Sharpen up your mental reflexes with these basic yet juicy tactical tests.

1) Unprotected enemy pieces often lead to surprising tactical possibilities.

WHITE TO MOVE

White has two very strong continuations. The flashiest is 1.Nxe5 when 1…Bxd1 (apparently winning a free Queen!) is smashed brutally by 2.Bxf7 mate! Better was 1…Be6 (after 1.Nxe5) 2.Bxe6 dxe5 though Black would be a pawn down for nothing.

If White can resist showing off with the tricky 1.Nxe5, he can do even better with 1.Bxf7+! Kxf7 2.Ng5+ (taking advantage of the fact that Black’s g4-Bishop isn’t protected) 2…Ke8 3.Qxg4 with an extra pawn and a strong attack.

2) When the enemy King doesn’t have a legal move, any check could easily end the game!

WHITE TO MOVE

Things look very sad for poor White. First off, he’s two Rooks, two Bishops, and a Knight down. If that wasn’t bad enough, Black also threatens mate in one in several ways. Incredibly, White wins by the age-old favorite, smothered mate: 1.Qe6+ Kh8 (1...Kf8 2.Qf7 mate makes things too easy) 2.Nf7+ Kg8 3.Nh6+ (a nice double check – Black’s King is attacked by White’s Knight and White’s Queen at the same time) 3…Kh8 (Again, 3...Kf8 4.Qf7 leads to an abrupt mate) 4.Qg8+!! (A fun move to play. White moves his Queen to a square where it can be captured in three different ways!) 4…Rxg8 (Both Black Knights can also take the White Queen, but the reply would be the same.) 5.Nf7 mate!

3) Black’s a pawn up for nothing and seems safe, right? Wrong!

WHITE TO MOVE

Black is a happy guy, until he sees White’s brutal combination! 1.Qxc6+!! bxc6 2.Ba6 mate. How sweet it is!

4) Once again, if the enemy King has no legal moves, bad things can happen!

WHITE TO MOVE

The game appears to be over since Black is about to make a new Queen and there’s nothing White can do to avoid being way, way down in material. Or is there? As it turns out, mate is forced after 1.Ng6! Rg1+ 2.Kf3! (Avoiding 2.Kxg1? b1=Q+ 3.Kh2 Qxg6! when Black has saved himself from instant death.) 2…Rxg3+ (A desperate move that holds off mate for just a moment.) 3.fxg3 b1=Q 4.Rh8 mate. This is a very useful mating pattern to know!

5) Is it time for Black to give up?

BLACK TO MOVE

Black can save himself thanks to a stalemate trick: 1...Rf5+!! (He sees that his King has no legal move, so if he can give away his Rook the game will be drawn due to stalemate!) 2.Kh4 (2.Kxf5 is an instant draw while 2.Kh6 Rh5+! 3.Kxh5 also leads to a quick tie.) 2...Rf4+ (Black will check forever until White shakes hands!) 3.Kg3 Rf3+ 4.Kg2 Rf2+ 5.Kg1 Rf1+ 6.Kg2 Rf2+ 7.Kxf2 (White couldn’t stand it anymore!), DRAW. A LOT of people fall for this, so try and paste it into your memory.

6) Two pawns down, White shows that he’s not dead yet!

WHITE TO MOVE

An old but extremely useful trick saves White: 1.Bxe4!! (White could put this off for a while, but why not get it over with?) 1…Kxe4 2.Kg2 and the game is drawn since White shuttles his King from h1 to g1 to h2 to h1 (whatever square is available) until Black realizes he can’t promote his pawn because he can’t make White’s King leave the corner (Trust me, would I lie to you?). Note that if Black’s Bishop lived on a light square (d7 for example) the ending would be an easy win because he could always chase the White King out of the corner by checking on the a8-h1 diagonal. Learn this, it will save you many times in your chess career!

7) Black intends to fianchetto his Bishop on g7, but he’s in for a surprise.

WHITE TO MOVE

White thumps his opponent with the old but deadly Philidor Mate: 1.Nxe5!! (If it’s a casual blitz game, have some fun and scream, “Oh no, I hung my Queen! Please don’t take it!”) 1…Bxd1 (He really should play 1...dxe5 2.Qxg4 when White is a pawn up for nothing, but after the screaming fit White just went though, who could resist eating the “hanging” Queen?) 2.Bxf7+ Ke7 3.Nd5 mate. At this point your opponent might be a bit angry, so get up and run as fast as you can!

8) In this position, should Black play 1…e6, 1…Ngf6, or 1…g6?

BLACK TO MOVE

Of the three choices, the only acceptable move is 1…e6 with a good game for Black. MUCH worse are both 1…Ngf6 and 1…g6, when White ends matters rather abruptly with 2.Nd6 mate!

9) Can Black safely eat the pawn on c5?

BLACK TO MOVE

No, taking that pawn is suicide thanks to a nice “X-Ray” combination: 1…Qxc5?? 2.Rd8+!! Kg7 (He should try 2…Rxd8 3.Qxc5 but the position would still be lost.) 3.Rxc8! and White has won a whole Rook!

10) Black has lots of good moves here. However, 1…Nxe4 is very tempting. Should Black take that pawn?

BLACK TO MOVE

No, you must always be careful about putting a piece on an unprotected square. In this case 1…Nxe4?? loses the Knight to: 2.Qa4+! (creating a double attack on the King and Knight) followed by 3.Qxe4 when White will win. An enormous amount of players have fallen for this trap!