“In positions of strategic maneuvering (where time is not of decisive importance) seek the worst-placed piece. Activating that piece is often the most reliable way of improving your position as a whole.” (Mark Dvoretsky & Artur Yusupov)
Have you ever seen someone play a move and thought “Wow! I would never have thought of that!”? Usually, once an unexpected move has occurred on the board, it’s possible to figure out what its purpose was in hindsight. But how do you develop the ability to spot these kinds of moves in advance? How do strong players always seem to zone in on the correct plan? How are they able to find moves that wouldn’t even occur to other players?
There are several factors at play here. Everything comes down to pattern recognition and asking the right questions. Patterns that are practiced over time become intuitive, and intuition in chess can be honed by asking the right questions at the right time, in the right situation.
For example, sometimes there are lots of tactics present in a position. This kind of situation gives rise to many variations that need to be calculated. However, how does a player find the correct move when there are no forcing continuations available?
These are positions of “strategic maneuvering” (as noted by the world-renowned trainers Dvoretsky and Yusupov in the above quote). In these types of positions, tactics, and calculation take a back seat. Trying to see ahead when there are no forcing options available is like banging one’s head against a brick wall. No solution will be forthcoming and lots of time will be wasted. In these cases, a player needs different criteria for finding candidate moves apart from the well-known “checks, captures, and threats”.