how to improve at strategy?

99% of the times I end up in a (computer) won position after the opening but constantly I throw pretty bad. As example here

Any tip?

@prettytrash1234 said in #1:

99% of the times I end up in a (computer) won position after the opening but constantly I throw pretty bad. As example here

I got a won position not once but twice but failed to find the winning idea. I do puzzle everyday and have approx 2200 in it but seems that no matter what I do I always end up with the same mistakes.

Any tip?

Crappy Game . always question marks..

Try to do a bunch of mate in 4 and mate in 5 puzzles... I think you need to hone your piece coordination to maximize pressure on your opponents weaknesses. Go after the king in a coordinated way and get the win. There were plenty of opportunities in that game to bring your opponent to their knees... you seemed to miss the pressure points in their defense and your pieces were not working together very well. Remember that sometimes it takes 3, 4, 5 pieces to orchestrate a devasting attack... yeah, sometimes you can do a number on your opponent with just a queen/knight combo... sometimes but usually not.

Also don't trade off your strongest pieces without considerable compensation.

It comes down to experience. Gather as many chunks as possible and let your brain compose.

Why did you take a pinned piece?

I think you played well, strategically. The opening was good even though white didn't play it right, but you took advantage. 13.. e4 looked strange at first but I don't think d4 offered much, he was practically forced to castle queenside that way. Bringing the knight to c5 was great even though white probably should have traded pieces there. I bet b4 was a blunder.

Also, although you had the better position and attacked white the whole time, white still had a lot to play for. After going down the exchange white's king was very safe and the pawns were well defended on both sides of the board.

You just got tired in the end and played one bad move. 42.. Rxe3 is totally safe because you have Qf8, but probably white gets checkmated either way if he tries some Qh6 or Rh1. Anyway, you would know that from the engine.

You played well strategically, it was tactics that decided the game.

When you talk strategy, you talk about controlling key squares. For instance, check at 26 b4.

At this point, you are -2.7, and im not doing an engine analysis, im just looking at the board in another window to not go back and forth, right there it tells me you are winning.

If you see closely, your opponent does NOT have the lightsquare bishop, and all his kingside has pawns on dark squares. A principle of chess says that if you have a bishop of x color, you put your pawns on the opposite color right? He didnt. So how do you punish him? You control the lightsquares. And as you can see, b3 does not need a piece there, you already have control of it. The moment you land on that square, of course he captures, he relieves the pressure on all the surrounding key squares for the price of a pawn basically/, And you have a weak pawn yourself in d5, you have to find a move that covers that pawn, controls key squares and aliviate your weakness..

Ideally, that knight belings on c4 with b4 support if needed soon, where it can do a surprise sac on a3, but he could pile up on d5, but d3 is also fine, as it blocks the column to protect your pawn, but way better, at least for me, is just outright do a queen exchange there, with you having control of the game, your opponent playing d, and when the queens are down, if all of your opponents pieces are on the d, he has 0 counterplay.

You just had to play on the darksquares. Keep the pressure on the pawns to tie his pieces to the defense. Close the position on the king side, and with some previous set up, just sac the knight to get a passed pawn or jusr rerout it to take the bishop and open up the game when you are already prepared.

What you dont do when your opponent is tied to the d is to open up your king to give counterplay.
I mean, you have to do it at some point, but that is when your opponent has nothing going on. When the queens are on the board, something can be going on really quick, thats why you exchange them.

In positions like that, a trapped rook is worthless, of course he will trade it for a knight and a pawn, or a bishop and a pawn, dont allow it, specially if you do lose control of key squares.

Your opponent had a strong centre

You improve your weakest placed pieces and/or hone your stronger ones. I have perfect examples of that.