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When doing exchanges, it is important to understand the sequence of events before you jump into anything. Many beginners will lose exchanges because they didn't mentally walk through the exchange before it happened (I take him, he takes me, I take him, he takes me....)
Many non-beginners will still lose exchanges because another key point to understand about exchanges is the order of captures. Commonly called "attacking the defender," I call it "pulling the rug out" because the idea, either way, is that you are removing the enemy's support before you exchange.
Here is an example of pulling the rug out. In this common opening scenario, black brought out the knight to defend the king pawn, and white responded with the bishop. Black then threatened the bishop with the pawn. But now if white first takes black's knight with the bishop, black will most likely take the bishop back, and then white can then take black's center pawn for free with his knight. |
