Bad Trades Amateurs Make In Chess

What separates a chess beginner from an experienced player? It's not just the brilliant moves that the star players find, it's also the bad moves that beginners play, which veteran players instinctively know to avoid. Here are five trades that amateurs frequently make, but professionals shy away from.

• 1. Two Pieces For A Rook And Pawn On f2/f7
• 2. Paying Attention To What Leaves The Board Instead Of What Remains
  
• 3. Breaking The Tension
  
• 4. Assuming A Recapture
  
• 5. Trading The Wrong Pieces

Two Pieces For A Rook And Pawn On f2/f7

One of the first things beginners learn is how to target f2 and f7, to go for Scholar's Mate or the Fried Liver. However, once the opponent learns to defend the f-pawn properly, the capture becomes a serious error. Check out how Black dominates the following game.

After White captures on f7, material is relatively even, but Black has three pieces out and all of White's pieces sit on the back rank! Black already had an excellent game and soon won.

At higher levels, no one will make this trade on f2 or f7 in the opening unless it's part of a well-prepared attacking plan. Check out GM Artur Yusupov's handling of one of the rare variations where the early f2-capture is strong, the Dillworth Variation. 

Observe how this time Black has a battery of pieces on the f-file and good attacking chances after the exchange on f2. Unlike in our previous game, the side that gives up two pieces for the rook is also better developed after the exchange. Unless you have well-placed pieces left after the trade, it's almost always going to be a mistake.

Paying Attention To What Leaves The Board Instead Of What Remains

The two examples above were identical knight and bishop for rook and pawn exchanges if you only looked at the material leaving the board. What made one of them great and the other disastrous was how active the remaining pieces were. The important thing to remember is that chess is won by the pieces on the board, not those on the sidelines.

In the position below, White has just played Rh4 and soon found the winning sacrifice, Rxh6+, to force checkmate on the kingside. Can you figure out how Black should avoid that fate?

The only winning plan for Black is to make a "bad trade" of queen for rook. However, that sacrifice wins the game. After the exchange, White has no way to force checkmate and is left with no good way to stop the black queenside pawns from promoting. The extra black queen on the side of the board isn't relevant to what Black's surviving pieces are about to accomplish on the board!

Now let's examine a position from the 1800s where White showed excellent awareness of the position, rather than focusing on material. Can you spot a way to save the game?

Black has a huge material advantage, but stalemate saves the day! Remember to focus on what the pieces are doing, not just who has more of them!

Breaking The Tension

In chess, it's useful to make trades when you can accomplish something essential or when you must. It's usually a mistake to trade just because you can. Most of the time, trades like that give the opponent something useful. Take a look a this position, which has occurred on all levels from beginner to grandmaster.

From this position, either player can exchange pawns on d4 or e5, but they probably shouldn't. If White trades pawns and knights on e5, both sides will have one pawn left in the center and an equal game. 

Meanwhile, if Black exchanges on d4, White can take back with the c-pawn and dominate in the center. 

As is often the case, neither side should make the trade, but many players will. It's psychologically difficult to maintain the tension and need to continually calculate the consequences. Even GM David Navara has admitted to this reasoning, writing in My Chess World, "I decided to prevent ...e6-e5, as I was unwilling to calculate it on every move."

If you're struggling to avoid a simplifying trade in your own game, remember that your opponent has to calculate just as much as you do!

Assuming A Recapture

Often when someone starts a trade, we assume that the opponent will automatically recapture on the very next move. This can lead to missing enormous opportunities. In this tournament game, I played as a kid, my opponent just captured a knight on e5 and I automatically recaptured it. Can you spot what both of us missed?

Former World Champion Magnus Carlsen has no trouble seeing in-between moves to improve his position. Check out this game that he played as a 12-year-old against his countryman GM Jon Ludvig Hammer.  Carlsen repeatedly found ways to improve his position instead of immediately recapturing a piece. He capped it off with a beautiful queen sacrifice for checkmate.

Trading The Wrong Pieces

If winning, clarify; if losing, complicate.

—Bruce Pandolfini, world-famous chess coach

That's great advice, but it's important to know what type of trades will clarify the position into a win and which ones lead right to a draw. See if you can find Black's best move here to survive a tricky ending.

It's important to know which material advantages are enough to win without the aid of pawns. A queen, a rook, two bishops, or a knight and bishop combination (if you know how to use it) are enough to win the game. If you have less material than that, you probably want to trade pieces, but make sure to keep at least one pawn on the board. 

I found the following endgame on a forum with the white player asking whether two knights were enough to win the game. You can't win by force with only two knights if the opponent doesn't have any pawns remaining. By the time White traded the final pawn, it was too late to win the game.

Do you fall victim to any of these bad trading habits? Let us know in the comments!