Long Trade Exchange Calculations

Hi There. As of now, I've made it to a level where I can say my general understanding of the game is "decent". One thing though I have been heavily struggling with for a while now though, and haven't been able to fix, is how does one calculate long lines with exchanges in succession. I want to know what is the best option when addressing this problem. In the position, I played bishop to h4, and had to calculate the line bishop b5 afterwards. If someone could address how they would go about calculating the succeeding lines, I would be entrhalled. Note: I'm not asking how to find the best moves afterwads, I'm more curiious as to how to keep track of material after so many exhanges

 

Keeping an idea of material after trades is all down to you working out if its good or not, usually I find out in my games they are not good especially when I realise I'm a piece down 😜,

Maybe worth doing puzzles and lessons to improve on that side of things 

As a lower rated player, this information may be valued less but the way I would go about calculating the line Bb5 in this situation is addressing the possible responses. Obviously Qxb5 will be followed by Rxb4 and then possibly Qxb6 (and followed by axb6). The way I would calculate this is by simply seeing what happens upon each capture (example, I take his bishop with the queen and he takes knight with his rook what happens to the material and the position- doubled b pawns but same material traded). Then complete this for each individual calculation (added onto the previous one made- queen captured bishop, rook captured knight and your queen is in a position to trade not in the old position is what I mean) and you will see the final position based on the exchanges. I found that it was useful to draw arrows as I started doing this but as I got more experienced and played in OTB tournaments as well, I slowly gained enough experience to mentally calculate the exchanges (up to 4,5 or 6 pieces traded or exchanged at a time). Hope this helps despite coming from a lower rated player.

This is added as an afterthought but you can also search this up on the internet and there will be videos and threads that may provide you with better or more helpful responses.

Thanks for your advice! All input is helpful regardless of level. For the line you provided:1. Bh4, Bb5 2. Qxb5, Rxd4 3. Qxb6 axb6. If you look closely at that final position, you'll notice that my bishop that is on h4 is hanging because of the rook of d4 after it took the knight! And my bishop on h7 is still hanging as well. Though it is white to move, I will be losing my piece advantage having to give 1 piece away. This position may not be losing, but it is certainly not an easy on to win. If you have the time, I was more curious of this exact line following Bh4. 1. Bh4, Bb5 2. Bxd8!, Bxd3 3. Bxb6, Bxf1 4. Rxf1, and either axb3 or Kxh7 5. And the not taken piece moves to safety. How would you keep track of material then?

@1
"how to keep track of material after so many exhanges"
++ It is a matter of mental organisation and discipline. Identify candidate moves.
Treat these one by one, do not jump between them.
Calculate deep enough: you win by looking one move deeper than your opponent.

Regarding your line of 1.Bh4 Bb5 followed by 2. Bxd8 Bxd3 and 3. Bxb6 Bxf1 and finished with 4. Rxf1 with axb3/Kxh7 the line should be calculated in a similar way to my previous line. First you need to see the pieces position and their position based on their capture and once again add each move. This can be seen with after Bh4 where the bishop attacks the rook, white decides to attack white’s queen with Bb5. We then calculate the long exchange of white taking the rook on d8 (Bxd8) and black taking the queen on d3 (Bxd3). This first capture is easy to calculate, and looked at individually it can be seen as rook for queen. However, as black’s queen is attacked and it is white to play the queen fill fall on b6 (Bxb6) and white will have a rook and a queen for a rook. However, white’s rook on f1 is still in danger and after Bxf1, material count can be seen as equal. All that remains is to calculate the final exchange of Rxf1 or Kxf1 (rook capturing looks better) and black’s recapturing of the bishop on b3 or h7. These individual captures after Bh4 and Bb5 from each player can be calculated by seeing which pieces ar exchanged and of the pieces exchanged are of the same value materially (they are) or positionally (arguably better for white with a rook placed on the f file, depending on which bishop is captured at the end). This way, you can remember the exchanges material wise (if each piece is traded for each other because after the first two moves in the line, each player has captured equal material). Then you simply continue from the position and continue to calculate each trade based on the position. Once again, arrows are helpful but as you gain experience you will be able to calculate this long exchange line (which may not be entered) mentally. Once again, feel free to ask any questions.