 Nf3#