FOE MANAGEMENT
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War
You are not only playing against the pieces of your opponent; you are also playing against the opponent himself. Taking your opponent’s style, his strengths and weaknesses and general psychological effects into account will improve your chances in the game.
If you ask yourself, why I use the rather aggressive term “foe management” instead of “opponent management”, the answer is: aesthetics. The latter term simply doesn’t please my ear and wouldn’t fit into the line of the other smooth expressions (“time management”, risk management”, “self-management”).
360. What is the fundamental rule of foe management?
– Ask yourself what your opponent wants and then make sure he doesn’t get it. –
361. What is the psychological impact of prophylaxis?
Besides the objective benefits of prophylactical play, there is a psychological component to it, which is connected to the fundamental rule of foe management. For many chess players, it is simply frustrating when they are constantly being deprived of the opportunity to make active moves or role out their plans. Some of them cannot bear this state of enforced inactivity and may succumb to the harmful temptations of reckless play.
362. What is the basic style of my opponent?
If you know your opponent or have time for preparation, try to get a picture of his basic style. Here are some important categories:
Opening: principled main lines or sidelines?
Risk profile: avoiding or seeking complications?
Tactical skills: high or low frequence of blunders?
Attacking habits: high or low frequencies of attacks?
Grinding qualities: good or bad in quiet positions or endings?
Time management: prone to time trouble or not?
363. What are the counter measures?
Opening: A heavily-prepped player is dangerous in known theory but can be taken out of book early with a sound but less common sideline. You’re not trying to refute their opening, just to get them thinking on move 8 instead of move 18.
Risk profile: A risk-averse opponent can often be pressed by keeping tension and avoiding forced simplification, even at the cost of a small objective edge.
Tactical skills: Sharp tacticians tend to falter in quiet, maneuvering positions where there’s no concrete line to calculate. Positional players often misjudge sharp and forcing lines.
Attacking habits: Against attacking players we should play solid and/or boring openings with Black. For instance, should we play Caro-Kann or the Petrov Defense instead of some daring sharp Sicilian. With White we could try to play with the initiative or attack them ourselves, as they don’t enjoy defending too much.
Time management: Some players are chronically low on the clock. Against them, prioritizing positions with many “small decisions” (multiple reasonable moves, no forced sequence) burns their clock even if the evaluation stays near equal.
364. Does my opponent have specific biases?
Apart from the overall style, a player might have specific biases like overvaluing the bishop pair, underestimating the importance of space, overestimating protected passed pawns etc. Detecting such biases is difficult, however, and might happen if you are preparing for a match against a certain player.
365. Should I play according to my style or the style of my opponent?
In case of doubt you should play according to your own style, instead of adjusting to the style of your opponent. Not only is it difficult to play in an unusual fashion, you also might be mistaken with your estimation of your opponent.
366. How to play against an inferior opponent?
The answer depends on the style of both players. The general approach, however, would be to avoid chaos and risk and play a long, controlled game instead. Over time, your opponent will make more mistakes than you, letting you accumulate small advantages. Part of that strategy would be to play a demanding position type with many imbalances, where making mistakes actually is a likely fate for your opponent. With Black, this will be more difficult to achieve, which is why you should be willing to take more risk. For instance, could you play a sharper variation, which would be too dangerous against stronger players but feasible against your lesser skilled opponent, who lacks sufficient punching qualities.
367. How to play against a stronger opponent?
Against stronger opponents flipping the coin and creating chaos is sometimes the best you can do. Not only do you open the future for a lucky punch; you can also apply a lot psychological pressure. Your opponent might pay with dear equity, in order to keep it all under control. This recipe won’t work, however, if your playing style is too tame. In that case, you should try to play super-solid, exchange a lot and leave your opponent with the problem, how to storm your fortress. Sometimes he will overplay his hand and generate winning chances for you. One word of caution. Don’t play too submissively with White. Don’t exchange pieces when having to pay the price with positional concessions, as losing time. If you drift into =+ territory, your strong opponent will make you suffer in the endgame.
368. How can I reduce the amount of information my opponent receives?
Chess is informational warfare. With every move you are inevitably giving your opponent information. Always try to limit the amount of information to the minimum by being flexible. Here is a very valuable tip. There is a huge number of players who go for the Queen’s Gambit declined via the move order 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6. There is not much problem with that, as it is a solid variation. However, there is room for improvement. The best move order is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 (3.Nf3) d5. The difference is that many white players are afraid, and quite rightly so, to play 3.Nc3 because of the Nimzoindian Defense. Hence, they play 3.Nf3, but after 3…d5 White has forfeited the option to play the Queen’s Gambit Exchange Variation in a meaningful manner, as Black won’t have problems now to develop his light-squared bishop. “But I am not able to play the Nimzoindian!”, you might say. Well, you know it, I know it, but does your opponent? He might play 3.Nf3 no matter what, after which you will have deprived him of his most powerful option.
The basic rule of flexibility is to do the “must-moves” before the “can-moves”. Sometimes you have several options. Each of them consists of basic moves which all of them share (for instance preparing and executing castling) and specific moves, which make the different. By playing the must-moves first, you keep your opponent in guessing mode. He has to reckon with all of your options and cannot play with determination against a particular one. He has to go for the smallest common denominator, thus diluting his play.
369. Can I seduce my opponent?
Sometimes you want to see a weakness in your opponent’s camp, which you are unable to force upon him. Now the question is, how you can provoke his assistance. In the Hedgehog you see Black sometimes dance around with his knights on c5 or e5, in order to seduce White into playing b2-b4 or f2(f3)-f4. After b2-b4, Black will be able to apply pressure against the pawn c4 and after f2(3)-f4 the pawn e4 will become a primary target. Another example would be the Caro-Kann formation with a white pawn on d4 and black pawns on e6 and c6. By occupying the square d5, with a knight or a rook, White might get seduced into playing c2-c4. Now, the pawn d4 can be attacked by two rooks in the d-file, a bishop on f6, a queen on b6 and even a knight on f5.
If you don’t have outright provocative piece moves available, sometimes do-nothing moves will also do the job. Think of rook shuffles, king moves or knight maneuvers, which don’t commit to a plan. This buys time while looking purposeful, which pressures your opponent into believing you have a concrete idea and reacting prematurely — often by advancing a pawn to gain space or kick the knight, which is exactly the weakening move you’re fishing for.
370. How can I use body language?
Your basic mode should be to project confidence after a move. You do this by leaning back and crossing your legs. This is especially advisable after having committed a mistake. Visibly getting up and walking around during the opponent’s think is another good method of doing that. Sometimes you want to do the opposite and trick your opponent into believing that you feel uncomfortable. Maybe you prepared a strong opening line or just set up a trap during the game. Leaning forward and supporting your head with your hands would be one way of doing it.
371. What is the importance of preparation?
In times of big databases and transparent players the game already starts with move 0. At home or in your hotel room you can already decide which opening to play and even prepare specific lines. As the opponent is normally doing the same, the question is: who will outsmart who?
372. Where does my opponent have soft spots in his repertoire?
Everybody has weaknesses or relative weaknesses in his repertoire. You have to ask yourself: where does my opponent give away the most equity? Sometimes your opponent plays real junk and you have the chance to end up clearly better with White.
373. Can I address his weak spots?
Unfortunately, exploiting his soft spots is not always easy, if your repertoire doesn’t touch them. Now the question arises, if you should try to target his weakness anyways, risking that he deviates, leaving you in unknown territory. Your decision depends on the time you have available for your preparation, for closing as many gaps as possible. It further depends on your willingness for adventure, for leaving your comfort zone, your ambition etc.
374. How can I avoid his pet lines?
Sometimes the clash of repertoires would lead to a position your opponent has a lot of experience with. Here you should consider deviating from your standard play, in order to avoid this from happening.
375. Where does he have little experience with?
Look for the opposite phenomenon and search for variations your opponent has few on no experience with. This is where he is potentially vulnerable. Of course, we have to take into account, that through online blitzing people can gather experience outside of tournament games. However, not everyone is analyzing such games or looking up the theory afterwards.
376. What might be your opponent’s preparation goal?
Try to put yourself in the shoes of your opponent. What will be his preparation goal? Is he loyal to his openings or does he vary a lot in order to surprise his opponents? In that case, try to figure out whether it could be you surprising him instead. Surprising your opponent is generally a good thing to do. Kick people out of their book knowledge and let them think themselves. Good things will happen.
377. How can I cause him practical problems?
Sometimes, the regular clash of both repertoires will lead to uninspiring positions. Check, whether you can deviate by playing less perfect, but more demanding moves, which create practical problems for your opponent.
378. How do I drag him into the prepared line?
In order to make sure he follows the prepared path, try not to appear overconfident and express a weak body language (see above). Additionally, consume a decent amount of time, thus projecting ignorance or insecurity. I even provided one student with explicit instructions of how much time he was supposed to spend for each specific move.
379. Can I move-order my opponent?
If you maintain a broader repertoire with some flexibility in it, you will be able to move-order your opponent now and then. Let’s say you can play both, 1.d4 and 1.c4. Now you can circumvent or cherry-pick certain variations. Let’s say your opponent is a huge fan of the Stonewall setup. There is nothing wrong with playing 1.d4 and simply let the Durch Stonewall unfold. However, there are more sophisticated ways. By starting with 1.c4 and not yet committing to d2-d4, you can continue with 2.Nf3, 3.g3, 4.Bg2, 5.0-0, 6.d3, 7.Nc3 and finally break up the Stonewall structure with the pawn-break e2-e4. Particularly in the non-e4 realm there are many possibilities for move-ordering. But also after 1.e4, there are options. For instance, could you make life harder for unprepared Sveshnikov-players with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3, as now 3…Nf6 is bad due to 4.Bb5+=.
380. What games are available from me?
Check ChessBase’s online database for your games. Not all games you play will enter there. If you play some sharp but inferior sidelines, everything depends on the surprise effect. Only play such lines, when it still can happen under the radar. Some players deliberately pick their tournaments according to their clandestine qualities. You can inform yourself beforehand, whether the games will be added to the big databases.
381. How can I hide my repertoire?
When playing blitz tournaments under your real name, as it happens with Titled Tuesdays on chess.com, you might not want to reveal your standard repertoire. Try to learn some variations especially for such an event. You are not only hiding your true repertoire; it can also mislead some future opponents in their preparation for tournament games.
