finding tactics in games

Tactics and mating patterns can be easily found in puzzles, but any ideas about how to spot them during chess games ( for intermediate players) ?

put your pieces on good squares and check to see if a tactic is there, or spot a tactical idea and put your pieces on the squares they need to be in order for that tactic to work (a caveman approach)...honestly tactics will occur naturally within games whether we spot it or not... whenever your opponent plays wasted moves, or maybe uncommon ideas in openings , or sharing diagonals and files with pieces ... study an opening like lets say the french defence as white a common sacrifice you may need to know is the greek gift, the barry-milner uses a pawn sac or two but you get sharp tactics using a pin , you wont always spot them in the game but analysis will show and just learn from your mistakes until you stop missing them..

Here's a missed win :(

@TheChessNoobReturns said in #1:

Tactics and mating patterns can be easily found in puzzles, but any ideas about how to spot them during chess games ( for intermediate players) ?

Use the puzzles to study the piece setups that lead to the tactics. Use those patterns as threats in the opening and early middlegame to set up the combination. With a puzzle, you have the advantage of knowing there is a combination, but in a game, you have the advantage of knowing what you need to do to set up a winning tactic.

You're basically studying knockout punching in boxing, something that happens only after the opponent has erred.

I'm interested in what others say. I can offer a few ideas:

1. It's important to develop a sense when a position is critical. Then when your radar tells you you take more time and look at more possibilities.
2. When you see one tactical option, stop and look for more, for example, by changing the order of moves. For example in #3 Bxh7 then Qh5 is obvious. But it leads to a draw. Changing the order by Qh5 first & looking for alternatives leads to a win.
3. In every position look at/analyze checks and captures.
4. Certain positions have thematic tactics. By playing for those positions you need to know the typical tactics. Then you'll automatically be looking for them. One way to learn them is to play thru annotated GM games in your openings and record the tactics in the notes that arent played in the game [GM see the thematic stuff and avoid it].
5. When you opponent is thinking look at the position [both players] from a strategic view: which pieces are underprotected, is there a pin possible?, are the pieces coordinated? any overloaded [protecting more than 1 piece] etc

If you do/practice this in puzzles, it becomes automatic in games.

@TheChessNoobReturns said in #1:

Tactics and mating patterns can be easily found in puzzles, but any ideas about how to spot them during chess games ( for intermediate players) ?

First of all, there are puzzles of different levels of complexity, and it is not easy to find the idea of a solution at all levels.
During the game, tactical ideas arise as a result of position analysis and your tactical knowledge and skills. You have to investigate what weaknesses, limitations there are. Sometimes you can see it right away, sometimes after half an hour.

I found one site that may be useful for you, take a look:
https://chessentials.com/best-chess-tactics-books/

I missed two mates in my last game and play terrible all day. Don’t worry it will improve with more sleep and some study.

Meanwhile check this if you don’t know yet:
https://lichess.org/@/CheckRaiseMate/blog/puzzles-vs-games/qMxdf3sp

It's a skill that you have to constantly work on, I've been developing some guidelines for myself:

1). Look at all checks. That will take care of any elementary forks.

2). Look at all captures, and imagine the position after any captures. Often this will help you identify removal of the guard tactics or attraction. Make sure to pay attention even to captures that lose material on the first move (sac the exchange, etc...).

3). Notice any undefended pieces (or pawns) that the opponent has. If you threaten an undefended piece, that is a very forcing move. It's like a mini check - the opponent must react or else they will lose that piece. If you threaten 2 undefended pieces at the same time, guess what - that's a fork. If you can't see a fork right away, but notice the undefended pieces, that might help you find the fork. Sometimes a Knight can jump to attack an undefended piece, and then use that tempo jump to attack a real fork like on f2/f7/c2/c7. Sometimes you can "create" an undefended piece with a pin. For example, imagine an outpost knight on d4, a pawn on e5 and a King on e8. If you put a rook on e1, that pawn is no longer defending the knight on d4. The opponent may not react to this right away, since you're not threatening the knight right away. But in their mind, the knight is often defended. Then look for ways to combine an attack on that knight with an attack on something else.

4). Look at pawn attacks or attacks on a piece with lesser value. Similar to #3 - if you attack a piece with a piece of lesser value, that's like a mini-check. Opponent must react or else they lose material. The way they react may lead to a removal of the guard tactic (deflection), or some other tactic (like a discovered attack).

5). Find ways to create mate threats. For example if you have a bishop staring at f7, you can make a queen move that attacks f7 and also attacks something else that's undefended or unprotected, that again is like a fork. Attacking a square that you can mate on is also like a mini-check.

6). Work on noticing alignment patterns. Anytime you have pieces lined up on a diagonal or a file - opportunity for skewers, pins, discovered attacks.

7). Put bishops and rooks facing the opponents king or queen, even if there are pieces and pawns in the way.

• Harder to spot are pieces that have potential of getting trapped. #4 may help in that.
• Also pay attention to the backrank. Sometimes you can pin pieces with a rook or queen across any backrank square.
• Practice checkmate patterns because if you identify a mating square, you can combine that with other ideas (see #5). Threatening a mating square is like a mini-check.

Dont spend 2 seconds on ever move
Spend more time looking

You should generally have had them in mind for a few moves (when they're the culminating-combination sort). Though finding the win in any given position may well help sharpen your tactical skills, it is not how you should be looking at things in tactical play.