Understanding before Moving 30: To exchange or not to exchange (2)

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6/6/2021 – 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 30th instalment of his ChessBase show "Understanding before Moving", Herman continues to talk about the right exchange. | Photo: Tommy Grooten

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To exchange or not to exchange?

In the previous episode of the show, we started to talk about the right exchange. Which pieces should I keep on the board, which pieces should I exchange? And which of my opponents' pieces are potentially dangerous and can I try to exchange them?

Here, we can learn a lot from the games of great masters. In the last episode we looked at a game by Tigran Petrosian, in which the 9th World Champion showed us what we should pay attention to when considering which pieces to exchange.

Here's another example from the games of Petrosian. In the diagram position, Black seems to have no problems in the King's Indian Defense: White's black-squared bishop has been chased to g3 and Black has managed to bring his knight to f4. In addition, he is ready to free his game with ... f7-f5. However, why did Petrosian like this position? What would you play with White and why?

This week’s show (for Premium Members only)