You can gain time by exchanging if you stop the opponent in his tracks, leaving him no choice but to take back without positional improvement. You can lose time by exchanging if your opponent can use the take-back move to strengthen his game. If you can exchange a threatened piece without losing time, you’ve lightened your burdens. You needn’t worry anymore about the menaced piece, since once off the board it ceases to exist. You don’t have to protect what isn’t there. And by virtue of the exchange, you’ve truly gotten equal value for it, so you’ve lost nothing. After the exchange, you can go
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