4/29/2015 Day 31: Development Advantage — 21 Days to Supercharge Your Chess by TheChessWorld.

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Positional Package Day 31: Development Advantage

Day 31: Development Advantage
71% Positional Training Completed

In this lesson we will learn about another very important type of positional advantage, a development advantage.
Many chess players understand that development is a crucial part of the game. However, often they neglect
important development principles and end up being in trouble.

Many players know that the fundamental idea behind any opening is to develop pieces as quickly and
efficiently as possible, putting the king to safety. If players choose to break this rule, and instead of
developing the pieces go for an extra pawn or a quick attack they often have to pay the price. And the price
is high. The least that can happen is they can end up with undeveloped pieces and the king stuck at the
center. It is a gamble, and generally should be avoided.

Now, once we are clear that the development is the main objective of any opening, we should talk about
how you can exploit an inaccurate play of your opponent. This is a very important knowledge for any under-
2200 player, since on that level many chess players do not develop pieces very efficiently and often go for a

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quick pawn or a premature attack.

The Plan            

What should you do if you have a development advantage? This is a fundamental question that we are going
to answer in today’s lesson. Generally speaking, if you have a development advantage you should do the
following:

1. Prevent your opponent from completing development. That can be done by alternating attacks, and
creating threats that need an immediate attention from your opponent.

2. You should play actively and use the development advantage to launch an attack. It may be necessary to
sacrifice material to speed things up. Remember, development advantage is temporary meaning that if
you don’t act quickly to convert it into a more permanent one, it may be gone.

3. if you have a development advantage avoid exchanging pieces. You do not want to decrease you activity
and reduce attacking chances.

Let’s take a look at the following example to learn how the development advantage can be used to win the
game.

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1. d4 f6 2. c4 e6 3.  f3 b6 4. g3 a6

5.  a4 e7 6.  g2 O‐O This is a very solid
line of Queen's Indian Defence. 7.  c3 c6
8.  e5 This is not a very good move. First of all
white break the fundamental opening principle,
which states not to move a piece twice in the
opening. It was probably better to castle. The
point of this move is to prevent black from
playing d7‐d5, because c6‐pawn is weak. e8
A very neat move by black, protecting c6 and
preparing d7‐d5. 9. O‐O d5 10.  e1 What
should black play? b5 An active move by black,
that forces white queen to retreat. 11. cxb5
cxb5 12.  d1 White played multiple passive
moves and black is ready to take the initiative.
b4 Black pushes the pawn to hit the knight and
develops his own pieces. 13.  b1 c6

What did we learn from this game?

1. If you have a development advantage, you need to act quickly and attack, preventing your opponent
from developing his pieces at the same time.

2. When you are attacking, it is a good idea to open more lines: files and diagonals. Both of these can be
used to speed up your attack.

3. The most important idea you have to keep in mind when you have a development advantage is how you
can convert it into a permanent advantage (e.g. extra material).

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4. If you are an attacking side you want to keep the strongest attacking piece on the board – the queen. If
you are a defending side, you should do the opposite.

5. When you have a serious positional advantage you need to start looking for tactics. Remember, tactics
wins games.

Tactics Lab: Homework 31

Instructions:

Here is your practical (tactical) exercises. Solving these problems is a very important part of the program on your
way to improve your game. Try solving them by looking on the diagram. If that is hard you can setup pieces on the
board and attempt again. Solutions are given at the end. Check them only after your complete/attempt all problems.

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#176. Black to move and win

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#177. Black to move and win

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#178. White to move and win

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#179. White to move and win

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#180. Black to move and win

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#181. White to move and win

Hide Solution

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Holmes vs. Vavra
1... h3+ 2. gxh3 f3+ 3.  g1 e1+
4.  h2 xf2#

Endgame Lab: Position 31
Instructions:

Here is your practical (tactical) exercises. Solving these problems is a very important part of the program on your
way to improve your game. Try solving them by looking on the diagram. If that is hard you can setup pieces on the
board and attempt again. Solutions are given at the end. Check them only after your complete/attempt all problems.

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White to move and win

Hide Solution

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White is a pawn up but it's not as easy to win as it

seems. White must play very carefully to convert
his advantage. 1. c6+ White sacrifices one of
queen's side pawns to disallow black from
creating a passed pawn. bxc6+ 2.  e5 Then
black goes ahead to capture the h5 pawn. h4

2...c5 3.  d5 h4 4.  xc5 c7

5.  d5 d7 6.  e4 d6 7.  f5 c5
8.  g4 xc4 9.  xh4 d5 10.  g5
e6 11.  g6

3. c5 White blocks the entrance squares for

black's king. e7 4.  f5 f7 5.  g5
g7 6.  xh4 h6 Black achieved the
opposition, but in this case it is useless because of
the presence of pawns on opposite side of the
board. 7.  g4 g6 8. h4 f6 9. h5 g7

Endgame Trainer
Instructions:

Practice the following endgame position against the computer until you are confident that you can play  it
correctly in actual game. Take your time and go through the exercise more than once if needed to fully understand
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the material. If you have any difficulties please refer to the lesson above.

Hide Practice Position: Day 31

White to move and win:

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Great Job! That's it for today. You can move to the next lesson!

Next Lesson

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