How to Win a Winning Game

Former US Chess Champion Frank Marshall once said,"Winning a won game is the hardest thing in chess." So if you blunder away your advantage often, you're in good company. 

Here are some mistakes you might have if you throw away games often:

1. Playing too passively, and giving up the initiative (instead of using the extra material actively)
2. Not seeing the opponent's threats (instead of being alert to the opponent's swindling attempts)
3. Not exchanging pieces effectively (exchanges generally make your material advantage more valuable, especially when you are up more than 2 pawns)
4. Getting into severe time trouble (instead of leaving enough time to convert the winning position)

The reason why winning a won game is hard is because it requires finding the right move over and over. You can also easily lose concentration when your position is winning, especially if you're only up a pawn or two. 

In order to win a won game you have to first eliminate your opponent's counterplay. Each "won game" is different though. The problem most players face is that they think just because they have an advantage they can just charge forth like the Juggernaut and they can't lose.

Once you have an advantage like an extra pawn or two you need to ensure your king is active and don't advance your pawns too far. If you're only up a pawn, for example, don't trade all your pieces because you could be walking into a drawn pawn endgame. 

If you're up a piece in middle game you opt for trades until you reach endgame. It's not necessary to do anything fancy. Once in endgame, get your king active, use your extra piece as a tempo gaining machine. You are guaranteed opposition and you will win just about any endgame so long as you haven't allowed your opponent's king right into your side of the board.

Here is an example where Hikaru Nakamura tripped up against Carlsen. Nakamura is playing White and it is his move.

At a first glance, its obvious White is winning. He has a devastating attack on the h-file, spacial control on the first 5 ranks, and his center pawns prevent any counterplay.

Meanwhile Black has some loose pieces ready to drop off, like the knight on c4. 

Thinking about ideal squares, White's knight is where it should be and if he can put a rook on h6, Black is in big trouble. Nakamura instead played the move 37...d6?? 

He had a much better move that combines both the ideas above. Can you find it?

After this game, we can see complexity plays a huge factor and Carlsen did superbly converting a lost position into a win. 

To handle this complexity, just stick to the basics:

1. Develop your pieces to their best squares - a lot of positions can be broken down into which pieces belong where and what's the best order to get them there!
2. Great positional moves often work tactically - Qf1 is a good positional move but looks dubious at first glance because g5 could hang if you are not careful. Rg2 as a follow up is very convincing!
3. Exploit weaknesses further - forcing your opponent to make further concessions in his defense will only kill off any counter-attack
4. Basic Housekeeping - a piece in the corner won't be effective - get it involved and make your king safe - it is worth the investment of one move, especially when you're winning!