A frequent strategic plan is to win material. This comes in different forms, ranging from winning a free pawn to winning the Exchange to promoting a pawn and thus all of a sudden going up a whole queen. This kind of plan will only work under the right conditions, however. And such plans often run the risk of allowing your opponent a different kind of advantage, such as giving her more squares or a good attacking position.

Conditions for Winning Material

In order to have a reasonable amount of success with a plan of winning material you have to have some idea of what material you are going to win. And that material must be weakened in some way. The material you're after should meet one or more of the following conditions. It should be:

• Underdefended

• Undefended

• Exposed

• Too far away

• Unable to move

Under those conditions, you should have a reasonable chance of winning the desired material.

In the last example, the a8-rook was undefended and exposed, so it should not be surprising that White was able to plan for its capture.

What Are You Giving Up?

This one is harder to judge. Again in the last example, Black tried to win the White bishop. The problem with his plan was that it succeeded! His win of the bishop ultimately cost him his king's safety, the center, and his poor exposed rook.

There are pieces and pawns left unattended every day that are best left alone. One example should suffice:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Bf4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Qe7.

Position after 6…. Qe7.

Black has been bringing out new pieces with every turn, focusing on the e5-pawn, and is now poised to win it. This will recover the pawn he sacrificed back on move two. White decides to mess up the Black plan by threatening to capture the bishop on b4, which certainly seems like a reasonable thing to do.

7. a3 Ncxe5.

But Black leaves the bishop en prise and recovers his pawn instead. Does this make sense? He could have played 7…. Bxd2+ easily enough, after all.

8. axb4.

White believes that Black simply overlooked that the bishop was en prise. But it was White who overlooked something important. What did White fail to note?

8…. Nd3 checkmate.

He was not aware that his king had no possible moves, or perhaps he was unacquainted with this particular checkmate. What a harsh way to find out!

Traps introduced by seemingly absurd giveaways lurk everywhere in the game of chess. Yet you can't simply avoid capturing anything that is offered. Such an attitude is far too timid, and won't help win games. The best way to solve this dilemma is to look all gift horses in the mouth before deciding whether or not to make the capture. Analyze the consequences of each and every capture, and you will go a long way toward playing a strong chess game.