Drill forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, and deflections. Pattern repetition ensures you spot them instantly in real games.
Practice visualising 3–5 moves ahead. Solve “mate in 3” or combination puzzles without moving the pieces to strengthen calculation skills.
Drill common mates such as back-rank, smothered, and ladder mate. These must become second nature to finish games efficiently.
Drill king and pawn endings, rook endgames, and key theoretical positions like Lucena and Philidor. Repetition makes these automatic under pressure.
Train exercises where your pieces must work together (e.g., rook + knight vs king). Coordination practice builds harmony in real games.
Don’t just drill attacks—practice drawing techniques like fortress setups, perpetual check, or opposite-colored bishops.
Practice playing typical pawn structures (isolated pawn, Carlsbad, hanging pawns). Familiarity builds strategic understanding.
Drill positions where the game shifts from opening to middlegame or middlegame to endgame. Learning typical plans builds smooth transitions.
Set time limits for drills to simulate tournament conditions. Quick decision-making under pressure is just as important as accuracy.
Create drill sets from your own games. Practicing mistakes you actually made ensures you don’t repeat them in future battles.