Master Chess 7. How to Win Better Chess Positions - Lars Bo Hansen, 2015.pdf

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HOW TO WIN BETTER POSITIONS

Lars Bo Hansen

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Master Chess

Lesson 7

Series Editor: WIM Jen Hansen

Table of Contents

Introduction

An example to get started

The psychology of winning better positions

Ten principles for winning better positions

Principle 1:

Principle 2:

Principle 3:

Principle 4:

Principle 5:

Principle 6:

Principle 7:

Principle 8:

Principle 9:

Principle 10:

The ten principles in action

Exercises

EXERCISE 1

EXERCISE 2

EXERCISE 3

EXERCISE 4

Tips for self-improvement

Master another chess topic

Introduction

There is nothing a chess player enjoys more than having an advantage coming out of the

opening. But turning that advantage into a win is not an easy task. The drawing range in

chess is quite broad, and just because you sit on an advantage does not guarantee a point.

This lesson will help you turn more of your better positions into wins on the score board.

I am not talking about how to win

winning

positions, but just

better

positions. There is an

important distinction here that some players tend to confuse. When you have a

winning

position – often referred to as having a decisive advantage – you will win the game no

matter how your opponent defends – as long as you don’t mess it up. Your advantage is

decisive even against best defense. Even Carlsen, Kasparov or Houdini (the computer) cannot

escape without your “help”. Sure, the game is not over and your opponent will try his best

to complicate matters and set traps, but if you stay on target and don’t fall for his tricks,

there is nothing he can do. To win winning positions is an important skill, but not our focus

in this Master Chess Lesson.

Instead, we will focus on how to win

better but not winning

positions. These are positions

where you have a small or even clear advantage, but your advantage is not decisive. It is

important to realize that

with perfect defense by your opponent, you will not win the game.

With best play from both sides, the game will end in a draw; the position is still within the

drawing range.

In the old days, chess players used the symbols invented by Chess Informant to evaluate a

position. For example,

indicates that White has a slight advantage whereas

means a

clear advantage for White (the symbols are upside down if Black has the advantage). These

days, we are using computer evaluations instead, measured in “pawns”.

It takes an advantage of about 1.5 pawns for a position to be evaluated as winning – the

advantage is decisive even against best defense. Below that, the game is still within the

drawing range.

Chess players love talking about advantages. “The computer gives me an advantage of +0.4

here” or “I was clearly better after the opening” are phrases you will often hear at a

tournament venue. But what does that actually mean? In my view, it is often more practical

to think of advantage as “wider margin of error”.

Having an advantage is important because the side who has an advantage has a wider margin

of error than the opponent.

For example, if you have an advantage of say, +1.1, you can afford to make a mistake or two

and the evaluation will drop to e.g. -0.3. Both +1.1 and -0.3 are within the drawing range, so

the final result of the game will (theoretically) not change. But if your opponent, who started

out in this example with a -1.1

disadvantage

makes a mistake, the evaluation may suddenly

change to +1.6 for you – and your advantage is now decisive.

This lesson is about how you can increase your chances of an advantage growing from

merely “small” or “clear” to “winning”. We begin by considering a typical example of this

Master Chess 7. How to Win Better Chess Positions - Lars Bo Hansen, 2015.pdf

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