What constitutes development?

Is it time to revisit what constitutes “development”? How many players would regard moving a Knight away from the center as a developing move, yet isn't it obvious that in the move sequence Nf3/Ne1/Nd3 that Ne1 is a developing move? How else does the Knight get to the d3 square which is stronger than the f3 square? Consider the Two Knights' Defense and the following variation: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4 6.c3 b5 7.Bf1 (If you were to assign a value to development, this would be a -1 i.e. returning a piece to its original square.7...Nxd5 8.Ne4 Ne6 = While ECO may indicate this is +/=, it is dead equal simply because of the great Black Knights. When we consider that Black has spent 5 tempos to get his Knights' to great squares, it is not surprising that Black has full compensation for the pawn.

By the same token, the move sequence Nf3/Ng5/Ne4 gains three tempos, but the move sequence Nf3/Ng5/Ne4/Ng3 only gains two tempos because White can get to the g3 square in two moves i.e. Ne2/Ng3. Again, if we were to assign a numerical value to the sequence Ne4/Ng3 it is worth -1.

What I'd like to do now is provide a more sophisticated example of development based on a game I played against Houdini 3. Moody-Houdini 3, Match 2013, Game 1: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.Bc4!? (While technically this is not a Novelty, it is practically unknown; White anticipates an exchange sacrifice on f3 so the retreat Be2 dulls the effectiveness of that sacrifice:

6...Na5?! (Houdini tries to con me into winning the exchange: 7.Nf7? Qe8 9.Nxh8 Nxc4 =/+) 7.Bd3! (White demonstrates that the Knight on a5 is misplaced; White holds the e4 pawn in anticipation of h6/Nf3/Nxe4) d6 8.Nc3 h6 9.Nf3 Be6 10.Be2! Nc6 (There is nothing better. From the above examples the reader will readily assign a value of -1 to this move, but the move sequence Bd3/Be2 is worth 0 because White can reach d3 or e2 in one move.

11.d3 +/=a7 12.Na4! (Not to attack the Bishop so much; the main reason is to free the c-pawn) 12...Ba7 13.O-O Kf7 14.h3 Rf8 15.b3! (To free b2 for the Knight) 15...Kg8 (Look how many tempos Black lost by castling by hand) 16.Be3! Bd4?! 17.c3! (Houdini doesn't like this move) Bxe3 18.fxe3 b5 19.Nb2 d5! (Houdini “knows” it has to attack, yet this straightens out White's pawns) 20.exd5 Nxd5 21.Qc1 (Holding c3 and e3 and not blocking the d-file) Qd6 22.Nd1 Rab8 23.c4 bxc4 24.bxc4 Nf6 25.Nf2 Qc5 26.Rd1 (Preparing d4) Qa5 27.Rd2 Bf5 28.d4! e4 29.Nh2! Kh8 30.Nf1! Qb4 31.Nd1! Qd6 32.c5 Qe7 33.Rb2 Rxb2 34.Qxb2 Nd5? (This is a programming error; Houdini should force me to win the a-pawn, not just give it away for nothing.) 35.Bxa6 +- (The threat is Bishop retreat, a4/a5/a6, but this is over the computer's horizon so it thinks that other moves give White a lesser advantage; in a game between GM's the phrase you will hear is that, “White's pressure nets him a pawn.”)

Now that White has a clear edge, the Knights' will go on the offensive. Unfortunately I made a series of fatigue errors and lost, but this does not alter the fact that White gained ground the entire middlegame primarily because of his Knight maneuvers.

Most moves I made between 11.d3 to 35.Bxa6 are developing moves as I define development, but most moves by Black showed Black treading water. Over the span of 20 moves we see the White advantage steadily increasing from +/= to +-.

A practical way to think of development is in terms of the Queen. If I play Qe2/Qf3, this gains only one tempo because White can play Qf3 in one move; however, Qe2/Qe3 gains two tempos because it takes a minimum of two moves for Queen to get to e3. If there are no obvious tactics then Qe3 is to be preferred over Qf3 because it gains a tempo.

The last idea about development that should be considered is that if you have a choice between capturing two pieces e.g. Black Bishop on e7, Black Knight on d6 and a White Knight on f5, then Nxd6 is to be preferred because it took multiple moves for the Knight to get to d6, while it takes the Bishop only one tempo to get to e7. Think of it this way: When you capture a piece that has moved multiple times, you are “gaining” the time it took for your opponent to get the piece to that square.