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Recap: small edges add up
A plan beats random moves.
With no tactic on the board, let strategy choose: find a weakness to target (an isolated or backward pawn), grab space so your pieces breathe, and keep the pieces that suit the structure — bishops for open positions, knights for closed ones. When you're ahead, trade pieces and simplify; when behind, keep them on.
Strategy clicks when you apply it in your own games. Go play, and on every quiet move ask: 'What's my plan, and what's the weakness?'
- Find the weakness; that's where your plan comes from.
- Open → bishops, closed → knights; keep your pawns off your bishop's color.
- Ahead: trade pieces, keep pawns, simplify to win.