Questions tagged [positional-play]
A style of play emphasizing capture of strategic squares and prophylactic moves.
7 questions from the last 365 days
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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 ...
3
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2
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185
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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 ...
2
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1
answer
439
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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 ...
4
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5
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253
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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 ...
0
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2
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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 ...
2
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1
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118
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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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14
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3
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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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