One of the most common evaluation mis-judgements players make has to do with underestimating piece activity, especially when it is compensating for material. Of course, being a greedy pawn hunter myself, I have fallen victim to this on more than one occasion...
Many times, even the objective evaluation of the position is not as important as how easy it is for one side or the other to play. Sure, Stockfish may tell you that despite your opponent's active pieces, you should not be losing, but what if in order not to lose, you have to play like Stockfish? This is where the "practical evaluation" of a position becomes more relevant, especially if time pressure is an added factor.
To illustrate the idea of long-term piece activity, I will use one memorable game I played a few years ago in the final round of the 2022 US Amateur Team East. My opponent, Isaac Chiu, is a strong master-level player. Before going into the game, test yourself in the following positions: what would you play?
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| Black to move. |
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| Black to move. |
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| White to move. What is the only move that does not lose? (You have 4 minutes on your clock.) |
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| How should black recapture on c3? |
Now let's look at the actual game, where we will also see the solutions.
