I like it early in blitz when playing as white and queen side castle is open and d file is open.
Qxd8 KxQ the swap
O-O-O check
Advantage, tempo plus king safety plus rook controls file plus black King loses castle privilege plus black rook (A8) will never get out. I'll take that swap any day.
Can't find pages!! Can't now bring up old chess.com. Looks like I will need more of your nice coffee
"... By playing for an early queen exchange, one is not generally seeking a significant opening advantage, but rather trying to obtain a position in which one hopes to feel more comfortable than one's opponent. If you are a player who enjoys endgames, there a number of lines which result in an early queen exchange, and it makes sense to consider building your repertoire around them. ... [For a line which produces a queenless middlegame, the] theory is unlikely to change radically over time, with the result that relatively little time is required to keep one's theoretical knowledge up to date. ..."- FN Steve Giddins (2003)
It's the first time I see something of the kind: one page of comments (comments one to twenty) with no fewer than FOUR players who are subsequently banned for cheating.
It's the first time I see something of the kind: one page of comments (comments one to twenty) with no fewer than FOUR players who are subsequently banned for cheating.
When you're banned for cheating your comments disappear right? In any case I knew TitanCG. I really don't think he cheated.
On topic to OP, it's pretty simplistic, but one of the first things I look at is pawn structure. If mine is worse, then endgames will probably be difficult, so I'll avoid the queen trade if there's a reasonable way to do it.
If my opponent has a poor structure, and there's no big problem with going into an endgame, then I'll probably trade queens.
Oh, and king safety. If their king has little or no cover, then there's very little risk in keeping the queens on the board... and usually some attacking chances.
Strange - he comments of someone he knew who he thought wasn't cheating - I come back to the thread three days later - he closed his own account! What's going on?
And I never understood why people close their own account. I understand not logging on for a long time - but why close the account?
Two of my recent games, against very strong opposition, both of 'em surprised me with this:
I don't understand this approach from Black. What they aim from this setup?
In fact, one of these games I had a initiative so overwhelming, poor Black had to defend a wretched position for the remaining of the game, doing nothing active.
Is 3...e5 a bad move at all? This utter beginner would like to know...:)
The best reasons to swap queens (when there is no immediate material gain):
Opponent loses castling rights.
Castling is a bit over-rated anyway.
Once the Queens come off, it's no longer quite so urgent to hide your King away in a corner.
they don't like complex positions
queen swaps kill fun
Whole books have been written on when to take a swap and when not to.
The best reasons to swap queens (when there is no immediate material gain):
Opponent loses castling rights.
Opponent has to double pawns.
My queen is in the way of another piece. By swapping I gain tempo.
If your queen is in the center, and mine is on my home row, at the end of the trade, you have one less piece developed than you started with.
My king is not as safe as yours. It's easier to attack a king if you have a queen.
Not as good reason, but still legitimate: Lots of pieces confuse me. I can think better when there are fewer possibilities.
Bad reason, but common, especially in blitz: I can't think of anything good to do. Maybe something will show up after we swap queens.
Another good reason to swap is when your rooks are on open files vs. the opponent's.
When your rooks are more activated, you can swap queens (and bishops) and focus on playing on the lines vs. diagonals.
After much time spent playing in a way where I refuse to swap queens as the game is way less fun, I have come to realize that weak players LOVE it. They LIVE for the thrill of swapping queens and promoting a pawn..they just GAG for it. My highest ranking has been about 1200. Playing higher ratesd, more experienced players, they no longer cream and stalk to queen exchange. It become actual chess. These queen swapping queens are just looking to play a safe game with the thrill of gaining an advantage. Its boring and cowardly which is what the majority of people on this planet are which is why it's such a loved tactic by many.
Well, I do it a lot in blitz because I blunder so much. I figure that at least this way I'm making sure not to give her up for free :)
But that's just the last of my reasons. If I can think of a good reason to keep or trade the queen, then I do that. If it seems the same either way, goodbye queens.
Blitz is a battle of instincts and what you already know. To get better you need to analyze your games and especially play slower games so you could forge your safety checks into insticts (i.e., naturally not hang stuff or concede major positional concessions like instinctually preventing a Ne6 outpost by our opponent or easily exploited backward pawn on an open file).