Weak Color Complexes Explained
by IM David Pruess
Being sensitive to weak color complexes provides extremely important insight into positional and tactical chess play. It often shapes the entire middlegame struggle, and informs the decisions made as early as the opening phase of the game. Yet many players don't even know what a "weak color complex" is; and many others have heard of it, but partly wonder if it's an artificial abstraction invented by secret grand mages of chess's professional society in order to cloud their art in obscurity.
But weak color complexes most definitely do exist, and-- if you have already acquired some basic calculation skills, and put a serious dent in the frequency of your blunders-- you need to have some idea of what they are in order to get a grasp on the true nature of chess.
This exhortation is followed by an invitation: work your way through the introductory course offered here, and I promise you will:
- Know what a weak color complex is;
- Be able to look at a position and determine whether it has a weak color complex as a feature;
- Know a couple ways to create a weak color complex;
- Know a couple ways to exploit a weak color complex, and the sad sod saddled with it.
Plus, you'll have a better eye for when to look for tactical blows, you'll become wittier, fitter, and smarter!
Lessons: