Finishing Off a Game
I like playing through games and I've discovered something surprising, at least to me. It often happens that, if I start with end position from a master game, where one player resigned, I cannot win that winning position against an engine. (Maybe it's not that surprising -- Stockfish is famous for being able to wriggle out of tight spots.)
From this observation comes a form of practice that uses an engine to good effect -- start at the end of the game and beat the engine. Here's a way that works for me. It assumes you have LucasChess, an old-fashioned but useful chess learning tool.
- Choose a game. I like older games, typically from the 19th century. There are lots and lots of places online that have them, for example chessgames.com.
- Skip to the end of the game and copy the FEN.
- Start LucasChess
- Choose "Play against an engine"
- Choose which side to play with.
- Choose an engine. Usually you want the strongest external engine you can get.
- Change the start position. (This is where you paste in the FEN.)
- Click the big "Accept" button to start playing.
During the game if you make a mistake you will be prompted by the tutor and you can either try again or, if you really don't get it, you can choose the engine move. Usually you want to avoid peaking. Hint: if you find you made a mistake, it may be worth spending some time trying to analyze why you made that mistake.
I have a pet theory that lots of beginning and intermediate players don't spend a lot of time on this part of the game because they assume the position is winning. Actually proving it, though, is a good test of skill and a reminder that there is still much to learn.
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