Expert: Emperor_Earth - 5/7/2004

Question
Hi,
I was wondering, if you know that you are an original better player at chess than your opponent. Is it smart to knock out their queen in order for your queen to die?

Answer
I'm interpreting your question as this: Is it smart to trade queens when playing with an inferior question.

That decision should be made with the accountance of several factors.

#1.How much does the opponent seem to use his/her queen?
If the queen seems to be an integral part of their offense/defense, eliminating would not only upset them in their abilities, it would pyschologically weaken them.

#2.How dependent are you on your queen?
This one is obvious.

#3.The material situation.
It is always advantageous to swap pieces if you're ahead in material, which tends to be the case if you're the better player.

#4.Time Frame
In the beginning, don't. Better players tend to see more possibilites and combos, and the queen is often the creator of such opportunites. In the end, the queen can usually be utilized relatively equally, so use your best judgement.

A little side note, does the beginner seem to do bishop-queen early game checkmates? Queen trade would be very useful. Opposite goes if it seems the beginning is afraid of their queen and wants to trade the whole time.

Consider delaying trading queens if its the first game or any game, because you will want to see how the person uses their queen. Do they use it as a back-up, a separate army, or part of their whole army? Or do they act like its the only piece on the board and overuse it? Formulate your strategies based on what you see. There really is no set rule on how beginners will use their queens, I started by overusing it, then underusing it, now I use it when it helps my plan. Every person uses their queen differently, and you should capitalize on their weaknesses if they have any. Also, many beginners have been warned of the dangers of overusing their queen or bringing it out too early. Be wary of those that seem to protect it or not bring it out, it may be their favorite toy. And like all favorite toys, they like to employ it a lot. I'll let you know if I think of any more factors in deciding whether or not to trade queens.

Hope I've helped, just lemmee know if u need any more.