When to exchange queens

The Qe7 move was to protect the f7 space because he was using a modified Parham opening and that is a move that has been recommended to me for that situation.

As for his resignation - I don't understand either! We were playing 30/0. But I will tell you, at my level I run into a lot of people who play the Parham or a version thereof and, because the rely so heavily on their queen, they often resign if she's captured. Because I defended the opening he was apparently trying to regroup and make something work when the exchange took place. Then I forked the king/bishop and that is when he resigned.

Before wondering when to exchange queens, try finding out why you rejected the totally natural 4...Nd4 which is already winning for Black.

White's play is a textbook example on how a noob should not treat the opening.

Well, I am not entirely sure what my choice of icons has to do with my rating. And I have not been a 1000 player "all my life". In fact I only got into chess seriously back in the end of March. So the fact that I am a 1000+ player in just a few months is just fine for me.

As for reposting with "better pieces"...well, seeing as I like the 3D pieces I do think they are "better". Before you preach to me about my handling of this nonsense reread your posts. "Annoying" "awful" were your choice of words. Irrelevant and way off topic.

I see it, thanks.

So, half the OP's threads are about chess etiquette and similar stuff, and here he is insulting people like you only have to show respect over the board? This doesn't make sense. For someone that cares so much about chess etiquette he doesn't seem to care much about general etiquette.

Yeah, he seems to genuinely think that consideration and etiquette are just things that other people need to show to him. If he makes a post and asks for help, the idea that people complaining about his mode of presentation being practically illegible is "irrelevant" and "off-topic" is just bizarre. Maybe he'll find that a lot more people start exercising that "rare privilege of NOT POSTING A COMMENT" with respect to his own posts, the way he's alienating himself.

I must say that, along with evidently a few others, I find the 3-d pieces extraordinarily difficult to follow. I tried clicking along your game when you first posted it but gave up in annoyance when I found myself squinting and having to consciously figure whether the heck I was looking at a bishop, a queen, or the king.

I really wish chess.com had made the choice of chess symbols a viewer-side preference rather than a presenter-side preference. Then we could all just look at the game as we each prefer, and get back to calling each other morons for sensible chess reasons, the way the forums were meant to work :-)

Put your reading glasses on now...I couldn't care less what you think of my "sexist" comments!

Am I the only one thinking 'What an arse!'?

Well, I don't think 4 ... Nd4 is winning for black. White has no white bishop so he simply keeps his pawns on light coloured squares and he isn't worse. When white resigned he was lost, of course. Q e7 was an odd move but not definitely bad considering white's dubious queen position on f3.

Captain, your game is too awful to seriously comment on.  That aside, the fact that so many of the people who viewed this thread disliked the piece style should suggest something to you.  A large part of chess is pattern recognition - being able to glance at a position and see instantly what is going on.  Sure, I can follow the pieces you chose but its not as intuitive as the ones most of the site users use.  Criticise me for that comment if you want but the fact remains - you posted a game you wanted people to look at; why then make it harder for them to visualise?

Well not surprising from someone calling himself, "Captain Jack Aubrey," AKA, the maladjusted Aussie Russell Crowe, AKA, I'm ready to tear this place apart if you look at me funny!

Captain Jack Aubrey was a character in an acclaimed series of maritime novels which were set during the Napoleonic Wars, written by Patrick O'Brian.

As someone who has read and enjoyed every one of them (must be around 18 or so), your attempt to relate them to Russell Crowe (who incidentally is a New Zealander, not an Aussie) is irritating in the extreme.

You should be flogged

Nicely done, Grousey!! There are actually 22 novels but who's counting. I just love it when people like johnmusacha try to be clever and fail in such a terrific fashion. Good on ya, Grousey!

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Thank you for the very kind words about my game. I am so sorry to disappoint you. I see you have been a member of chess.com since 2010. I just began studying, learning and playing seriously in March. I freely confess that I am not good which is why I joined chess.com AND why I posted this thread. To get input, in this case, about exchanging queens. I realize I made some egregious errors in my game. This is why I analyze my games and try to learn from mistakes I have made.

Had I known that so many people would have such a viceral response to the icons I choose to use I certainly would have used different ones. However, for certain people to blather and muse ad nauseum about the icons to the exclusion of any useful comments about the actual subject is a bit ridiculous.

Seeing as joey gave me advice on what I should have done, let me give some...

"Hey CaptJack, the icons you chose for this game can be rather difficult to distinguish. Maybe you could change them next time to make them easier for people to see. Now, as to the question of queening..."

Anyway Plenty, thanks for your advice on my game.

Capt Jack, don't sweat it so much. Getting an unwanted answer to a forum post is as much a part of the internet tradition as, well, Viagra emails.

In all seriousness, though, your original question is a good one. I started playing thinking that everything that came into the line of fire should be taken immediately. It wasn't until later that I started to realize that it was actually good to have or keep lots of pieces because it made it easier to threaten the other guy. The general answer for exchanging queens (or any other piece) is generally to ask - who will be better after an exchange? Sometime an exchange is good because it lets you move another piece into a nice spot as part of the re-capture. Sometimes it's bad because it doubles your pawns, or rips open your castle. Sometimes you want to exchange because the piece he has is the one thing that could really do you damage, like the queen at the head of a Q+B or Q+R battery. Sometimes you want to avoid an exchange because you need the piece for something you have planned yourself, like wanting to preserve your connected rooks so you can threaten his Q or get one close to his king.

So you want to look at what the positions will be after the exchange. You want to see what plans might open up, or what plans might be shut down by an exchange, And ask who gets the better position, and how does it turn out if you start the exchange versus if he starts the exchange.

Hope this helps.

Both parties nominated for comment of the week.

You need to work on basic middlegame plans,... study some classical morphy games a bit 

ps please dont use the 3d pieces they are really distracting for the majority of players 

Captain, if you hadnt been so nasty to so many people I would have been nicer.