Practical chances

Practical chances describe how difficult it will be to convert an advantage into a win or defend a position under real playing conditions. They account for limited time, incomplete calculation, and human error. An objectively lost position can therefore still offer realistic ways to make the opponent's task difficult, even though its objective evaluation, the judgment based on the strongest replies for both sides, has not changed.

What creates practical chances

• Active threats that require precise replies.
• Several difficult decisions, especially with little time left.
• Unfamiliar or unbalanced positions with risks around both kings.
• Hidden resources, changes in pawn arrangement, or changes of phase that turn the position into a different kind of problem.

Practical chances do not alter the truth of the position. An objectively inferior move may be a sensible practical choice when it creates the only realistic route to save a game, but it may also lose faster. The player must compare that risk with the required result, the opponent's likely difficulties, and the clock.

An unclear position may give both sides many practical chances. In a clearly lost position, the defender usually seeks a difficult test instead of allowing a simple conversion.