In such situations, experienced players start maneuvering and seemingly shuffling the pieces back and forth, trying out different ideas on the board.
When playing an endgame position "for two results" (a win or a draw) it often makes sense not to force matters. I won't be going over the concept itself since it deserves a separate article and will instead focus on the part directly related to the art of passing the move to the opponent in the best possible way.ĭefending is usually more complex and less pleasant than attacking. It is not unheard-of people to make weakening moves in such cases, changing their position from bad to worse.Īnother notable example is the famous "do not rush" principle that is widely used in converting better endgames.
In this sense, wanting to win too much can be detrimental.Ī more sophisticated player, however, calmly makes common sense moves, building up the position and putting the burden of choice on the sweating opponent, for whom it could be pretty difficult to decide how to try to improve his inferior position. Quite often, it leads to time trouble and self-destruction, such as going for an incorrect tactical sequence.
Usually, in such cases, the opponent's reply is more or less forced, so they shrug and defend against the threat, making the attacker ponder his next step once again. Inexperienced attackers typically waste a lot of time in such situations and then end up making the most direct continuations, creating obvious one or two-move threats, such as taking a piece or giving checkmate. Your position is a tad better, but there are no knockout tactical blows just yet.
Naturally, there are way more of them than that, but we have to start with something.
Hence, the more challenges your opponent faces during the game, the more likely he is to crack up under pressure eventually.Įven though chess is a concrete game, let me offer you two typical examples of when this tip could prove quite handy. The longer and the more complicated the game, the more exhausted a person becomes.