Understanding before Moving 20: Activate your worst piece

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3/28/2021 – Herman Grooten is an International Master, a renowned trainer and the author of several highly acclaimed books about chess training and chess strategy. In the 20th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman shows why it is often a good idea to try to activate your worst piece. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

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The viewer of this video show may have noticed that many of the examples I have shown in this show have to do with the activity (or passivity) of the pieces. This actually brings us to the essence of a good game of chess: placing your own pieces as active as possible while at the same time trying to limit the activity of the opponent's pieces as much as possible.

To make this principle transparent, it is sometimes good to ask yourself which piece is doing (nearly) nothing in your position and how you can bring it into play. After all, the joint activity must lead to the mutual cooperation between the pieces in order to corner the opponent. So let's first look at how two minor pieces can beat a queen by cooperating nicely together.

Can you find the right way to win this position with White?

This week’s show (for Premium Members only)