Article: "The Most Important Tactical Pattern in Chess" by GM Gregory Serper

While analyzing the next tournament game that will be published here, I recalled the relevance of GM Gregory Serper's Chess.com article "The Most Important Tactical Pattern in Chess". In it, he provides several useful illustrations of the x-ray tactic, which he described as:

 ...a situation where a long ranged piece (a queen, rook, or bishop) attacks an opponent's piece (usually a king or a queen), through a bunch of other pieces (both of your opponent's and your own). Or, how Chess.com's lesson puts it: "The X-ray brings to mind superman's ability to see through objects. A piece is able to mount an attack even if there is another piece in the way."

He also shares insights about how the x-ray pattern actually is the basis for other chess tactics, making it an excellent article for practical improvement understanding. As my next game will show, I lacked the perception to identify x-ray tactics, and could have done better on both defense and offense as a result.