CHAPTER 5 ON EXCHANGING Ashort chapter whase purpose is to make clear the possible motives for exchanging In order to show the student the danger lurking in indiscriminate bartering, we propose to enumerate the cases in which an exchange seems to be indicated. If an exchange does not come under one or another of these, itis bad. With the master the process of exchange is almost automatic. He holds files or safeguards his command of a strategically important point, and the opportunity of exchanging drops like ripe fruit into his lap. (See game No. 11, note to the 35th move). In Chapter 1 we analyzed the “exchange with consequent gain of tempo." Again we often exchange in order not to be fore toretire, or to make time-losing defensive moves (liquidation with subsequent development). Both cases are in the last resort to be regarded as tempo combinations, though in fact the question of tempo plays an essential part in every exchange. A salient instance is the exchange of a newly developed piece for one which has wasted several tempi. In the middlegame the tempo motif finds expression when: (1) We exchange in order to seize (or open) a file without loss: of time. A very simple example. In Diagram 61a, White wants to seize (or open) a file in order to be able to give mate on the 8th rank. If to this end he plays 1.Bf3 or 1.Rat, Black would have time to take steps against the mate with 1 ...Kf8 or 1...98. The Proper course is to exchange 1.Bxc6. Black has no time to protect, for he must retake, and this "must" may also be taken in the psychological sense. (2) We destroy a defender by exchanging. We destroy him, because we look on him as a defender. In the previous chapters we have made the acquaintance of defending pieces whose functions varied: pieces which protect a pawn obstructing the read in an open file, pieces which stand by to aid a blockader, and pawns which help to protect an outpost, etc. The destruction of any one of these is in every single Case worth striving for. But by a "defender" we mean something much wider. A Stretch of territory can also be defended, as for instance entry to the 7th rank, or a Possible enemy approach can be warded off, as in game No. 14 where the Ne? ‘protects" the points g4 and f5. Further it is well known that a Knight at f8 defends the whole castled wing (for example, preventing ...Qh4). So, too, in the case of a Centrally posted blockading piece. In the position: White: Nd4, pawns €3, £3, 3, h3. Black: Be7, pawns dS, f7, g7, h7, the attacking radius of the Knight protects and Exchanging 33afeguards for White a wide terrain, so that this Knight | also to be considered a “defender” in our sense. The jie therefore runs: Every defender in the narrower or tider sense of the word must be regarded as an object f our destructive wrath. In Diagram 62 where White ‘ins by a series of exchanges, both kinds of motives re exemplified. A glance at the position reveals a lack Nh2 which has more or less gone astray, and his efender the Bb8. We play 1.exd5 (opening a file tithout loss of tempo), 1...cxd5 2.Re8+ (the Rook at Bis adefender of the 8th rank and must therefore die), Tee tae ..Rxe8 3.Rxe8+ Kh7 4.Rxb8 (the arch defender now alls) 4...Rxb8 5.Kxh2 and wins. (3) We exchange in order not to lose time by retreating. We are here as a rule concerned with a piece which is attacked. If we are faced with the choice whether to withdraw the piece with loss of tempo, or to exchange him for an enemy piece, we choose the latter alternative, especially if we can use to advantage the tempo we have saved ourselves by not withdrawing the piece. The question of tempo must therefore be actual in some form or another. The simplest example would be seen in Diagram 62a. 1.Ne4 a4 2.Rxb6 (to save a tempo) 2...axb6 3.Nxf6 and wins. If a major piece on each side is attacked, we have a special variety of this third case and we call it: (3a) "Selling one’s life as dearly as possible.” In the position: White: Kn2, Qb2, yawns a2, e5,h3. Black: Kb8, Qd6, Nb7, pawn a4, the second player moves 1...a3. Nhite is prepared to exchange Queen for Queen, but if his Queen is really ‘ondemned to death, the wish to sell her lite as dearly as possible is surely very ntelligible. Like the soldier who is hemmed in on all sides, is ready to die, but carries on until his last cartridge is gone, wanting to account for as many enemies aS vossible, to sell his life as expensively as possible, so White plays 2. Qxb7+!, in wder to get at any rate something for the Queen. For some extraordinary reason iuch a commercial investment of the Queen is less intelligible to the beginner than 1 thorough-going heroic sacrifice. The latter is of common occurrence with him though perhaps not the sacrifice of the Queen, since for her he has the most abject espect), whereas the former is quite foreign to him. Yet it is really no sacrifice, of ee My System - 21st Century Editionat worst only a temporary one, and possibly it is in this amalgamation of sacrifice and sober consarvation of material that lies the psychological difficulty under which the beginner succumbs. (4) When and how exchanges usually take place. Lack of space forbids a detailed discussion of this question, and we will only quite shortly point out the following: (a) Simplification is desirable if ws have superiority in material. It follows naturally that exchanging can be used as a weapon to force the opponent from strong positions. (b) When two parties desire the same thing aconflict arises. In chess this conflict takes the form of a battle of exchanges. For instance in Diagram 62b the key point is e4. White protects and overprotects the point with every means in his power. Black seeks to clear it, since a White piece on e4 is an annoyance to the second player because of its attacking radius. In the end it comes to a great slaughter on this point (e4). (e) If we are strong on a file, a simple advance in that file is sufficient to bring about an exchange, for our opponent cannot suffer an invasion of his position, and at worst must seek to weaken it by exchanges. (d) There is a tendency for weak points or weak pawns to be exchanged, one for the other (exchange of prisoners). The following endgame illustrates this. Diagram 63. The game proceeded 31...Ra8 32.Rb3 Rxa2 33.Rxb4. (The weak Pawns at a2 and b4 respectively have been reciprocally exchanged and have disappeared. The same happens to the pawns at d5 and b7). 33...Ra5 34.Rxb7 Rxd5 35:Rb8+! (The simple exploitation of the b-file leads to the desired @xchanges. 35...Qxb8 36.Qxd5+ Kh8. As Dr. Lasker rightly pointed out, it would > Exchanging 55