Prescient placement of pieces paramount

Position is everything

In chess, an average expert can defeat or even crush a Garry Kasparov if his own pieces have sufficiently superior placement.

There are exceptions. The fog of war allows miraculous victories with inferior resources and force. Both Napoleon and Robert E. Lee were geniuses at reading a battlefield configuration, marshaling lesser forces at vulnerable points and then routing the opposing army.

Both, incidentally, were chess enthusiasts who played the game in their tents during military campaigns.

But there is little of the fog of war in the average chess game except during time pressure. Chess generals have a clear view of their battlefield.

Superior players win because they know how to attain and exploit an advantage in position

How the masters play

משחק יפיפה של אנדרייקין, הכישרון הרוסי העולה. הקרבת פרש במסע ה-17 והמלך יוצא לטיול ונלכד במרכז.

Below is a win by Dmitry Andreikin against Maksim Serov from the Russian Championship in Dagomys, Russia.

	ANDREIKIN	SEROV
1.	ד4	פו6
2.	פו3	ד6
3.	c4	N(b)d7
4.	Nc3	e5
5.	Bg5	Be7
6.	Qc2	0-0
7.	e3	c6
8.	Bd3	h6
9.	Bh4	a6
10.	0-0-0	Qc7
11.	g4	b5
12.	g5	hxg5
13.	Nxg5	bxc4
14.	Bxc4	d5
15.	Bb3	Qb6
16.	R(h)g1	Re8
17.	Nxf7	Kxf7
18.	Qg6ch	Ke6
19.	Bxf6	Nxf6
20.	dxe5	Kxe5
21.	Nxd5	cxd5
22.	Rxd5ch	Ke6
23.	Rb5ch	-