Questions tagged [positional-play]
A style of play emphasizing capture of strategic squares and prophylactic moves.
211 questions
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Can a 2000 Elo rated player teach me middlegame play properly?
I have reached 2500 in the chess.com tactics trainer while I haven't study theory and my FIDE rating is 1637 (I reached 1930 in rapids a year in France).
I want to study with a coach and there is one ...
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Why is h4 much better than h3?
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
[Event "Rated Rapid game"]
[Date "2021.08.09"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl &...
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Why doesn’t the computer like my odd queen trade?
I played a game as Black some months ago on chess.com in which I made a rather amusing, in my opinion at the least, queen trade. I won the game in the end, but only after being a bastard and promoting ...
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Chess strategy versus positional chess
If one master writes a book on chess strategy (example here) and another writes a book on positional chess (example here), are they writing more or less on the same subject?
Do other major chess ...
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Why is 11. .. h6 such a bad move?
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[...
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Material vs positional advantage: does Stockfish give good advice?
This is from Yusupov's "Build up your chess" volume 1, chapter 11 (pins).
[Event "Munich"]
[Site "Build Up Your Chess"]
[Date "1994"]
[Round "Diagram 11.4&...
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Who is actually winning here?
I came across this interesting position:
[Title "Black to move (with full castling rights)"]
[FEN "r2qkb1r/pp1nn1p1/7p/5N2/3p4/2P2N2/PP2QPPP/R1B3K1 b kq - 0 1"]
On first glance, ...
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Since each engine has its own style of play… which engines are more positional/strategic and which engines are more sharp/tactical?
I’ve heard that each engine has its own style of play. Some are more positional and strategic, while others are more sharp and tactical.
And so my question is: could you roughly sort the following ...
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Playing with Ranks Advantage
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
I was planning to play white against the computer, starting with the positional advantage as shown above. I don't know how to ...
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Why is Ne4 considered as an inaccuracy whereas it is one of very few moves which saves d3 pawn?
[FEN "r2q1rk1/1p3ppp/p4n2/2Pp4/1Pn5/P1Bp3P/3N2P1/R2QN2K b - - 4 21"]
With Black to move Ne4 is not even in top 5 moves and engine says its an inaccuracy. I know it considers fastest winning ...
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In the books Wojo's Weapons, why was Wojo occasionally known to say "I'm too lazy!" when asked why he didn't play 1. d4 instead of 1. Nf3?
In Wojo's Weapons: Winning With White (Volume 1) by Jonathan Hilton and Dean Ippolito, it is written:
Wojo's move order to reach any opening position almost always started with 1. Nf3 and then ...
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Which classical players' games should I check if I want to analyze positional players? [closed]
I am regularly analyzing games of grandmasters and now I want to check the classics. Who do you recommend to me as a positional player? Thanks.
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Positional chess understanding in the early game
As Black, when given a choice of taking the White's pawn, for what reason should I consider taking d5 pawn with e6 pawn? Wouldn't this open up the king's file and put it at risk of being attacked in ...
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How do I create sharp, tactical positions?
It is said that you shouldn't simply look for combinations every move; rather, you should create positions that tend to create tactical opportunities.
But what does this actually mean? I think my ...
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How can I remember Silman's imbalances?
I can never remember Silman's imbalances when it comes time for a tournament. I can remember them any other time when I'm not all stressed out. Is there any way that I can?
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How do I understand White's +6 advantage here?
[White "White (to move)"]
[Black "Black"]
[FEN "rnq1kb1r/ppp3pp/4pn2/4N3/2QP4/2N2P2/PPP3PP/R1B1K2R w KQ - 0 13"]
In this position, White can still castle, but Black cannot (having moved the king ...
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Study endgame first before studying opening? Is it true?
While looking for and comparing suggestions that will help me to improve in chess, I have noticed that some people and some chess book authors suggest that you should study the endgame first.
Some ...
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How can I punish the "bad" knight on c3?
I play the Caro–Kann Defence against 1.e4 as black, and for whatever reason it feels like I get the following line way too frequently:
[FEN ""]
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nc3?!
This ...
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When is it right to start learning strategy after tactics
I have been furiously solving tactical puzzles for 6 weeks now and about three weeks ago I reactivated my account on chess.com.
Long story short I have seen my "rating" go from 1280 to 1590 during ...
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Why did Black allow White to capture en passant two times in a row?
I read about this game on Tim Krabbe’s website and found it on chessgames.com. I am severely confused by Black’s 30th and 31st moves.
[Title "Sergey Gennadyevich Kudrin-Rudy C Douven, GMA ...
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Why is 16. d5 a blunder in this position?
In this position I'm White and I have just played 16. d5. Stockfish labels the move as a blunder. I do understand I had better moves than this, and it's not the move I would play if I were to get this ...
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What should be the next move for Black?
Both sides have had equal points untill now. If the Black knight is moved, then White can move their knight with discovered check. What should Black do?
[FEN ""]
[StartPly "11"] ...
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Was this “caterpillar” strategy a good way to advance my pawns?
I recently played an endgame as Black in which I thought up a silly, but effective, to advance my doubled pawns. Here is the relevant part of the game.
[FEN "8/6p1/2p2kp1/1p1p4/p2P2K1/P1P5/1P6/8 ...
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Does the Caro-Kann or the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined help with positional skills?
In the following Wikipedia biography on Gary Kasparov, I read the following:
From age 7, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at 10 began training at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess ...
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Why is the evaluation of the move h5 dependent on position of the bishop?
[FEN ""]
[startply "50"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. Re1 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. d5 Nd8 14. a4 Ra7 15. Nf1 g6 16. Bh6 Re8 17....
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Why this move is good here but not few moves ago?
[FEN "r1bq1rk1/p2p2pp/1pn1p3/5p2/1PP1n1P1/P4N2/1BQ1PP1P/R3KB1R b - - 0 1"]
Here, 1... fxg4 gives White an advantage. But 1...Nxf2 2.Kxf2 fxg4 is equal. Why is that?
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When should I play f3/f6?
For context, I've been playing chess for around two years now, and my rating on Lichess is ~1850.
When I first started playing, I learned a lot of heuristics for playing well, e.g. rooks are better ...
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Why is exchanging the queens bad in this position?
Stockfish gives +6.6 to the following position.
The recommended move by stockfish is Rc1 which maintains +6.6 advantage but if I exchange the queens right away (Qxd6), stockfish gives me +5. What's ...
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What is the best move for White in this position?
[title "White to move"]
[fen "2b2rk1/pr2n1bp/2p1p1p1/2pqPp2/N2p1P1Q/1P1P1N2/P1PB2PP/1R3R1K w - - 1 0"]
In this position, I was considering the best move for white. Re1 seems good but why not Ba5? Or ...
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Why is Ne2 better than Nf3?
I played Nf3 for attacking on king side which is about to castle having some plans to make a battery in future after castling but I feel Ne2 is making a block for Re1 at some point. Any suggestions?
[...
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Why move the queen’s rook to defend d-file instead of king’s rook?
In this position, why is it better to move the queen’s rook to defend the d-file instead of the king’s rook? Moving the king’s rook to the d-file becomes more challenging. Is it important to leave ...
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Can someone explain the positional advantages for white?
[FEN "3r1rk1/7p/bq2ppp1/p1R5/Pp2P2P/4QB2/1P3PP1/3R2K1 w - - 0 1"]
As far I can see, Black’s bishop has more scope than the white one, White has some isolated pawns, and the Black pawns rule the 5th ...
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Overprotection Of A Piece
What exactly is the logic behind the concept of “overprotection of a piece”?
Wikipedia says that it "...provides greater freedom of movement for the pieces protecting that square." If the protected ...
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How should one decide which rook to put on a central file? [duplicate]
How should one decide which rook to put on a central file? I usually just move the one which is closer to the file, unless there are weak squares in my position that one rook is defending. In ...
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Confused about timing of cxd5 and dxc4 in the Queen's Gambit Declined (QGD)
Recently I've been playing the Queen's Gambit Declined as my primary response to a d4 opening by white. While analyzing past games with engines, I've realized that as the game progresses, there's a ...
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In Caro-Kann, which one is less risky, the main line or the Steinitz?
After 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4, the most popular move (main line) is 4...Bf5. But former world champion Anatoly Karpov seems to like 4...Nd7. Since Karpov's style is "solidly ...
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How could I have improved my attack in this game?
I won the game easily because my opponent left a rook hanging in the end. I believe I missed opportunities to build a stronger attack, but I am not sure how I could have done so.
[FEN ""]
1.d4 e5 2....
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Can anyone explain why Re7 is one of the lines suggested by the computer?
I was analyzing a game and got stuck in this position by Re7 move. I do not want to mention the player's name. As seen in the diagram Bc5 is misleading, but Bd6 is one of the lines. Bd6 is OK, but Re7 ...
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Example highlighting overprotection
Nimzovich was a proponent of the idea of over-protection, a concept which I don't understand well enough to ever implement in my games. Are there any example games at the GM level that illustrate this ...
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Is there any way white can win?
[fen "1K6/1P3q2/1P6/P7/3k4/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
Is there any way that white can win or draw in the above game?
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What is the correct definition of a bad bishop?
Is a bad bishop a bishop that is trapped by your own pawns? (For example, all your pawns are on dark squares, so the dark squared bishop is bad.) Or is it when your opponent's pawns trap your bishop'...
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What is an accurate way to evaluate chess positions?
I've been interested for a while about a computer chess AI algorithms (and got the chance to work on one at some point) like Minimax, and as the core component of these algorithms is the so-called ...
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What are the reasons why I should not try to take a Knight with my Bishop if it'll result in doubled pawns?
For instance, in the Ruy Lopez, after
[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
why shouldn't I take the Knight?
4 Bxc6 dxc6
Now Black has a doubled pawn.
It isn't a very popular line of play, ...
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Advanced Pawn Structure books [duplicate]
Hello fellow chess players. I've recently returned to the learning of this game, and as I forgot several ideas on deep mechanics, I read (again) "My System", from Nimzowitsch, and found it very useful,...
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Why this is the best move?
I'm new here, so I just like chess and I don’t study too deeply. I could not understand the move Qxe5. Can someone explain to me?
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Positional thinking by Grandmasters
How do Grandmasters think in an unknown position and make the best move?
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How should white push for advantage in the Nimzowitsh attack of the Petrov's defense?
This line of the Petrov defense can often lead to opposite side castling and the general rule for that is attacks happening on both sides of the board. However, I noticed that it's very difficult to ...
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Can anyone recommend a positional book focused on preparing pawn breaks?
Feel free to share more than one book. I'm very interested in understanding better those preparatory moves.
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Switching from 1.e4 to 1.d4?
I've only played 1.e4 as white so far (in clubs, tournaments, online, everywhere!), in the past 5 years since I learned chess. And it has been very fun, but I want to explore the dark side as well, as ...
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Good Knight Against Bad Bishop Endgame - A More Constructive Plan?
I reached the position below in a recent tournament game
[Event "Recent Tournament"]
[Site "Deepest, Darkest Oxfordshire"]
[Date "Feb 2020"]
[White "Ian Bush"]
[Black "A Young Victim"]
[Result "1-0"]
...
- 12k