Q&A #1 With NM Christopher Pace

Hello everyone,

For a while now, I have been contributing to over-the-board chess tournaments in live chess hosted by chess.com. I love giving commentary to chess.com members and I have had great feedback.

Therefore, today, I thought I would start my first Q&A session with you all. Feel free to ask me any chess-related questions, or even show a game that you would like feedback on and I will gladly try and help as best as I can.

I also like having input from all chess.com members when analyzing games, so feel free to comment where you feel you want to give input.(the idea of working together to find good candidate moves when analyzing games and finding what is logical)

Thanks,

Christopher Pace 

Hi Chris, could you explain to me why players might trade Rooks for Bishops/Knights sometimes? I notice strong (Titled) players doing this and not caring if they lose it. Is the whole point to weaken the Bishop/Knight's position?

Also, can you explain "waiting moves?"

And lastly, what does an NM have compared to a 1800-2000 player? What do you feel/think about as you're playing, what's your mindset going into a game to be able to make accurate moves and find tactics? How do you know what's more accurate than other moves? 

1. e4 d6 2. f4 e6 3. Nf3 f6 4. Nc3 e55. f5 g6 6. g4 The move g4 is interesting since it keeps the pawn structure fixed and opens up the g-file if black captures on f5 with gxf5. However, after g4 I was thinking black could counter-attack with h5. By no means is black's opening good, but I think h5 is the best move in this situation. 6... gxf5 (6... h5 7. gxh5 ( 7. h3 hxg4 So h3 would only help black after hxg4, where the rook on a1 is pinned and will be taken if hxg4 Rxa1. Otherwise, whites pawns will fall since after the knight on f3 moves anywhere, then gxf5 exf5 Bxf5  ) 7... gxf5 8. Nh4 Ne7 9. exf5Nxf5 10. Ng6 Rh7 11. Nxf8 Kxf8 )7. gxf5 h5 8. Bc4 Excellent move! Moving the bishop to a central square, eyeing the c4-g8 diagonal, and adding more pressure to d5 in preparation for a d5 break by black. 8... c6 Preparing a future d5 break. 9. Bb3 h4 10. h3 Qd7 11. d3 Qg7Threatens the white king from the inability castle with Qg3+ 12. Rg1 Attacks the enemy queen, gets rid of blacks threat of Qg3+ and controls the g-file. 12... Qc713. Bd2 The last minor piece is developed. Be3 may have been a slight improvement during the game to develop towards the center and maybe open the center with d4 in the future. 13... Bd7 14. Rg4! Attacks the h4 pawn with rook and knight. 14... Nh615. Rxh4 Na6 16. a3 Gives some room to play Ba2 in the event of Nc5, trying to trade pieces. 16... Nc5 17. Ba2 O-O-O A logical choice trying to keep the king safe and not in the center where it will be vulnerable to attack. 18. Qc1!! Rg8 Stopping Rg2. However, Bxh6 was I believe a bit better in the line because this gives black the choice of doing Nxf5 exf5 Bxf5 trying to get something because the knight's death is inevitable. 19. Kf2 ( 19. Bxh6 Bxh620. Qxh6 ( 20. Qxh6 It is important to note white plans on playing Qxf6 and the rook on g8 is also under fire from the B on b3. 20... Rh8 21. Qxf6 ) ) 19... d5 (19... Nxf5 20. exf5 Bxf5 Black's knight was lost anyway so playing Nxf5 exf5 Bxf5 would have been a better choice instead of d5. Black would be able to get 2 pawns instead of losing the piece for nothing in return.  ) 20. Bxh6 dxe4 21. Nxe4 Bxf522. Bxg8 Bxe4 23. dxe4 Nxe4+24. Rxe4 Bc5+ 25. Be3 A good defensive move! Forcing black to trade bishops. Note: In positions where you are winning by pieces, it is a good idea to trade down pieces to make it easier to win. The B on g8 is lost anyway in this position because of Rxg8, but because black played Bc5+, Be3 is a good move to trade more pieces and simplify! 25... Bxe3+ 26. Qxe3 Rxg827. Rd1 Controlling the d-file. 27... Qg728. Rg4! Taking away blacks threat of Qg2+ Ke1 Qh1+ Kd2 Rg2+ Kd3 Rxd1+ 28... Qh729. Rxg8+ Qxg8 30. Qxa7! Qa8+ and mate on d8 is too strong a threat for white here and black is forced to give up his queen or get mated. 30... Qc4 31. Qa8+ Kc732. Qd8# And white finishes black off with a nice checkmate on d8. Well done! Black had trouble stirring up an attack and making 

@Phildamasta,

Well it depends on the position at hand. Let me find a position for you with a player going down the exchange to win the match.

Usually, when a rook is sacrificed for a bishop or knight, it has to do with achieving a better pawn structure, or being able to find a 5+ move combo, or because the knight or bishop that is being taken was a superior piece than the rook.

To make things easier, I am going to find a chess game for you that best illustrates the reason why people will go down the exchange and will post it for you in the next comment. (by exchange I do NOT mean trade, I mean sacrificing a rook for a knight or bishop, or sacrificing a queen for a rook)

@phildamasta

Here is an excellent article I was just reading by WIM Energia. Those are great examples of the power of sacrifices. (going down the exchange)

http://www.chess.com/article/view/power-of-exchange-sacrifices

I do not know how to paste these games into here with the board and commentary on the side. Maybe you know?
 

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1096665510 what did i do wrong besides the missed mate at the end (it was 1 0)

This might be a bit ambitious, but how do I become labeled a "chess master."  Any title will do.. national, grand, etc (I don't know the difference to be honest lol).  I've been studying a lot rather than playing, but I think if I do start playing again I can break the 2000 barrier (at least by chess.com standards).

Hey Christopher, I am a chess expert, early 2000s USCF. Here on chess.com my tactic hovers from 1900 to 2000s and rarely the 2100. I really want to get good at tactics how do i go about doing this, any recommendations?