Embrace Equality: Why Equal Positions Are the Key to Real Chess Improvement

NM NMChessToImpress

Dec 21, 2025, 7:46 AM | 6

Hey Impressive Chessers!

In a strange change of tact, today’s blog is going to be all about me! Okay… I’m kidding... Kind of.

What this blog is really about is one of my biggest weaknesses (especially in the past) and one that I see in a huge number of students as well: fearing equality.

In a previous blog: Embrace the Draw, For the Win, I talked about a mindset I called embrace the draw. In hindsight, embrace equality, for the win is probably the better name. We took a look back at my older games, you can clearly see my style at the time: recklessly aggressive, often even with Black. Why? Because I was absolutely petrified of being in an equal position. Equal felt boring. Equal felt risky. Equal felt like I could lose on my own merit.

And that’s exactly why equal positions scare us...

Why Equal Positions Scare Us (Especially Adult Players)

Let’s talk about something most chess players won’t admit out loud: equal positions are uncomfortable.

For many adult players, an equal position feels worse than being slightly worse. At least when you’re worse, you know what you’re doing: defending, counterpunching, hoping for a mistake. And when you’re better, the plan is usually clear. But in equal positions, there’s no script.

That’s where the fear creeps in.

In an equal position, every move is a choice, not a reaction. There’s no forcing line to follow, no obvious target to attack, and no built-in excuse if things go wrong. If the game slips away, it’s hard to blame opening prep, a tricky gambit, or “one bad move.” The position was fair and that makes the outcome feel personal.

Adults feel this more than kids. Us adults are used to being competent in real life. We don’t like situations where the margin for error is thin and the feedback is immediate. Equal positions demand patience, restraint, and giving oneself the grace to occasionally mess up.

This is also why gambits and sharp imbalances are so tempting. Even when they’re objectively worse, they offer clarity. They externalize responsibility. If it fails, well, I was down a pawn. Equal positions don’t offer that escape hatch.

Almost all of my students, at least at the beginning, come to me playing gambits and/or extremely risky openings. That’s not always a bad thing. For example, Fabiano Caruana has taken up the King’s Indian Defense, an aggressive choice against 1.d4, and it’s certainly not because he fears equality.

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And before I get too high and mighty, I did the exact same thing. Any opening line that was equal and “boring,” I felt the need to find something outrageous to fight it. Not because it was best but because it felt safer.

Equal positions also reveal uncomfortable truths: time management issues, difficulty evaluating non-forcing moves, and a tendency to break tension just to “do something.” When players say, “I don’t know what to do,” what they often mean is, “I don’t want to sit with uncertainty; in equality.”

But this is also where real improvement lives.

Strong players don’t fear equal positions, they welcome them. Not because they expect an immediate advantage, but because they trust their process: improving pieces, keeping options open, and creating problems without forcing them. They understand that equal doesn’t mean nothing is happening. It means the game hasn’t chosen sides yet.

If you find yourself uncomfortable in equal positions, you don’t have to see that as a weakness. You can reframe it as a sign that you’re standing at the door of a higher level of chess. The goal isn’t to avoid equality. The goal is to learn how to play from it without panicking.

Because once you stop fearing equal positions, hope chess quietly disappears and real chess takes its place.

And yes, we’d all love to play games that end as beautifully as:

But remember how that masterpiece started?

A symmetrical Tarrasch.
Not exactly known for its swashbuckling nature.

Equality didn’t kill this immortal game.
It made it possible.

Check out my YouTube Video for more on Rubinstein's Immortal Game

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Conclusion: Choosing the Harder, Better Path

Equality isn’t the enemy. Avoiding it is.

Most of us don’t fear equal positions because they’re bad. We fear them because they demand patience, accountability, and trust in our decision-making. There’s no shortcut, no tactical bailout, and no ready-made excuse. Just chess.

And that’s exactly why equal positions are so powerful.

They force us to slow down, manage the clock, keep the tension, and make plans that aren’t based on hope or desperation. They expose weaknesses, yes, but they also build the skills that actually transfer from game to game. This is where chess players stop relying on tricks and start relying on understanding.

Rubinstein didn’t create his immortal game by avoiding equality. He embraced it. He allowed the position to stay balanced until it was ready to tip, then he struck with precision. That’s not flashy chess. That’s confident chess.

So the next time you reach an equal position and feel that familiar urge to “do something,” take a breath. Improve a piece. Keep options open. Let the game breathe. Equality isn’t asking you to gamble, it’s asking you to play.

And by the way, embracing equality is not easy. As I stated earlier, it's often an uncomfortable thing to do. If it was easy, everyone would be some kind of master and chess wouldn't be the fun game that is. A big reason that chess is fun, is that we (or our opponent) could play a losing move in a totally equal position. Remind yourself that equality and the uncertainty that comes with it, equals fun and excitement.

And when you can embrace equality without panic, without forcing, and without hope chess,
that’s when you're playing impressive chess!

…Stay impressive!
OLM/NM Craig C.
linktr.ee/ChessToImpress

Before you go, I’d love to hear from you.

Do you feel uncomfortable in equal positions? If so, what usually triggers it? Time trouble, fear of making the “wrong” move, or the urge to force something that isn’t there yet? And has your approach to equality changed as you’ve improved?

Drop your thoughts in the comments. Chances are, someone else is struggling with the exact same thing! Your experience might be the nudge they need to start embracing equality instead of running from it.