My Favorite Chess Advice: Talk To Your Pieces

The solution to the Endgame position in the Blog post:
Some pieces don't look as good (some mentioned the Bishop or the Rook on e1), but they don't have a much better square at the moment. The surprising "problem" piece is the Knight on e5! It looks nice but doesn't really do anything. So we need to re-group the Knight.
We can either try to bring it to b4 (via d3) or to e3. On both squares, the Knight attacks the weak pawn on d5 and allows the other pieces to re-group later on. f2-f3 will also get more powerful if the Rooks have entry points on e5/e7.

This is a rather tough, but very instructive example. Hope you liked it! :)

I think the E1 rook is unhappy . So I wanted to move it to D1

@PlsLetMeBe said in #3:
> The second position in the blog is very interesting. After looking at it for a few minutes, I decided that the unhappier pieces would be the bishop or the e1 rook. However after doing some digging on my chess board I ultimately decided that the bishop should be moved to a better square.
> Here is how I do that:
> first option is riskier if your opponent is strong, the idea is that you do Rc2, if black takes the rook, you take with the bishop. You now are attacking your opponents annoying e4 knight. Defending the knight with f5 seems pointless because i can attack it with f3. However black may not accept to trade the rooks, so I made a second option
> Option 2 : You dont bother offering a rook trade, you just do Bc2, point is that you are attacking the knight and it cant really be defended, and it forces it to move out of the e4 square, which is a relief for white, which now has a better position.
> Only problem: you lose a pawn this way.
> So I did a third option after even more digging, here it is:
> While the bishop may not have an excellent position and is locked because of the a-pawn you might do a3, thing is you give black a move, However this isnt as bad as it seems, because after black plays something like Nd6, then you can start pushing the f-pawn, playing aggresively, you dont give black time to consolidate (move:f4). Thing is if black takes the dubious sacrifice you do Rf2, now both rooks have a separate file, for they dont need to be doubled anymore. Black doesnt have any way in which it can guard the pawn so it might as well attack the rook on f2, forcing it to make a decision, other moves for black seem passive. After Rxf4 the black knight is in trouble.
> Option 4 : I play a3 and black plays the odd Ra5. Now we can move the bishop to c2, forcing the knight away. After this, the dubious pawn sacrfice (f4) can be done.
> Overall, asking your pieces how they feel is an interesting thing to do, and i just played an Alapin Sicilian doing that, it turned out to be pretty good, especially since my opponent was seriously behind in development.
> Do correct me if any of my analysis are wrong

Intresting topic! I should do it more often!!

I believe, this is not about talking but about focus and priorities. All the article (although, it is nice as a pretty story) could be replaced with "improve positions of pieces one by one" and "see where you want to move and and how".

Good advice. One question still on the table with this "talking", namely, would this help in bullet? Would you have time? Wouldn't be this habit on your way to find solution faster? Like, "hei, my rook... ops... sorry... time!.."

@Motroskin said in #35:
It wouldn't get in a way, during bullet because it's not about actual talking to your pieces, but about focusing on correct priorities.

@Negmek , yes, you seconded my first paragraph, I like it. At the same time the article is named "...Talk To Your Pieces", this is a very certain advice, not about focus and priorities as we discussing, but about physiological trick to be used. And my questions precisely about the way (talking) to achieve these goals (focus and priorities), not about the goals themselves.

On the subject itself, I am not sure that I agree with it, since even to the considered example Studer-Kollars 2018, the most valuable piece is a king and it tells me "I want castling" which sounds usually more loudly than the desire of a rook. Knight is also unhappy being on the pawn's aim. So, he might be the unhappiest, but "who cares"? Chess in terms of pieces is a team work and sometimes we sacrifice everything for the idea.

animism.. project some life into your pieces.. it will make for better attention, even when you get enthusiastic about a tactical or longer term plan to the point of tunnel vision, their chorus will be lurking... lifeline to plan adjustment....

i think it helps to use our nature in how we view our world, into feeling immersed in a task at hand.. specially when complex.

This is really good advice! I hope it helps me! Thanks!
-LightningHeart

I Think Knight On E5 Is Unhappy He Told Me He Wants To Go And Eat Opponents Face So The Move Is Nd3 Nb4 +- (Nc6 N takes Opponents Face)