Mastery Concept: Indirect piece exchanges

Periodically I'll post what I have identified as key ideas at the board that distinguish Master-level chess from amateur level; they are collected in the sidebar in Mastery Concepts: Amateur vs. Master. Today's is the concept of indirect piece exchanges.

We are all familiar with "automatic" recaptures of pieces, which are usually obvious moves; you take my knight with your bishop, I capture your bishop back with my (pawn/other knight/queen/etc.) The point is to maintain material equality. However, one of the consistent themes with mastery concepts is that they expand your possible candidate moves, and this one is no exception. The deeper point with employing an indirect piece exchange is that while material is equalized - not necessarily on the following move - it is done via the capture of a different piece of your opponent's. This may allow for a positional or tactical advantage, or avoid inflicting positional damage on yourself.

In reviewing a number of master-level games for my commentary series, or in annotated games collections, I've noted how this is essentially taken for granted by strong players, who recognize that a specific recapture may not be forced, and so will be alert to other alternatives. The concept may be more familiar and common in endgames - especially rook endgames, where active rooks may keep eating pawns on different sides of the board.

As with any mastery concept, it's best to look at some illustrative examples.

Included in My Best Games by Victor Korchnoi, Game 97 (move 18):

[Event "Horgen CS"] [Site "Horgen"] [Date "1994.??.??"] [Round "4"] [White "Gelfand, Boris"] [Black "Kortschnoj, Viktor Lvovich"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E59"] [WhiteElo "2680"] [BlackElo "2615"] [PlyCount "74"] [GameId "284556311941"] [EventDate "1994.09.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "SUI"] [EventCategory "16"] [SourceTitle "CBM 043"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1994.12.01"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "1994.12.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 c5 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O Nc6 8. a3 Bxc3 9. bxc3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Qc7 11. Ba2 e5 12. h3 b6 13. Qc2 e4 14. Ng5 Ba6 15. Rd1 Rae8 16. f3 Bd3 17. Qf2 h6 18. fxe4 hxg5 19. Rxd3 Nxe4 20. Qf3 Na5 21. c4 b5 22. cxb5 c4 23. Rd1 Nb3 24. Bxb3 cxb3 25. Rb1 Nc3 26. Rxb3 Nxd1 27. Qxd1 Re4 28. Bd2 Rfe8 29. a4 Qd7 30. a5 g4 31. hxg4 Rxg4 32. b6 axb6 33. Rxb6 Qf5 34. a6 Qe4 35. Qf1 Ra8 36. Rb7 Rxa6 37. Qxf7+ Kh7 0-1

See the sequence starting on move 12 below:

[Event "Candidates sf Kortschnoj-Polugaevsky3-2"] [Site "Buenos Aires"] [Date "1980.07.??"] [Round "12"] [White "Polugaevsky, Lev"] [Black "Kortschnoj, Viktor Lvovich"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E17"] [WhiteElo "2635"] [BlackElo "2695"] [PlyCount "145"] [GameId "272191946433"] [EventDate "1980.07.20"] [EventType "match"] [EventRounds "14"] [EventCountry "ARG"] [SourceTitle "Candidates"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceVersion "2"] [SourceVersionDate "1999.07.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O Be7 6. d4 O-O 7. d5 exd5 8. Nh4 c6 9. cxd5 Nxd5 10. Nf5 Bc5 11. e4 Ne7 12. Nxg7 Kxg7 13. b4 Bxb4 14. Qd4+ f6 15. Qxb4 c5 16. Qd2 Nbc6 17. Bb2 Ba6 18. Rd1 Ne5 19. Na3 N7c6 20. Qe3 Qe7 21. f4 Nc4 22. Nxc4 Bxc4 23. e5 fxe5 24. Bxc6 dxc6 25. Rd7 Qxd7 26. Qxe5+ Kf7 27. Qf6+ Kg8 28. Qg5+ Kf7 29. Re1 Qe6 30. Qg7+ Ke8 31. Rxe6+ Bxe6 32. Bf6 Bf7 33. Bg5 Kd7 34. Bh6 c4 35. Qxh7 c5 36. Bxf8 Rxf8 37. Qg7 Ke7 38. Qe5+ Kd7 39. g4 Re8 40. Qf6 Bd5 41. g5 Re2 42. h4 b5 43. Qf5+ Kd6 44. Qf8+ Kc6 45. Qc8+ Kd6 46. Qd8+ Kc6 47. Qa8+ Kd6 48. Qf8+ Kc6 49. a3 Re3 50. h5 c3 51. Qf6+ Be6 52. Kf2 c2 53. Qb2 Rh3 54. Kg2 Bf5 55. Qf6+ Kc7 56. Qxf5 c1=Q 57. Qe5+ Kb6 58. Kxh3 b4 59. axb4 cxb4 60. h6 Qh1+ 61. Kg4 Qd1+ 62. Kf5 Qc2+ 63. Kf6 b3 64. h7 Qxh7 65. Qe3+ Kc6 66. Qxb3 Qh8+ 67. Ke7 Qh4 68. Qc4+ Kb6 69. Qb4+ Kc6 70. Qe4+ Kb5 71. Kf7 a5 72. g6 Qg4 73. Qe5+ 1-0

See the sequence starting on move 25 below:

[Event "FIDE World Cup"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"] [Date "2005.11.29"] [Round "1.3"] [White "Yu, Shaoteng"] [Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B13"] [WhiteElo "2516"] [BlackElo "2673"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2005.11.27"] [EventType "k.o."] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [SourceTitle "CBM 111"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2006.04.04"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2006.04.04"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Bf4 Nf6 6. Bd3 g6 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 Nh5 10. Bg5 Qc7 11. Nbd2 f6 12. Be3 e5 13. Qb3 Be6 14. dxe5 fxe5 15. Ng5 Bf7 16. Nxf7 Qxf7 17. Nf3 h6 18. Bb5 e4 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Nd4 Rac8 21. Rad1 Nf6 22. h3 Nd7 23. Qb7 Nc5 24. Qxf7+ Rxf7 25. Nf5 gxf5 26. Bxc5 Rb8 27. Re2 Rfb7 28. Rdd2 h5 29. Rc2 Kf7 30. b3 a6 31. Red2 Rd7 32. Rd1 Ke6 33. Rdd2 Bf8 34. Bxf8 Rxf8 35. Rd4 Rg8 36. Kf1 Rdg7 37. g3 h4 38. gxh4 f4 39. Ke2 Rg1 40. c4 Ke5 41. Rd1 f3+ 42. Kd2 e3+ 0-1

And here's an endgame example:

[Event "RUS Cup Regions"] [Site "Belgorod"] [Date "2008.11.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Chuprikov, Dmitry"] [Black "Yudin, Sergei"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D31"] [WhiteElo "2443"] [BlackElo "2556"] [PlyCount "120"] [EventDate "2008.11.21"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "10"] [EventCountry "RUS"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2010"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2010.11.25"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2010.11.25"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. e3 Bd6 5. Bd2 f5 6. f4 Nf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Be2 b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Rc1 Nbd7 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Ne5 c5 13. Be1 Rc8 14. Bh4 Be7 15. Bf3 Kh8 16. Re1 a6 17. dxc5 Nxc5 18. Ne2 Nfd7 19. Bg3 Nxe5 20. fxe5 Ne4 21. Bxe4 dxe4 22. Nd4 Qd5 23. Rxc8 Bxc8 24. Qb3 Qc5 25. Ne6 Bxe6 26. Qxe6 f4 27. Bf2 f3 28. gxf3 Rxf3 29. Rf1 h6 30. Qg6 Qxe5 31. Bg3 Rxf1+ 32. Kxf1 Qf6+ 33. Qxf6 Bxf6 34. b3 Kh7 35. h3 Kg6 36. Be1 Kf5 37. Kg2 g5 38. Bd2 h5 39. Be1 h4 40. Bd2 g4 41. Be1 g3 42. Bb4 Bg5 43. Bd2 Ke6 44. Kf1 Kd5 45. Ke2 a5 46. Bc1 Kc6 47. Bd2 Kb5 48. Kf1 a4 49. Ke2 axb3 50. axb3 Be7 51. Bc3 Bb4 52. Bf6 g2 53. Kf2 Be1+ 54. Kxg2 Kb4 55. Kf1 Bg3 56. Ke2 Kxb3 57. Kd2 b5 58. Kc1 Ka2 59. Be7 Be1 60. Kd1 Bc3 0-1