 Kotov, as well as other teachers, recommend using a system of pattern recognition, looking at the elements of the current position to determine what might be a feasible move.For example, if a player notices that his opponent's king is on the g8 square, and that his knight is on f3, then a candidate move might be Ng5, a fairly common beginning to a sacrifice.Once a player has found a good number of candidate moves (every position is different, although four to six moves is usually the norm), a player may then begin to systematically analyze these moves.