"Now I have the pawn and the compensation." --Roman Dzindzichashvili
- Material refers to the pieces and pawns on the board.
- Usually, if you have extra material, you have good chances to win
- We have a rough rule to work out who is ahead in material: a Knight or Bishop is worth about 3 Pawns; a Rook, 5 pawns; and a Queen, 9.
- So, losing a Queen for Rook, Bishop and Pawn is actually about equal.
- Likewise, losing a Rook for Knight and two Pawns is also about equal.
- And winning two Rooks for a Queen is usually worth it.
- "Usually." Sometimes you can give up a Rook for a Knight or Bishop, when you sacrifice the Exchange, and stand better. The advantages that you get in return are called compensation.
- There are also times when the Queen can outrun badly coordinated Rooks, or a Bishop or a Knight with a Pawn (or even without) can dominate a Rook. Part of the skill of top chess players is recognising when a position is not going to suit some pieces and will suit others. (Ljublinsky-Botvinnik)
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "Moscow URS Ch"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1943.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ljublinsky Victor (RUS)"]
[Black "Botvinnik, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C60"]
[Annotator "material imbalance: R v B"]
[PlyCount "106"]
[EventDate "1943.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Bxc6 bxc6 6. Nc3 d6 7. d4 Nd7 8.
dxe5 dxe5 9. O-O Bd6 10. Ne2 O-O 11. Ng3 Rb8 12. b3 Re8 13. Be3 g6 14. c3 a5
15. Qc2 Qe7 16. Rfd1 Nc5 17. Ne1 Ne6 18. Nd3 Nf4 19. f3 Ba6 20. c4 c5 21. Qd2
Nxd3 22. Qxd3 Red8 23. Ne2 c6 24. Nc3 Bc7 25. Qc2 {[#]} Rd4 26. Ne2 $2 (26.
Bxd4 cxd4 27. Na4 c5 28. Nb2 {and with Nd3 White achieves an ideal blockading
position.}) 26... Bc8 27. Nxd4 cxd4 28. Bf2 c5 29. Rf1 f5 {[#] The Rooks have
no open files, while the Bishops give the King a Hard Stare. The d-Pawn is
also a constant danger.} 30. Bg3 Bd7 31. Rad1 f4 32. Bf2 g5 33. g4 $2 {perhaps
White intends to seal the King's-side, but of course Black does not permit
this.} (33. a3 {and opening a file on the Queen's-side is essential}) 33...
fxg3 34. Bxg3 Bh3 35. Rf2 h5 36. Rfd2 h4 37. Bf2 Rf8 38. Rd3 Rf4 39. Kh1 Kh7
40. Rg1 Bd8 41. Qe2 Qf7 42. Qd1 Qh5 {[#]} 43. Be3 Qxf3+ 44. Qxf3 Rxf3 45. Bxg5
Rxd3 46. Bxd8 Re3 47. Bb6 Rxe4 48. Bxc5 Re2 49. Rd1 Bg4 50. h3 Bxh3 51. b4 Bf5
52. Bd6 d3 53. bxa5 h3 {0-1 (53) Liublinsky,V-Botvinnik,M Moscow 1943 EXT 2012
[Botvinnik,M]} 0-1