Well, a tempo is only worth something if it brings you ahead in development. If you're ahead in development (at least by two pieces), and if the position is not yet open, you should try open it up - especially if his king is still in the middle. Opening up the position is important because in closed positions, being ahead in development doesn't count that much. There's a problem with opening up the position too, for in general, you should not exchange your better developed pieces. Rather try to pry open the position by exchanging pawns. Beware though: After all is said and done, every position has to be judged for itself.
How to profit from tempo-advantage?
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thank you for your answers so far! this is a game i recently played on chess.com. It's only a 10 minute game, but still. After 7 moves i felt that i had a good development advantage, but then started making bad moves and lost in the end. would there have been a better way to continue after the 7th move?
Another example would be this game: after 8 moves i thought my position was much better than black, i had already castled and no light pieces on 1st line. he still had 2 light pieces on 8th line and didnt castle. but still i couldn't profit from it...
Regarding game #1: Well, I'd say you played perfectly until move #10 where I had preferred 10.Nc3. You know that the knight will go to c3, but there are maybe other options for the bishop depending on what he does. It's just a slight inaccuracy, but it went kinda downhill from there (probably because it was a fast game).
Oh, and did you realize that you missed the nice opportunity 12.Bb5+!
Thanks for the analysis!
12. Bb5+ in game 1 would have been a really good move. After ...Bd7 and 13.Rd5 i'd have had a good advantage. Just didnt see that :(
And now i see that in game 2 i made some useless moves...
So i guess the most difficult for me is 1.) keeping up the pressure when i have an advantage and 2.) seeing an opportunity for an attack when it arises.
Is there a promising way to improve in those areas or is it mostly about playing and learning by experience?
Grumpitz wrote:
1.) keeping up the pressure when i have an advantage and 2.) seeing an opportunity for an attack when it arises.
Is there a promising way to improve in those areas or is it mostly about playing and learning by experience?
In Bb5+ a tactic (or threat of tactic) was involved. You simply got to learn to see those, so just one word of advice: tactics training! (oops that were two words ...)
Regarding keeing up the pressure: You always should be on the lookout for moves that do more than just one thing. A real cool move would improve the position of a piece, bolster your defenses and at the same time threaten something. If you find such moves, you will eventually have a position from which a tactic flows (i.e. where he can't parry all of your threats). Here strategy training (like it is e.g. part of chess mentor) should help a lot.
Hey,
i'm playing chess on a regular basis for several years now, but always for fun. i've never been in a chess club. still i want to get better, and at the moment i'm at the point where i try to understand the advantage from tempo.
I know what a tempo is, and also what tempo-advantage means. but in a game, when i have an advantage in piece development or tempo, i just have no idea how to profit from it. my pieces are better positioned, but in most cases it ends in exchanging material and a quite eqaul endgame...
can someone give me advice how to learn to use tempo-advantages properly?
thanks=)