When Should You Trade the Queens? Deep Learning of Chess Strategy

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00:00 Introduction
02:48 Whose King is Safer?
05:11 Can You Transfer Your Knowledge To This Position?
07:38 The Only Move That Keep You in the Game
09:21 I Rotate The Board Now
11:03 Homework Position
Deep Learning series continues! Here we study the reasons why one seeks a queen trade in chess. The most important question when you consider a queen trade is the following: "Whose king is safer?" If your king is safer, you should generally avoid the queen trade as you can attack the enemy king. This video shows this connection by several instructive examples. We are thus forming connections and engaging in deeper processing of information.
Transfer happens when you truly understand the deeper structures of the domain. Exchanging pieces offer this conceptual understanding as you can explain the reasons behind the piece trades in chess by forming connections to other areas such as the king's safety, weaknesses in the position, who has a better pawn structure, more space, better endgame etc. This way of learning material will yield much longer retention than relying on rote memorization.

[@MarkPersoonlijk]

Thanks for this video! And yes, I can vouch for your Chessable course The Art of Exchanging Pieces. Great course. I noticed I need less time in my games now, as I can skip quickly calculating bad exchanges. Very happy about that.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Wonderful! Thanks for the great feedback ☺️

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Hi again Mark! Since I don't have your email or lichess/chesscom username, I had to write it here :) What was your rating/online rating? I am soon starting a group lessons for people around 1000 ELO (chesscom). Would you be interested to join? I asked because of our great interactions here as well as on Chessable :) You can contact me on [e-mail] if you are interested :)

[@MarkPersoonlijk]

@@Dr.CansClinic Thank you! I've send you an email a few minutes ago 🙂

[@ThomasLoganRitchie]

I would play 1.Qc2 in the homework position, intending 1...Nf6 2.Nfg5+ hg 3.Ng5+

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Botvinnik also played Qc2!

[@waynewoodger3820]

10 mins the Kxg6 was an amazing moment for me!!!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

That is a fantastic moment indeed! Especially once you grasp the true reason behind it.

[@ludwigchurr7744]

Good lessons which I will apply. Thank you.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

You are welcome!

[@sjefke7206]

@Dr.CansClinic i must say, im always comfortable to trade Queens. While not always objectively the best option, i seem to thrive without queens. I also have some kind of 6th sense to force it via checks etc when my opponent lost a pawn or has a bad structure

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Understandable! People have different playing styles. You are trusting your endgame skills then ☺️

[@sjefke7206]

@@Dr.CansClinic yes I do. That is where the fun starts for me. And the statistics from my lichess account seem to support my feeling with winning 68% of the time when the queens leave the board :) and I think people underestimate it thinking I'm playing for a draw, while most of the times i see winning king and pawn endgames

[@MarkPersoonlijk]

@@sjefke7206 Could also be that your Queen skills can use an improvement. Finding gaps in your game play are like finding a gold mine 😀

[@user-ot8bb3ng7o]

A happy new year to you 🎉🎉🎉 thank you for this very eye-opening video,🎉I. Always tend to link queen exchanging with endgame simplification 😔not king safety an it's strategic potential great video I got something new👏👏💯💯👍

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you and a happy new year! Now you formed this connection, you will keep this knowledge for a loong long time! Hence the deep learning series!

[@jjb2004mk2]

My attempt at the homework: white should keep the queens on the board because white's king is much safer. For example, white can go Qxe6 which poses a threat. Maybe after Qxe6 which can sacrifice a knight with Ng5+ then after hxg5 white plays Ng5+ and white's king is in trouble.

[@paulhildmann8392]

I agree with not exchanging and Qxe5 but followed up by Kf3-h4.

[@jonnyjansson7320]

It is true that Black’s King is worse than white’s and thus a queen trade is undesirable, but taking the pawn on e6 with the queen is, in my opinion an error since black can activate his undeveloped pieces on the queen side by playing Nf6 and white’s queen is hit by the bishop on c8, winning a tempo when it moves away. I prefer Qc2, which still looks at the pawn on g6, and if black takes the unimportant pawn on a4 with the queen, white’s queen, simply, slides back to b1.White’s pieces are now ready to to tear Black’s king apart while Black still has to complete his development and get out of the opening.

[@jjb2004mk2]

@@jonnyjansson7320 Good points. I guess after Qxe6 Nf6, white doesn't have to lose a tempo because N(f)g4+ hxg4, Nxg4+ but then black could go Kh8 and the rook protects from mate.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Not trading the queens is strategically great, but Qxe6 would be a mistake as it activates the black pieces and ...Ne5 is a good response.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Spot on, thanks!

[@jimmccann3856]

Hmmm... Q: Should one-legged men enter Ass-Kicking Contests? (Amateurs are unequally endowed with calculation & visualization abilities, as well as positional understanding & endgame knowledge. A Queen swap fundamentally changes the character of the contest, and this may be more pivotal than the objective reality of the position, as seen by titled players. )

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Hi, I could not get the main point of your comment. Should we not talk about the strategic reasoning behind the queen trade and how it logically connects to the king safety? Can amateurs not understand this connection on logical terms?

[@jimmccann3856]

@@Dr.CansClinic I rarely lose with Qs off. I frequently lose in the tactical melees that are inherent in Qs on games. Therefore, unless the K safety imbalance is pretty compelling, Qs off benefits me. The point is that, among amateurs, personal strengths & weaknesses significantly color swap decisions. Titled players, who have more complete and balanced skills, can afford to just play the position...

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Point taken. But we should still seek objective analysis to grow as players. Sometimes you can find yourself in a losing endgame by a queen trade.@@jimmccann3856

[@RoZaxTheGreat]

Interesting

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you!

[@executivelifehacks6747]

Best not to trade. Material similar (no reason for or against to simplify), white has more space (so should not trade), and not under threat (should not trade).

[@Dr.CansClinic]

How about the most important question that decides the queen trade (whose king is safer)?

[@magicvoice0741]

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

[@Dr.CansClinic]

❤️

[@eschiedler]

homework exercise - beware spoilers - no engine White has completed development and black requires at least 3 moves to complete development. Black lacks compensation for slow development such as lack of an attack or central control or active threats. Black's king is less safe and threatened by all of white's pieces especially the minor ones but including a rook lift. Do not exchange queens as white. Possible best line is likely as follows: Qxe6 Nf6 Nxf6 Bxf6 Qe4 Bf5 Qf4 Bg7 Qh4 Another line is: Qxe6 Nf6 Nxf6+ Rxf6 Qe4 Qf8 Rc5 c7 Rh5 Black doesn't have time for Qxb2 threatening Qxe2 I couldn't find a checkmate threat because the king has just enough escape squares and the white bishop guards h3 (edit: ah, the engine found Qxe6 Ne5 to force a Queen trade. I overlooked one of the discovered knight move threats. Qc2 is best and winning for white.)

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for your input! You made an instructive mistake in your analysis: you calculated really long lines and thus missed a strong enemy response on the very first move (Long variation, wrong variation). This is a great lesson that can improve your calculation skills greatly. Most calculation mistakes happen on the very first move as Dvoretsky said.

[@eschiedler]

@@Dr.CansClinic Will keep double-checking my first moves, thanks!

[@amarpaatshala]

Why? Whyyyyy!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Whyyyyyy!!! That is the key question.

[@andrejennings1577]

You are a phenomenal chess coach...! WHY? you didn't CLAP today...why 😅

[@Dr.CansClinic]

WHY did I do that?? WHY?? Some people found the clap annoying, so I am doing some variations 😊

[@andrejennings1577]

I take it the clap(sound) as a Stay Focus command...

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for the feedback, that was also my goal with that!

[@MarkPersoonlijk]

@@Dr.CansClinic I did the clapping too when I recorded video's in the past. (It makes editing easy as the sound graph shows the clap). The only thing that is needed, no talking a second before and a second after. It makes it easy to delete that part 😀