Middlegame Strategy Essentials
How to find a plan when there is no tactic · by Kapilash Chess Academy
How strong players make plans: good and bad pieces, weak squares and outposts, open files, bishops against knights, the isolated queen's pawn, hanging pawns, the minority attack, pawn breaks, prophylaxis, exchanges and weaknesses. Every position comes from a real opening, and every line and exercise has been checked with a chess engine.
Lessons
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1
How to Make a Plan — Four questions before every planOpen →
The four questions that describe any position: material, king safety, piece activity and pawn structure; improving your worst piece; the classic knight tour Nbd2–f1–g3.
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2
Good and Bad Pieces — Bishops, knights and pawn chainsOpen →
Good and bad bishops; the knight on an outpost; the French bishop and the Sveshnikov knight on d5; how pawn structure decides the value of each piece.
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3
Weak Squares and Outposts — Holes in the enemy campOpen →
Holes and weak squares; the fight for d5 in the Najdorf; the e5 hole in the Stonewall; exchanging the defender of a weak square.
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4
Open Files and the Seventh Rank — How rooks get into the gameOpen →
Rooks on open and half-open files; the d-file after opposite-side castling; the power of a rook on the seventh rank and back-rank tricks.
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5
Bishops against Knights — Which minor piece is better?Open →
When bishops beat knights and when knights beat bishops; the bishop pair; the Exchange Ruy Lopez: bishops against a pawn majority.
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6
The Isolated Queen's Pawn — Attack with it, or blockade itOpen →
The isolated queen's pawn: activity, outposts and the attack on h7 for one side; blockade and exchanges for the other.
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7
Hanging Pawns — Two pawns side by sideOpen →
Hanging pawns: how to attack them and when they are strong; the famous sixth game of Fischer–Spassky, Reykjavik 1972.
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8
The Carlsbad Structure and the Minority Attack — Two pawns attack threeOpen →
The Carlsbad structure from the Queen's Gambit Exchange; the b4–b5 minority attack; Black's counterplay on the kingside.
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9
Space and Pawn Breaks — Opening the position at the right momentOpen →
Space and pawn breaks; attacking the pawn chain at its base; the race on opposite wings in the King's Indian.
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10
Prophylaxis — What does my opponent want?Open →
Prophylactic thinking: what does my opponent want?; why 9.h3 in the Ruy Lopez; freeing exchanges in the Lasker Defence.
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11
The Art of Exchanging — Which pieces to tradeOpen →
Which pieces to exchange and which to keep; trading bad pieces and defenders; exchanges when ahead, when cramped and when attacking.
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12
Weaknesses and the Second Weakness — How to win a strategic battleOpen →
Doubled, backward and isolated pawns as targets; fix, attack, win; the principle of two weaknesses.
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13
Test Yourself — Mixed middlegame positionsOpen →
Mixed middlegame positions from every structure in this course: find the strongest move.