33
votes
Accepted
Why is ..Kh8 so much worse than ..Kg7 after Nf6?
Excellent question because the difference between these two king moves is actually quite subtle! In general you're completely correct that moving the king two diagonal squares away from it ensures the ...
- 5,999
28
votes
Accepted
Why does GM Larry claim that this sacrifice is brilliant?
Because it is brilliant
No, Larry was not wrong, and neither are all the grandmasters and chess commentators who praised (and are still praising) the move 17.Rxb7!!
Nobody, and I am sure neither ...
- 16.7k
26
votes
Accepted
As a beginner, how do I learn to win in "won" positions?
There are two key things you need to do.
The first is to know how to win a won endgame. You do that by studying endgames. That will do two important things for you. Apart from teaching you how to win ...
- 100k
25
votes
Accepted
Why is capturing the bishop in this position a blunder?
It is a blunder because White can win a piece instead. The Black queen is in a molasses of its own pieces, and White has a very good chance of trapping it. Capturing the bishop loses this chance, ...
- 17.8k
21
votes
Understanding Kramnik's play in game 1 of Candidates 2018
The short answer is: white's making it difficult for black to challenge the center with their central pawns. But that's not really revealing much, so let us dig deeper into this beautiful middlegame.
...
- 12k
18
votes
As a beginner, how do I learn to win in "won" positions?
I remember reading about this from one of GM Yasser Seirawan's books. What you want to do is:
Pick a target
Figure out how to attack it
In this case the obvious target is the White pawn on a3. Why ...
- 29k
17
votes
Accepted
Is it good to have a tendency to exchange pieces?
Now is this really the way to play chess?
Well, it is certainly a way to play chess. It's the way Aryan Tari chose to play Magnus Carlsen in the Altibox Norway tournament a couple of days ago. Swap ...
- 100k
17
votes
Why is 12... d4 a blunder?
Because black can play 12...Nd4 instead. The threat is to catch the bishop b5 with ...a6 and ...b5 and eventually ...c4. I do not see how white can prevent this. White loses a piece.
- 1,517
17
votes
Accepted
What is a pawn hook?
Here's a position from one of my games. I'm playing White versus a master:
[FEN "r2qk1nr/pp2bp2/2p1p2p/3pPnp1/1P6/P1N2N2/2P2PPP/R1BQR1K1 b kq - 0 11"]
[White "D M"]
1... g4
This ...
- 20.3k
16
votes
Accepted
Why are opening books so popular?
I think there are number of reasons why these are so popular:
It is easy to start learning openings. You can read about ideas and memorize some lines. It is not so easy to learn middle game or end ...
- 879
16
votes
Accepted
Is Silman's book 'How to Reassess Your Chess: Chess Mastery Through Imbalances' any good?
"!?" means interesting move, not inaccuracy. The symbol for dubious/inaccurate move is "?!".
Anyway Silman is considering 2...b6 to be the main response by Black. 2...Bxd5 is ...
- 17k
14
votes
Is it good to have a tendency to exchange pieces?
Is there something wrong with my approach?
Yes.
This is how I am playing nowadays and can beat ~1500 player 50% of time( rest is due to tactical errors)
I mean i do wanna improve my tactical skill ...
- 20.3k
13
votes
Accepted
Why is this position considered to give white a significant advantage?
[FEN "r4rk1/2p1qppp/1p3n2/p7/2B4B/4P3/PPQN1Pbb/2KRR3 w - - 0 1"]
1. f3 {traps the bishop} Rad8 2. Re2 Bxf3 (2...Bd6 Rxg2 Kh8 Rh1 {the Black king is not safe at all}) 3. Bxf6 Qxf6 (3...gxf6 ...
- 3,488
11
votes
As a beginner, how do I learn to win in "won" positions?
First consider the difference between a 'truly' won position vs a 'theoretically winning' position. By that I mean - a position that is within your own abilities to convert to a win, in a way you can ...
- 852
11
votes
Bishop and Knight exchange with opponent's Rook and pawn
In the middle game, where pawns are generally less important than the endgame, two pieces are better than one. So, in the middlegame the bishop + knight are worth noticeably more than the rook and ...
- 100k
10
votes
Accepted
Pawn Sacrifice Justification
As was stated in the answer to this post made by D M, one idea of capturing in this manner is to open up the g-file for white's rooks to attack black's king. In the game this proved to be a very ...
- 8,028
10
votes
Accepted
Queenless Imbalanced Middlegame
First, I don't think that there is any doubt that black has significant compensation, but clearly, black is still trying to hold this, not win it when talking two computers playing each other. I ...
- 32.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Why is h4 much better than h3?
Why is h4 much better than h3?
It's very simple. The prospects for the bishop are much better on g3 than h2. On h2 the bishop does nothing useful and it will take a lot of moves to get it back into ...
- 100k
10
votes
Accepted
Why is this seemingly quiet and normal position actually -3?
You mentioned seven points which give Black an advantage. Here are two more:
White has a bad bishop, blocked by its own pawns on c4 and e4. Conversely, Black's bishop is good.
Black is more ready for ...
- 29k
10
votes
Accepted
Middlegame plan for this position
Your advantage is smaller than you think. After Kg7 Black is safe
and has joined rooks. The pressure on the c file is annoying and
ties up your knights. My first move, almost without thinking, is
Qf3, ...
- 17.3k
9
votes
Accepted
Middle game and endgame principles
There are quite a lot of basic principles. Whole books have been written on the principles of strategic play, for example. Basis rules are useful and will get you on your way. For more advanced ...
- 218
9
votes
How to proceed with the book "Pawn Structure Chess" by Andrew Soltis?
I'm not familiar with the book itself, but for learning pawn structures it isn't important to memorize every single thing. The key is to understand the general ideas behind each structure. E.g.: what ...
- 19.9k
9
votes
Accepted
Can White win this middle game?
As SecretAgentMan already said in his comment, whites only attempt is to sacrifice the queen. This can be done on g5, e5, c5, or b4.
On Qxe5 or Qxc5 the knight takes, which keeps the blockade.
Qxb4 ...
- 1,517
8
votes
Accepted
Having knightmares, what to do?
The solution is: play better chess. Train your tactical skills so you can better anticipate the opponent's knight's threats (and also make a better use of your own knights). Avoid creating weak ...
- 17k
8
votes
Accepted
How to attack in Scandinavian Defense
To paraphrase Garry Kasparov "An attack truly begins when a pawn attacks a piece". It is often very difficult to conduct an attack with just the minor pieces (Knights & Bishops) and your ...
- 549
8
votes
How to attack in Scandinavian Defense
In a position such as this, where White's army is kind of sitting back and you haven't castled kingside, you might try a pawn storm.
For a first step you may play h6 or castle queenside, both of which ...
- 20.3k
7
votes
Longest period with each piece "hanging"
Since a game with all 14 pieces, as kings are excluded, hanging has probably not happened yet, and will not for a long time, I will answer as best as I can. Under these circumstances, I think that the ...
- 17.8k
7
votes
Accepted
How to improve my early endgame / late middlegame?
It sounds like you are looking for strategic guidelines in non-theoretical endgames. Then a modern classic is Endgame Strategy by Mikhail Shereshevsky. Strong players tend to like this book, which ...
- 9,131
7
votes
Queenless Imbalanced Middlegame
The formula for winning a position at this stage of the game when you are 2 pawns up goes like this:
Swap the pieces off, or at least enough to make stage 2 possible
Create a passed pawn
Queen the ...
- 100k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible