Chess Strategy: Imbalances and Plans
How to decide what to do when there is no tactic · by Kapilash Chess Academy
Learn to read a position the way strong players do: list the imbalances, then play to make them count. The fight for the centre, development and the initiative, playing where your pawns point, majorities and passed pawns, the blockade, colour complexes, restriction, opposite-coloured bishops, static against dynamic advantages and transforming an advantage. Every example and all 131 exercises have been checked with a chess engine.
Lessons
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1
Thinking in Imbalances — How strong players decide what to doOpen →
The imbalances that describe every position; How to compare them for both sides; How a plan grows out of the imbalances.
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2
The Fight for the Centre — Occupy it, control it, or attack itOpen →
Why the centre matters; The classical centre and the hypermodern answer; When to support your centre and when to advance it.
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3
Development, Time and the Initiative — Every tempo countsOpen →
What a tempo is worth; How a lead in development turns into an attack; Gaining time by attacking pieces.
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4
Play Where Your Pawns Point — The pawn chain shows the wayOpen →
How a pawn chain divides the board; Why each side attacks on a different wing; Attacking a chain at its base.
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5
Pawn Majorities and Passed Pawns — Creating a passed pawn and pushing itOpen →
What a pawn majority is; How to turn a majority into a passed pawn; The outside passed pawn.
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6
The Blockade — Stopping a passed pawnOpen →
Why a passed pawn must be stopped; Which piece is the best blockader; How to remove a blockader.
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7
Colour Complexes — Light squares, dark squaresOpen →
What a colour complex is; What happens when a bishop leaves the board; Placing pawns on the right colour.
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8
Restriction and Domination — Take away your opponent’s squaresOpen →
How to restrict an enemy piece; Knights on the rim and how to keep them there; Domination: a piece with no safe square.
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9
Opposite-Coloured Bishops in the Middlegame — Drawish in the endgame, dangerous in the middlegameOpen →
Why opposite-coloured bishops favour the attacker; Attacking on the colour of your bishop; Defending with opposite-coloured bishops.
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10
Static and Dynamic Advantages — Material, structure and the initiativeOpen →
Static advantages: material and structure; Dynamic advantages: activity and initiative; When a pawn sacrifice is justified.
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11
Transforming an Advantage — Changing one advantage into anotherOpen →
Why advantages must sometimes change form; Exchanging into a winning endgame; Turning pressure into material.
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12
Test Yourself — Mixed strategic positionsOpen →
Apply everything from this course; Find the move that suits the imbalances.