Exchange: when a trade pays off

In short

You capture an enemy piece, and your opponent captures back. Afterwards both sides are missing about the same amount of material. This is called an exchange.

Nimzowitsch considers eager exchanging dangerous. He lists only a few cases in which an exchange is right; otherwise it usually does harm. For a master, a good exchange comes about by itself. If you occupy files and control important squares, the chance comes without forcing it.

With every exchange, time counts. If you move a piece several times and then exchange it for a freshly developed one, you lose time. On the other hand, you gain time if the recapturing piece then stands badly and you can attack it again straight away.

Start with lesson 15, where you remove an important defender with an exchange. In Lee – Nimzowitsch you see an exchange followed by a gain of time. In Sämisch – Nimzowitsch, by contrast, an exchange costs White time.

Summarised by the editors in their own words. This is not a quotation.

Three good reasons

First: you exchange to open or occupy a file without losing time. Your opponent has to recapture and has no time for a countermeasure.

Second: you exchange off a defender. That can be a piece that protects a pawn, or one that controls important squares. As an example Nimzowitsch names the knight on f6, which protects the whole kingside.

Third: one of your pieces is attacked. Instead of retreating it and losing time, you exchange it for an enemy piece. This pays off if you can make good use of the time saved.

Liquidating in the opening

Already in the first chapter Nimzowitsch shows how an exchange helps in the opening. If your development threatens to stall, you release the tension in the centre by exchanging. Then you carry on developing instead of losing time with defensive moves. He calls this liquidating.

When else exchanging helps

Whoever has more material usually benefits from simplifying. If both sides want the same square, a whole series of exchanges often happens there. Weak pawns tend to disappear in pairs; Nimzowitsch compares this with an exchange of prisoners of war.

Today the second reason is often called removing the defender. But whether an exchange is good is always shown by the concrete position. Check first which pieces will be left afterwards.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 5. Kapitel - Der Abtausch original text not yet published

  The few good reasons for an exchange and how series of exchanges come about.

• My System: I. Teil, 1.4 Abtausch nebst nachfolgendem Tempogewinn original text not yet published

  An exchange lures the recapturing piece to a bad square, and the gain of time follows.

• My System: I. Teil, 1.5 Das Liquidieren, nachfolgende Entwicklung oder nachfolgende Befreiung original text not yet published

  Liquidating: exchanging to release the tension in the centre and carry on developing.

• My System: I. Teil, Partie-Beispiele zu den ersten drei Kapiteln (original text)

  Games on the first three chapters, including Lee – Nimzowitsch and Sämisch – Nimzowitsch.

In the course

• Exchange for a reason
• Lee – Nimzowitsch, Ostend 1907
• Sämisch – Nimzowitsch, Copenhagen 1923