Exchange (chess)
Encyclopedia
In the tactics and strategy in the board game
of chess
, an exchange (exchanging) or trade (trading) of chess piece
s is series of closely related moves, typically sequential, in which the two players capture each others pieces. Any types of pieces except the kings
may possibly be exchanged, i. e. captured in an exchange, although a king can capture an opponent's piece. Either the player of the white or the black pieces may make the first capture of the other player's piece in an exchange, followed by the other player capturing a piece of the first player, often referred to as a recapture. Commonly, the word "exchange" is used when the pieces exchanged are of the same type or of about equal value, which is an even exchange. According to chess tactics, a bishop
and a knight
are usually of about equal value. If the values of the pieces exchanged are not equal, then the player who captures the higher value of piece(s) can be said to be up the exchange or wins the exchange, while the opponent who captures the lower value of piece(s) is down the exchange or loses the exchange. Exchanges occur very frequently in chess, in almost every game and usually multiple times per game. Exchanges are often related to the tactics or strategy in a chess game, but often simply occur over the course of a game.
The exchange of a rook
for bishop or knight is an uneven exchange because a rook is generally more valuable than a bishop or knight. A minor exchange is a less commonly used term which refers to the capture of the opponent's bishop for the player's knight.
the opponent's king and/or to avoid checkmate of his/her own king. In this ultimate sense, the value of chess pieces remaining in a game does not matter. Although no official score is kept of the value of pieces on the board for each player, much experience in chess play has determined approximate average strategic and tactical value of various pieces relative to a pawn
, which is given a value = 1. Bishops and knights have about the same value at 3, rooks are valued at about 5, and a queen
is valued at about 9. Since the king is indispensable, it has infinite value. Pieces, especially as distinguished by their value, are often referred to collectively as material in chess. These values are not absolute because the usefulness of a piece also depends on its position in a particular game, commonly in a way hard to quantify. For example, an advanced passed pawn
with a good probability of promotion is commonly more valuable in a particular situation than a backward
or isolated pawn
that is not a passed pawn.
A forced exchange is an exchange in a position where one of the players is required to initiate or undergo an exchange, either because no alternative play is allowed by chess rules or because the consequence of not making the exchange would be unacceptably detrimental to that player's game. Many exchanges can be offered, but they are not forced. In such cases, the player presented with the possibility of an exchange may decide to make the initial capture, may decline making the initial capture, or may even move to avoid the exchange. The player can weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each move to decide. For a prospective uneven exchange, the values of the pieces are often the deciding factor.
Chess positions are often set up where a player's piece on a certain square is defended by one or more of his/her other pieces. This typically means that if an opponent's piece captures the defended piece, the capturing piece would be subject to recapture by a defending piece (defender). An opponent's piece in a position to capture a given piece could be considered an attacking piece (attacker). Positions could develop where a player's piece on a square has one or more attackers and one or more defenders. This is a common way in which exchanges could occur, although there are other ways also.
In such positions, a player with the attacking piece(s) may decide whether it is worthwhile for him to initiate a capture likely to result in recapture, likely decided by the value of the pieces to be taken in the ensuing exchange. Pinned
pieces often cannot be counted on being attackers or defenders.
In chess, a sacrifice
is the deliberate giving up of a piece by a player, allowing or forcing an opponent to capture the piece or exchange it for a lower value piece.
In a desperado situation, a trapped piece which would inevitably be lost can sometimes be exchanged for another piece, even if it has lower value, in order to minimize net material loss for the player having the inevitably lost piece.
of tactics. Such tactics can involve checkmating the opponent, avoiding checkmate, gaining a material advantage, avoid losing more material than necessary, helping a pawn to promote, preventing an opponent's pawn promotion, or setting up a draw
by any of a couple methods. Some tactics can lead to draw by stalemate
, threefold repetition
, or insufficient material to checkmate. For example, a player with a king and rook against an opponent with a king, rook, and bishop or knight may try to exchange rooks leading to a draw because a king and lone bishop or knight cannot force checkmate. Often an exchange or a series of them are used to set up a tactic. Often an attacking player initiates an attack by making the first capture in a series of exchanges leading to a tactical trap; the opponent recaptures to avoid material loss but can fall prey to the trap.
A player may undertake an exchange to capture an opponent's piece having better positional value than the piece that will be lost. For example, even if overall material count is equal in a certain situation, some players may consider that having two bishops, which can cover both dark and light squares, is advantageous over having just one bishop which can cover only half the squares, and so may exchange or avoid exchange to obtain or maintain such an advantage. A player may decide to take an opponent's well posted or well developed pieces in exchange for undeveloped, poorly developed, immobile, or otherwise poorly posted pieces of his/her own. Some may consider a bishop to have slightly more value than a knight, especially in open positions, or consider that a knight is better than a bishop in closed positions, and may make or avoid exchanges accordingly. Exchanges may be made to clear out pieces to be relieved from cramped situations or incur other positional advantages or avoid positional disadvantages.
Pawn structure
is commonly important in positional chess. Deficiencies in pawn structure can include having doubled pawns or isolated pawn
s. A positional advantage can be having a passed pawn
. Exchanges of pawns or other pieces are often made or avoided to prevent such deficiencies or to obtain a pawn structure advantage. If an opponent moves a pawn into a position diagonally adjacent to a player's pawn, effectively offering an exchange of pawns, sometimes it is possible to avoid a disadvantageous pawn exchange by moving the attacked pawn directly forward instead of taking the offered pawn. However, one may also consider making exchanges of pawns or other pieces to open up a file
for one's rooks and queen or opening up a diagonal for one's bishop and queen, even if a pawn deficiency is incurred.
If a player gains material superiority in a game, a strategy can involve making even exchanges to eliminate other pieces for simplification to make the superiority more decisive. The opponent with less material may try to avoid exchanges, but then the player with more material may try to force exchanges anyway.
Strong players commonly play a materially even game with each other, often clearing out their pieces with even exchanges to transition from middle game to the endgame.
An exchange variation
is a type of opening
in which there is an early, voluntary exchange of pawns and/or other pieces.
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, an exchange (exchanging) or trade (trading) of chess piece
Chess piece
Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...
s is series of closely related moves, typically sequential, in which the two players capture each others pieces. Any types of pieces except the kings
King (chess)
In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
may possibly be exchanged, i. e. captured in an exchange, although a king can capture an opponent's piece. Either the player of the white or the black pieces may make the first capture of the other player's piece in an exchange, followed by the other player capturing a piece of the first player, often referred to as a recapture. Commonly, the word "exchange" is used when the pieces exchanged are of the same type or of about equal value, which is an even exchange. According to chess tactics, a bishop
Bishop (chess)
A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
and a knight
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
are usually of about equal value. If the values of the pieces exchanged are not equal, then the player who captures the higher value of piece(s) can be said to be up the exchange or wins the exchange, while the opponent who captures the lower value of piece(s) is down the exchange or loses the exchange. Exchanges occur very frequently in chess, in almost every game and usually multiple times per game. Exchanges are often related to the tactics or strategy in a chess game, but often simply occur over the course of a game.
The exchange of a rook
Rook (chess)
A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...
for bishop or knight is an uneven exchange because a rook is generally more valuable than a bishop or knight. A minor exchange is a less commonly used term which refers to the capture of the opponent's bishop for the player's knight.
General discussion
A player's objective in a chess game is to checkmateCheckmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
the opponent's king and/or to avoid checkmate of his/her own king. In this ultimate sense, the value of chess pieces remaining in a game does not matter. Although no official score is kept of the value of pieces on the board for each player, much experience in chess play has determined approximate average strategic and tactical value of various pieces relative to a pawn
Pawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
, which is given a value = 1. Bishops and knights have about the same value at 3, rooks are valued at about 5, and a queen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
is valued at about 9. Since the king is indispensable, it has infinite value. Pieces, especially as distinguished by their value, are often referred to collectively as material in chess. These values are not absolute because the usefulness of a piece also depends on its position in a particular game, commonly in a way hard to quantify. For example, an advanced passed pawn
Passed pawn
In chess, a passed pawn is a pawn with no opposing pawns to prevent it from advancing to the eighth rank, i.e. there are no opposing pawns in front of it on the same file nor on an adjacent file. A passed pawn is sometimes colloquially called a passer...
with a good probability of promotion is commonly more valuable in a particular situation than a backward
Backward pawn
In chess, a backward pawn is a pawn that is behind the pawns of the same color on the adjacent files and that cannot be advanced without loss of material, usually the backward pawn itself....
or isolated pawn
Isolated pawn
In chess, an isolated pawn is a pawn which has no friendly pawn on an adjacent file. An isolated queen's pawn is often called an isolani. Isolated pawns are usually a weakness because they cannot be protected by other pawns...
that is not a passed pawn.
A forced exchange is an exchange in a position where one of the players is required to initiate or undergo an exchange, either because no alternative play is allowed by chess rules or because the consequence of not making the exchange would be unacceptably detrimental to that player's game. Many exchanges can be offered, but they are not forced. In such cases, the player presented with the possibility of an exchange may decide to make the initial capture, may decline making the initial capture, or may even move to avoid the exchange. The player can weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each move to decide. For a prospective uneven exchange, the values of the pieces are often the deciding factor.
Chess positions are often set up where a player's piece on a certain square is defended by one or more of his/her other pieces. This typically means that if an opponent's piece captures the defended piece, the capturing piece would be subject to recapture by a defending piece (defender). An opponent's piece in a position to capture a given piece could be considered an attacking piece (attacker). Positions could develop where a player's piece on a square has one or more attackers and one or more defenders. This is a common way in which exchanges could occur, although there are other ways also.
In such positions, a player with the attacking piece(s) may decide whether it is worthwhile for him to initiate a capture likely to result in recapture, likely decided by the value of the pieces to be taken in the ensuing exchange. Pinned
Pin (chess)
In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece...
pieces often cannot be counted on being attackers or defenders.
In chess, a sacrifice
Sacrifice (chess)
In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....
is the deliberate giving up of a piece by a player, allowing or forcing an opponent to capture the piece or exchange it for a lower value piece.
In a desperado situation, a trapped piece which would inevitably be lost can sometimes be exchanged for another piece, even if it has lower value, in order to minimize net material loss for the player having the inevitably lost piece.
Exchanges in tactics and strategy
Exchanges of pieces are commonly involved in chess tactics and strategy.Tactics
Exchanges can appear in connection with practically any kind of attacking or defensive chess tactic or combinationCombination (chess)
In chess, a combination is a sequence of moves, often initiated by a sacrifice, which leaves the opponent few options and results in tangible gain. At most points in a chess game, each player has several reasonable options from which to choose, which makes it difficult to plan ahead except in...
of tactics. Such tactics can involve checkmating the opponent, avoiding checkmate, gaining a material advantage, avoid losing more material than necessary, helping a pawn to promote, preventing an opponent's pawn promotion, or setting up a draw
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
by any of a couple methods. Some tactics can lead to draw by stalemate
Stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal moves. A stalemate ends the game in a draw. Stalemate is covered in the rules of chess....
, threefold repetition
Threefold repetition
In chess and some other abstract strategy games, the threefold repetition rule states that a player can claim a draw if the same position occurs three times, or will occur after their next move, with the same player to move. The repeated positions need not occur in succession...
, or insufficient material to checkmate. For example, a player with a king and rook against an opponent with a king, rook, and bishop or knight may try to exchange rooks leading to a draw because a king and lone bishop or knight cannot force checkmate. Often an exchange or a series of them are used to set up a tactic. Often an attacking player initiates an attack by making the first capture in a series of exchanges leading to a tactical trap; the opponent recaptures to avoid material loss but can fall prey to the trap.
Strategy
Exchanges are often made to try to improve a position from a strategic point of view. Since positional advantages are often smaller than those due to difference in material value, exchanges to gain a positional advantage are commonly even exchanges in terms of material.A player may undertake an exchange to capture an opponent's piece having better positional value than the piece that will be lost. For example, even if overall material count is equal in a certain situation, some players may consider that having two bishops, which can cover both dark and light squares, is advantageous over having just one bishop which can cover only half the squares, and so may exchange or avoid exchange to obtain or maintain such an advantage. A player may decide to take an opponent's well posted or well developed pieces in exchange for undeveloped, poorly developed, immobile, or otherwise poorly posted pieces of his/her own. Some may consider a bishop to have slightly more value than a knight, especially in open positions, or consider that a knight is better than a bishop in closed positions, and may make or avoid exchanges accordingly. Exchanges may be made to clear out pieces to be relieved from cramped situations or incur other positional advantages or avoid positional disadvantages.
Pawn structure
Pawn structure
In chess, the pawn structure is the configuration of pawns on the chessboard. Since pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus largely determines the strategic nature of the position.-General observations:Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such...
is commonly important in positional chess. Deficiencies in pawn structure can include having doubled pawns or isolated pawn
Isolated pawn
In chess, an isolated pawn is a pawn which has no friendly pawn on an adjacent file. An isolated queen's pawn is often called an isolani. Isolated pawns are usually a weakness because they cannot be protected by other pawns...
s. A positional advantage can be having a passed pawn
Passed pawn
In chess, a passed pawn is a pawn with no opposing pawns to prevent it from advancing to the eighth rank, i.e. there are no opposing pawns in front of it on the same file nor on an adjacent file. A passed pawn is sometimes colloquially called a passer...
. Exchanges of pawns or other pieces are often made or avoided to prevent such deficiencies or to obtain a pawn structure advantage. If an opponent moves a pawn into a position diagonally adjacent to a player's pawn, effectively offering an exchange of pawns, sometimes it is possible to avoid a disadvantageous pawn exchange by moving the attacked pawn directly forward instead of taking the offered pawn. However, one may also consider making exchanges of pawns or other pieces to open up a file
Open file
An open file in chess is a file with no pawns of either color on it. In the diagram, the e-file is an open file. An open file can provide a line of attack for a rook or queen...
for one's rooks and queen or opening up a diagonal for one's bishop and queen, even if a pawn deficiency is incurred.
If a player gains material superiority in a game, a strategy can involve making even exchanges to eliminate other pieces for simplification to make the superiority more decisive. The opponent with less material may try to avoid exchanges, but then the player with more material may try to force exchanges anyway.
Strong players commonly play a materially even game with each other, often clearing out their pieces with even exchanges to transition from middle game to the endgame.
An exchange variation
Exchange variation
In chess, an exchange variation is a type of opening in which there is an early, voluntary exchange of pawns or pieces. Such variations are often quieter than other lines because the early release of tension minimizes the possibility of surprise tactics or sharp, forcing lines, particularly where...
is a type of opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
in which there is an early, voluntary exchange of pawns and/or other pieces.