Questions tagged [positional-play]
A style of play emphasizing capture of strategic squares and prophylactic moves.
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Is it ever advantageous to make a trade that loses material for the sake a positional advantage?
For example, trading a bishop or a knight for a pawn for the purpose of breaking up the opponents pawn structure. Is this sort of thing ever a good idea? If so, could you provide some examples (or ...
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Which open source chess engine has the most positional understanding?
Most open source chess engines with hand-tuned evaluations are known for their innovations on search (Fruit, Stockfish).
I was inspired by HIARCS' generally more human-like play and the fact that ...
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What are the things that a 2000 player knows that a 1800 player doesn't know?
I'm stuck at 1600-1800 in chess.com. My rating fluctuates within that range. There must be something that I still don't understand that is already understood by a 1900-2000 player.
So I am asking for ...
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For a beginner focused on reducing blunders, should I study positional theory or tactics more?
I've been playing chess for about a month, learning strategies and principles along the way. Initially, reviewing my games to identify frequent mistakes helped me progress from a complete novice to ...
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What's the benefit to attacking f7 or f2 during the opening?
I remember a specific chess.com lesson on common openings, and it seems like one of the most common and safest openings is to take control of the center with the king and queen pawns and the attack ...
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When is it worth it to sacrifice a knight or bishop in order to force the opponent to move the king down a rank and lose castling rights?
Specifically, I'm confused why the game review on chess.com says this move was a blunder:
I did end up losing the knight, but that's what I expected to happen. I did it on purpose to force the king ...
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Best move in algebraic notation
I have no experience in chess, and I tried my best to answer this question myself but am finding difficulties. What is the answer? It's for another game.
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How do you systematically analyze an arbitrary chess position?
I've recently been learning the fundamentals of the game using the chess.com lessons and game reviews, but the thing I can't seem to figure out is how to even know what to look for or focus when ...
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Who was the first player to state that bishops are more valuable than knights?
Was this concept ever implicitly understood, like controlling open files with rooks?
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Why is it better to take with the knight than with the pawn in this position?
[fen "r3k1nr/p2b1ppp/4p3/3pP3/8/1p1B4/2PN1PPP/R3K2R w - - 0 1"]
I recently had a chess game in which I played as white and the position was as shown in the picture. I chose the move cxb3, ...
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Trying to improve
I have a question hopefully someone can help me out.
3 days ago I won a tournament (25+5) semi-rapid section under 1450 OTB. I scored 5/5 beating some high rated players.
My rating OTB semi-rapid ...
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What openings fit the tastes of a positional player? [closed]
I am a very positional player, but, I cannot find good openings that suit my tastes. What are the lists of openings that result in strategic / positional positions?
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Chess calculation when there's more than 10 best moves
I have seen quite few positions where opponent has more than 10 good moves if I play a specific move. Even at that time, I have seen people calculate for so long. Is it that they are looking at all ...
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Exercises for positional evaluation
I would like to improve my position evaluation skills. And as we all know - there are tons of tactical exercises , endgames studies, etc. But when it comes to exercises for positional evaluation - ...
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How do I learn to understand the middlegame?
I am trying to train tactics as well as my general understanding of the beginning/middlegame. I spent a good bit of time understanding endgames, per chessmaster recommendations and those I can ...
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Is this position winnable for white if black just shuffles?
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/p7/Pp1p1p1p/1PpPpPpP/2P1P1P1/8/8/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
If black were to just shuffle the rook between h8 and h7 until white makes a capture or puts a piece on a square ...
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Nimzowitsch and the defensive theory of open lines
I have read from Nimzowitsch over and over again how one could use a file as the basis of a restraining operation. All those who know his work know what I speak of, but good players at all levels ...
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How do I play against the Queen's Gambit Declined Tartakower structure?
I play the Exchange Variation against the QGD, but I'm really struggling against the Tartakower style setup in the QGD, when black plays b6 and c5. As White, I just don't really know what I'm supposed ...
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Ponziani 5.. Nce7?! why is this a blunder?
The following position is from the Ponziani opening.
Starting 5.. Nce7, the computer gives over +3 advantage for white, but throughout the line I couldn't see why this is such a clear positional ...
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Any engine that can play like Petrosian?
So, I am a big big fan of Petrosian and his Style. I tried to search for engines that can actually try to imitate it's style, instead I found Tal's engine (Opental 1.1). Can anyone help me?
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What's the positional threat in this opening of the London?
In a London system course, when explaining the following line, the author mentions that with 4.Ne5 "White is creating a big positional threat of Nxg4."
[FEN ""]
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3....
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How to come up with candidate moves or ideas in positions "with no action"?
Here is an example position:
[fen ""]
[Startply "40"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 Nd5 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 O-O 8. a3 Ba5 9. Bc4 Nb6 10. Ba2 Bxd2+ 11. Qxd2 d5 12. ...
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The case of the mysterious retreating bishop
In the following position from a Caro-Kann fantasy gone wrong, the engine suggests 15.Bf2 with advantage of (+2.5) among other close-by candidates such as Bf4 (+2.2) and Rfe1 (+2.0).
[Title "...
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What color squares should pawns be on with one bishop left?
This slightly confuses me. If I have one bishop left - let's say it is the light-squared bishop - ss it better for my pawns to be on the light squares or dark squares? Let's assume also that my ...
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What is the theory behind center control?
Center control is an important aspect of playing chess, most openings are built around controlling the center, but why? Is center control really that important for winning a game?
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How strong is Stockfish's positional understanding without AB search?
At zero depth/search, i.e. only using its neural net, Stockfish's tactics would, of course, be abysmal, but how strong is its positional evaluation? Can it be compared to grandmasters or to club ...
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Why does GM Larry claim that this sacrifice is brilliant?
On this webpage GM Larry Kaufman claimed (at least up to 2012) that the following move was brilliant:
[Title "Kasparov vs Shirov (Horgen 1994)"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/...
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Is there any positional assessment that includes a factor for how difficult it is to play the correct moves?
As I understand it, current positional assessments by computers evaluate a position based on optimal play by both players from this point.
i.e. a trap moves that bait an opponent into making a mistake ...
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Is there a way to ask stockfish from the command line if a position is "quiet"?
Is there a way to ask stockfish from the command line if a position is "quiet"? I am running a script like stockfish_fen.sh to return the analysis, but I would like to also know if stockfish considers ...
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Why does Black want to trade off their King's Bishop in many d4 lines?
I feel that in many lines starting with d4, such as the Queen's Gambit Declined, or especially the Nimzo-Indian, Black is more than happy to trade their King's Bishop for White's knight on c3. For ...
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Please advise which books are about strategy with explanations [duplicate]
I have many books that show openings, endplays, tactics, different puzzle to find best moves, databases with games, articles...
All this stuff shows specific moves, which I have to find by myself.
I ...
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Why is two pawns defending a outpost regarded as a strong outpost?
Quoting Irving Chernev:
A brilliant sacrifice which must be accepted. Refusing the Pawn means that Black could never free himself by … d5. It would also enable
White to play 16 ♘c3 next move (...
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Where can I find exercises where the best move isn't always a tactical one?
I know solving a lot of tactics problems has its benefits, but also its limitations. In a real game there is no way to know if a tactic is present — maybe the best move is defensive. I am seeking ...
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Positional analysis after a dubious move
I was analyzing a game and found that the engine gives -3.42 after 1. Rb1 and +2.72 after the subsequent 1. ...Nc2. Is Nc2 really such a bad move? For comparison, 1. ... Nd5? results in almost the ...
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Opening suggestion where my side castles king side and has king side majority
I'm looking for a set of openings that are more likely to lead into positional play where my side castles king side and have king side majority. Theoretical advantage is not required.
The plan is to ...
CommunityBot
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Why does Stockfish prefer White here?
My analysis of the position:
Materially, black is a pawn up.
White's rooks and bishop are active.
White has potential counterplay on Black's Kingside but I think it can be defended by the move Ng6.
...
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What strategic principles contribute to black's advantage in this position?
I calculated to the following position during a game:
[FEN "r1r3k1/5pbp/p2qpnp1/3p4/3P4/2N1PB1P/P5P1/2R1QRK1 w - - 1 22"]
At the time I believed black would have a slight positional edge ...
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If the back row of white pieces is moved to be in front of the pawns, which side should I play?
I remember this starting position played many times by my grandfathers. But I am too young to recollect the results of their games. If I have to choose, which side should I play? (White moves 1st)
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How come it's actually Black with the advantage here?
I was analyzing a recent game of mine, and I noticed something interesting. After I blundered back a bishop on move 16, the evaluation was -3.4, which is still strongly winning for Black.
[White "...
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Did Lichess Level 8 truly lose this game?
Jonathan Scrantz played this game against Lichess Level 8:
[Title "Jonathan Scrantz VS Stockfish Level 8 (3000) after 9. Kh1"]
[FEN ""]
[Startply "17"]
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 ...
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Pushing the e-pawn
I am having trouble understanding why the move e5 which I played in the position below
is not correct according to Stockfish (6th move for White)
I am not doing this move by winning a tempo, but I ...
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What should my plan be in this middlegame?
This is a game I played recently. After 12. Be2, I really didn't know how to proceed. Eventually, after thinking for a very long time (>30 minutes, it's a correspondence game by the way), I moved ...
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Is there a good method to come up with a plan during a game?
I have started to play chess more seriously recently by playing some tournaments. During all my tournament games, I faced serious problems coming up with plans during the middle game. Is there a ...
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Josh Waitzkin chessmaster mastery quiz - spatial advantage, trading bishops
Update: The computer aspect of this can be answered with showing more lines such as in the lichess engine where h6 is slightly preferred to f5.
Based on: Josh Waitzkin Chessmaster Strategy Section 7 -...
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Why did Karpov choose this knight placement over the normal Ruy Lopez knight manoeuvre?
I was studying some Karpov games and I came across a knight manoeuvre that I hadn't seen before in the Ruy Lopez, shown in the below game (moves 15,16...):
[Event "Milan"]
[FEN ""]
...
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When should I care about an opponent's pin?
This has been a problem that has been vexing me for a while, and it manifested again in my most recent game in which I played Black:
[FEN ""]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 ...
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Black's tools in the Caro-Kann Advanced Tal Variation
What are Black's plans to play for an advantage in this variation?
[FEN ""]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6
The kingside development seems so slow, allowing ...
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In this game, should white sacrifice their bishop to expose black's king?
I (black) reached this position in a game and realised that black's king would be totally exposed if white's bishop decided to take the pawn (1. Bxh6 gxh6).
Is the smart move here for white to ...
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Does blitz change the relative value of position vs material?
The way I see it, true gambits trade material for position, which in turn could give you opportunities to regain more material. However, in blitz play, you are less likely to notice those ...
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{Landa vs Zhu Chen, Bad Wiessee, 2006} Lichess giving a +4.7 to white. Why?
Here is the lichess study for the game which is often presented as study.
I am curious here, as to why White is given a strong advantage, even though the material is equal and Black has a lot more ...
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