Strategy for comebacks in chess

I had a nice idea and thought it might help someone to share it, because this subject bothered me when I was 1000 - 1300 etc...

Sometimes your opponent just plays well, and not only that, he plays the opening you know best, but he seems to know it better than you. It's now a tough mid game.

What now?

The idea is to prioritize thinking about your opponent's ideas, and force yourself to calculate difficult lines for your opponent, not for your own attack, and also think about his long term strategy and strengths. Actually explain to yourself why his position is good. Why he played well, and respect him.

This may seem obvious but alot of emphasis is normally put on being active and attacking, but you must be aware, objective, and not delusional or over optimistic about your chances. That's how you don't do the comeback. If it's a draw it's a draw, if you are worse you are worse.

Keeping this mindset increases the chance your opponent will make a shocking blunder, even after playing an impressive game prior, or some Blunder that is not normal for the level of your opponent. We all make Blunders that are shocking and far worse than our normal level from time to time.

In this case it was my honest evaluation that his opening prep was better than mine, followed by Strategic attention to his Bishop pair that opened the door, or perhaps provoked: the Blunder.

I hope this helps explain why the Bishop pair is considered so good - potentially.. If they can exploit holes in the pawn structure, especially permanent ones, they can be better than a Queen.

Another example:

Both players played wild an innaccurate game, but in this case it was my opponent's passed pawn which was his asset that I was focusing on. I calculated every single turn that the pawn is going nowhere before considering my own plans.

Different but same idea applies... Strategic battle with both players making mistakes, but understand the bottom line is "four question mark blunder" dosen't come from thin air, it arises from Strategic thinking, focusing on the opponent's plans.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Instead of focusing only on your own plans, invest time in understanding your opponent's strategy. This allows you to find weaknesses in their approach or at least mitigate their strengths.