Prospect v. Conant (2): Development

The three major goals of the opening are:

(1) Activating your forces, i.e., development;

(2) Controling the center;

(3) Getting the king to safety, usually by castling quickly.

For more information, see Opening Principles by NM Dan Heisman. The difference in the Prospect-Conant match was primarily the failure of Conant's lower boards to get their pieces activated. In effect, they were fighting with one hand tight behind their back.

For the lower boards, the best way to think about development may be this: The more pieces you have out, the more likely it is that your opponent will overlook one of the threats they pose. On 5th Board, Conant's Chris Ford got in trouble when he sent his knight out without any support allowing Prospect's Mike Zwolenik to concentrate his forces to trap it. On 6th Board, Prospect's Parth Patel used his knights and queen to create multiple threats that overwhelmed Conant's Sai Vagvala. On 7th Board , Dhruvin Tarlati distracted Eric Poczatek with an advanced knight while his bishop and queen combined for the knockout blow. On 8th Board, Conant's Conant's Vlad Petrovic, tried to overwhelm his opponent with his queen alone while Prospect's Mike Busby developed all his forces to take control of the game.