Balancing Material

I never really noticed 'material imbalances' when I was starting out in chess. Having been burnt early on by making a the 'beginners' exchange of Nxf7 Rxf7 Bxf7+ Kxf7 and then getting crushed, I tried to only exchange like for like. Probably Jermey Silman's "Reassess your Chess" was the first time I saw the topic covered in print, but by then it was probably too late to incorporate it into my game.
One player who seems to handle such 'imbalanced' positions well is Gawain Jones. I've seen him do it a couple of times with my own eyes, and in the final round of the 2012 European Championship he decided that giving up a piece for 3 pawns was the right strategy. Of course this is a no-brainer in the ending, but in this case the game was still in the opening stages, where such sacrifices are frowned upon. However an exchange of queens made his task a little easier, and eventually the pawns triumphed.


Ernst,Sipke - Jones,Gawain [A83]
European Championship Plovdiv, 2012

1. d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 c6 5. f3 Qb6 6. fxe4 Qxb2 7. Bd2 Qb6 8. e5 Qxd4 9. Nf3 Qg4 10. exf6 exf6 11. Bd3 d5 12. Qe2+ Qe6 13. Rb1 Qxe2+ 14. Nxe2 Nd7 15. Ned4 Ne5 16. O-O Bc5 17. Kh1 O-O 18. Nb3 Bd6 19. Na5 Nxd3 20. cxd3 Rb8 21. Nd4 Re8 22. h3 Be5 23. Ndb3 Ra8 24. Bf4 c5 25. Rbe1 b6 26. Nc6 Ba6 27. Bxe5 Bxd3 28. Bf4 Bxf1 29. Rxf1 Re6 30. Nb8 a5 31. a4 Kf7 32. Rd1 g5 33. Bh2 Re3 34. Rb1 Re4 35. Nd7 Rb4 36. Bd6 Rc8 37. Rf1 Ke6 38. Bxc5 Rxb3 39. Nf8+ Kf7 40. Bd4 Rxf8 41. Rxf6+ 0-1