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Questions tagged [strategy]

Questions relating to reasoning behind a move, plan, or idea

561 questions
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Should you always try your best (play as if your opponent is a grandmaster)?

Should you always play with your "best" skills no matter how (un)skilled your opponent is? Is there a situation where intentionally not playing to the best of your abilities is a good strategy? Like, let's say you're playing against a chess noob.…
clickbait
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How can one get the best possible result against a player of very different strength?

I (about a 1500 player) once took White against a 2100 player, and played a Queen's Gambit. I lost of course, but the other player complimented my play. He said, "You played well for about 20 moves, and made a small mistake on the 21st, which I took…
Tom Au
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Why is the centre of the board considered important in chess?

Yes, we have all heard phrases like 'control the centre'. I would like to know the concrete reason why the centre of the board - in particular the 4 squares - e4, e5, d4, d5, are considered important in chess. What makes them different from any…
guru
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What is the best strategy for white in this position?

1n3r2/q4pbk/3p2pp/r1pPp3/1pB1P3/1P2BP2/2PQ2PP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 1 I was white in the diagram position in an OTB game I played recently. However, I couldn't find a satisfactory plan. Playing f4 is always tricky because it vacates the e5 square for the…
postnubilaphoebus
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Any tricks to defeat artificial intelligences?

I've been playing a lot against an old build of Chess Free on Android the other day and noted that the AI almost always chooses the safest course of play, boringly eeking out positional advantages. If you play at its pace and react to it your games…
Quibblesome
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What fundamental mistakes were made in my game that slowly turned in to a loss?

I have trouble seeing what fundamental mistakes I made during this FIDE rated game I played today. I played as white. The game was analyzed without an engine with people at the tournament were we discussed various variations and what me and my…
ludz
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Why is Kh8 the best move in this position for black?

Why is, according to Stockfish (depth = 28), Kh8 the best move here for black? This is a position from a game between Emanuel Lasker and Wilhelm Steinitz, 1896. Nb6 seems to be the natural move in this position. At least to me (an intermediate…
Srijannath
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Why do players attack one apparently unimportant square?

I've noticed one thing players tend to do in chess is concentrate on building up pressure on one square. I can understand early in the game if it's a central square like d4 or e5 and the king is central, but for example what about this game:…
Jez
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What is 'control?'

One of the important factors to take into account is 'control' of squares, ranks, files and diagonals. But what exactly, does it mean when we say that a player 'controls' space? The reason I ask is that many, many times, I have seen commentators…
Dave H
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How can I prevent games from dragging on?

How can I prevent a game from dragging on, taking 60+ moves to get anywhere near finishing? I mainly encounter this when playing people at or below my level (~1400). This never happens when playing someone better. I recall reading somewhere that…
Sonny Ordell
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How do strong players think during a game?

What is the best chess technique? I mean, how do World Champions think in a game? What happens in their minds? Do they think of their moves in advance or they just know what to move because they have practiced a lot? I ask this because I've seen…
Axx
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What counter-measures for cheating exist?

Given how huge an advantage real-time external feedback to a player during championship games would give the player, do any of the major chess championships deploy counter-measures to prevent the same sort of cheats you might expect to find at a…
blunders
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What are the techniques one can use to for chess board?

What are the techniques one can use to keep all pieces on a board ? It is like an n-queen problem Is it a combination of n-queen
user1387
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Can't apply strategical knowledge in tournament games

I'm currently in a tournament and I'm losing terribly. The problem is that I never implement the strategic things I learned in books (reassess your chess, my system, etc...) I just calculate some random moves and hope my opponent blunders which he…
Maximilian Wittmer
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Why is Black much better here?

The material is equal in the position below: I don't see any isolated pawns, or doubled pawns that could be a problem. Both players have their Bishop pair. Playing a few engine moves doesn't really seem to get any material or positional…
FluidMechanics Potential Flows
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