I believe this is summed up with the term 'Accuracy'? Essentially some of the training problems have robust positions with no obvious weakness, and present equally attractive moves - at least to me.
As an example, here is one I'm currently looking at:
en.lichess.org/training/62077
Here are the moves I'm considering: postimg.org/image/3w11uhs59/1f64d484/ for those that think that link might be scary looking, it is just an image - but the candidate moves are:
Option 1: a3
Option 2: Bd2
Option 3: O-O
I've not made my move yet, so I will tell you it turns out in a moment. I'm thinking Option 3 however, and this is my line of reasoning:
Black last moved b6, I am thinking to provide a door for Bc8. I don't think c5 is a threat since that will lose him the Bb4 after a3, Ba5, b4 (assuming Nc3 reaches safety first). So it has to be that he is making a door for his Bc8. Bc8 only has two squares to go to and I can't see any major advantage of either of them, both of them means he will be biting on a pawn wall. So I don't think Black's move is a threat, or a potential threat. If anything he has essentially trapped Bb4 at least for the immediate future.
That leads me to ask about if it is ready for capture - Nc3 is under threat and my thinking is if I put pressure on Bb4 it will go for the exchange for the reasons mentioned above about it being trapped. I prefer pieces for free, so I want to free up Nc3 to move so I can then pawn-swarm Bb4. To do that I would need to castle, Option 3 is castling, I'm going for that.
Option 3 was not correct. Puzzle failed. Neither were Options 1 or 2, and this is where I am at the moment. My Training rating just yo-yo's between 1750 and 1850 which is where these kind of exercises appear, and I get as many correct as I do incorrect.
For those that don't want to know the solution skip this bit - (I don't know if the forum suppors spoiler tags, so this is my attempt to obfuscate the answer so someone doesn't read it accidentally - it was #*!f@#*#@3*!#).
When I look at the solution, I think, well, I wouldn't choose that. Doesn't it weaken my King-side? I haven't completed development yet? Nc3 is still pinned. What am I missing?
As an example, here is one I'm currently looking at:
en.lichess.org/training/62077
Here are the moves I'm considering: postimg.org/image/3w11uhs59/1f64d484/ for those that think that link might be scary looking, it is just an image - but the candidate moves are:
Option 1: a3
Option 2: Bd2
Option 3: O-O
I've not made my move yet, so I will tell you it turns out in a moment. I'm thinking Option 3 however, and this is my line of reasoning:
Black last moved b6, I am thinking to provide a door for Bc8. I don't think c5 is a threat since that will lose him the Bb4 after a3, Ba5, b4 (assuming Nc3 reaches safety first). So it has to be that he is making a door for his Bc8. Bc8 only has two squares to go to and I can't see any major advantage of either of them, both of them means he will be biting on a pawn wall. So I don't think Black's move is a threat, or a potential threat. If anything he has essentially trapped Bb4 at least for the immediate future.
That leads me to ask about if it is ready for capture - Nc3 is under threat and my thinking is if I put pressure on Bb4 it will go for the exchange for the reasons mentioned above about it being trapped. I prefer pieces for free, so I want to free up Nc3 to move so I can then pawn-swarm Bb4. To do that I would need to castle, Option 3 is castling, I'm going for that.
Option 3 was not correct. Puzzle failed. Neither were Options 1 or 2, and this is where I am at the moment. My Training rating just yo-yo's between 1750 and 1850 which is where these kind of exercises appear, and I get as many correct as I do incorrect.
For those that don't want to know the solution skip this bit - (I don't know if the forum suppors spoiler tags, so this is my attempt to obfuscate the answer so someone doesn't read it accidentally - it was #*!f@#*#@3*!#).
When I look at the solution, I think, well, I wouldn't choose that. Doesn't it weaken my King-side? I haven't completed development yet? Nc3 is still pinned. What am I missing?