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Avatar of nonowho

I'm usually a well rounded player but I'm bad at two things

1.) I play too fast

2.) I'm bad at judgement I don't know if it is worth it to trade pieces

Could you please give me sugestions

Avatar of TheGrobe

1.) Slow down

2.) Slow down

Avatar of TheGrobe

Honestly, though, #2 can be a real challenge.  Understanding good vs. bad minor pieces, and when you're able to trade down to an advantageous, even won, endgame would be a good place to start I think.  Sillman's "How to Reassess Your Chess" gets into some of these assessments in a fair amount of detail if you're looking or reading material on the subject.

Avatar of nonowho

thanks!

Avatar of Cystem_Phailure

Regarding trading pieces, I really liked these columns by Dan Heisman (from his monthly Novice Nook column).  They all have to do with evaluating when exchanges of pieces are and are not advisable.  In order that they were written:

A Counting Primer (April 2002)
The Most Important Tactic (December 2003)
Is It Safe? (June 2006)
The Two Types of Counting Problems (April 2007)
Counting Material (December 2010) 

The first one is a must-see, as it introduces the basic ideas of what needs to be considered when examining whether to initiate an exchange or a series of exchanges.  However, it also has an error in the first diagram on page three, and Heisman has the correct diagram here.

The full archive of Heisman's Novice Nook columns, presently chronologically and also grouped by subject, can be accessed here.

Avatar of waffllemaster

Wow, I linked to those articles cystem_Phailure.  Heisman has some excellent stuff.  That should be required reading, linked on the main page or something.

Avatar of blagy

Honestly, I don't know what to say, but for N vs. B, general rule: The Knight is superior in closed positions, the Bishop is superior in open positions.

Avatar of goldendog
blagy wrote:

Honestly, I don't know what to say, but for N vs. B, general rule: The Knight is superior in closed positions, the Bishop is superior in open positions.


Shhhhhhhh...

Avatar of waffllemaster

It really depends on what kinds of bishops they are.  Episcopal, Catholic, etc.

Avatar of Cystem_Phailure
blagy wrote:

Honestly, I don't know what to say, but for N vs. B, general rule: The Knight is superior in closed positions, the Bishop is superior in open positions.


Yes, in a tightly locked up position, a Bishop can be really constrained and not worth very much for quite a few moves into the future.  In that situation, giving up a Bishop to get the other person's Knight may well be advantageous, rather than just an even exchange.  But you need to be able to use the swap to quick advantage, because if the game lasts to the point where the board is much less populated, the other fellow's surviving Bishop pair will become more and more important and powerful against you.

Avatar of Cystem_Phailure
waffllemaster wrote:

Heisman has some excellent stuff.


I really like the Novice Nook column.  It's too basic for better players (hence the name of the column), but for me it's usually just the right depth-- reinforcing some things I know but don't always keep in mind, introducing tips and concepts that are new to me, and discussing ideas and lines at a level of detail that nicely matches what I'm willing to work to follow closely, as least as far as chess is concerned.