The Middle Game and Beyond

The middle game is the meat of chess, where the bulk of the chess game is played and where you are on your own in the position. It is extremely rare, if not impossible, to find the same middle game played out in two separate games. This is why having a knowledge of how to formulate a plan, and how to find candidate moves, is crucial.

“Any plan at all, even a bad plan, is better than none” - An Encyclopedia of Gardening (1824), John Claudius Loudon.

In the middle game you have to decide where you want the game to go: what weakness in your opponents position to exploit, coordinating your pieces for an attack on the king, targeting material and more. There are so many different types of plans that can be made, so deciding what to do during the game can be challenging. If it’s an e4 game and your pieces are positioned toward the enemy king (if you have developed pieces on the side the king is) than you may want to consider going for kingside weaknesses or launch an attack on the king. If it’s a d4 game and your pieces are targeted towards the queen side or scattered, than a plan that focuses on queenside weaknesses or a queenside attack.

These are kind of vague examples but that is intended, as it gives you a general idea of what you look at when deciding what to do in a position. To find more in detail explanations and examples, please refer to chess.com lessons, YouTube videos, or articles for more information.

Candidate moves are the moves you consider playing in the current position, and the general advice is that you take two or three moves that you deem interesting and calculate them out, which not only prevents the horrors of tunnel vision but also allows you to find a good move in the position. This is a skill that’s more in the moment, so for some people it’s easier than making plans. There is a great course on chess.com done on candidate moves, but you may also find resources on YouTube, and the occasional article.

When you take into account the plan when finding candidate moves, the game you play starts to flow more smoothly and you’ll likely start crushing opponents who wait for you to blunder, and your chess will improve significantly. Go look up these concepts and delve deeper, it will help! Have a good night and thanks for reading <3