MTQ

Material, Time, Quality.

Brought to my attention by Kasparov, I've found the balance among these 3 factors is the foundation of every move & decision in chess.

Making a correct evaluation of a position and then a correct decision requires an understanding of the tradeoffs & relative values of these core elements.

Material - describes the tangible assets
Time - how long it takes to achieve a specific objective
Quality - value

Quality = value? Sure. There are some positions in which a bishop may be of more value than a rook or some in which a particular pawn even more valuable than a piece. Anything if it wins the game.

He says "evaluation trumps calculation".

I'm sure there are better examples but here is one instance where this was part of my play.

White to move.My opponent just played his bishop to h7. I immediately took the knight on f6 with my rook on f1. As you can probably calculate, I got a knight & two pawns for my rook. Even tho it adds up to a rook's numerical value, it was the resulting position as the very reason I gave less value to the rook.

I had been losing the game badly & been outplayed up to that point. This gave me an easy draw from a previously losing position.

You can replay the entire game here.