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

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)

Links

• More videos...
• Understanding before moving 1: How to design a concept in the opening
• Understanding before moving 2: How to improve the activity of my pieces
• Understanding before moving 3: Queen in the corner
• Understanding before moving 4: King in the box
• Understanding before moving 5: Locked up pieces
• Understanding before moving 6: Paralyzed
• Understanding before moving 7: Divided in two - Part 1
• Understanding before moving 8: Divided in two - Part 2
• Understanding before moving 9: Hunting the king - Part 1
• Understanding before moving 10: Hunting the king - Part 2
• Understanding before moving 11: Pattern Recognition
• Understanding before moving 12: Advantage in Development
• Understanding before moving 13: Compensation
• Understanding before moving 14: Smoking the king out
• Understanding before moving 15: Knight on the Rim
• Understanding before moving 16: Limiting the opponent’s activity
• Understanding before moving 17: The Panno knight
• Understanding before Moving 18: The bad bishop
• Understanding before Moving 19: The rook lift
• Understanding before Moving 20: Activate your worst piece
• Understanding before Moving 21: Strong knight vs bad bishop (1)
• Understanding before Moving 22: Strong knight vs bad bishop (2)
• Understanding before Moving 23: "V" stands for Victory!
• Understanding before Moving 24: Strategic Thinking
• Understanding before Moving 25: The "Strategic Thinking Protocol"
• Understanding before Moving 26: Cooperation between queen and bishop
• Understanding before Moving 27: A "multi-stage" plan
• Understanding before Moving 28: A curious endgame
• Understanding before Moving 29: To exchange or not to exchange
• Herman Grooten - An interview with a chess authority