prioritising chess imbalances?

Sort:
Tom_Hindle

Does anybody know any patterns to prioritise the silman imbalances to... what I mean is I can notice the imbalances like it‘s second nature but how do you learn which imbalances to drop and which to keep?

TheGreatOogieBoogie

Look at the center, what plans are there?  What is the opponent trying to do?  There are two situations when you need to stop the opponent's plan:

1.If it's faster than yours and gets something real out of it.

1a.It's okay to allow the opponent to go along with their plan if you're setting up an ambush, just make sure to blunder check first (LeMoir's Deadly Chess Tactician book addresses this).  However, it isn't always appropriate and sometimes you just have to stop what they're doing.

2.You don't know what to do otherwise.

Pawn structure is an imbalance and a broken structure like doubled pawns is bad, right?  Not always since piece activity compensates weaknesses and even doubled isolated pawns can restrict an opponent's activity (especially central pawns).  I can think of two examples off the top of my head (a game from Dvoretsky's School of Chess Excellence 3: Strategy and an Anand-Nakamura game I studied both had these theme)

Piece activity also compensates weaknesses.  Basically the imbalances that should be prioritized are those you can immediately convert into a better position gradually transposing into a better ending.  This is where technique comes into play, instead of accumulating advantages you're trying to convert them. 

Tom_Hindle

so you're saying to choose by: speed at which an imbalance pays off, how damaging & how solid a tactic? if so what if tactic A is quickest B is most crippling and C is less likely to backfire? & when you said about just stopping their plans but then you get forced into a passive & cramped position

rtr1129

Study master games. Take notice of which imbalances are most important in which situations. Soltis says this is one of the keys to being a strong player: "knowing the most important thing". That's basically what you are asking, "how do I know what the most important thing is?", right?

Tom_Hindle

yeah but every position is different so I couldn't go through GM games & find the main imbalance in an infinite number of positions

rtr1129

Learning the imbalances is like someone giving you a map. It's only the beginning. You still have to learn how to make it over those mountains and through the swamp without drowning. There is no quick fix for that part.

Your only options are studying master games on your own, or getting a coach. A coach will save you many, many hours. Some people think they can't afford a coach, but I think it's very wasteful to spend 20 hours per week studying the wrong thing for tiny ELO gains.

If you want to study master games on your own, keep track of all imbalances through the whole game, see how the master uses the imbalances, and how they change throughout the game. After a while you will see patterns, the same imbalances and the same kinds of plans. If you know the right plan and your opponent does not, you win (unless you blunder). There is no quick path.