We are always admonished that to blunder-proof our chess, we must search for checks, captures and threats on every move, for ourselves and our opponents.

This is not so easy to practice — how do you know when you’ve missed something, except when a gleeful opponent swoops in to take an overlooked loose piece?

The answer is now at hand:

Here are two sets of positions selected at random moments from a selection of master games.

Random positions: https://lichess.org/study/gC1AGen6

Random shuffled positions: https://lichess.org/study/RNvhutHd

The second set is the same positions, but with the piece positions randomised.

Both sets of positions have the number of checks and captures available to each side counted.

Random positions, checks and captures counted: https://lichess.org/study/tYjkWV8P

Random shuffled positions, checks and captures counted: https://lichess.org/study/lM4Wqeyw

So now you can find out when you are missing something!

I haven’t counted threats. What is a threat? Maybe it’s a check or a capture one move hence, or two moves hence, or some sort of tactic… I can’t count those.