Is the soviet middle game technique alright for a player rated 1800

i've platued at 1800 i've found, one of the reasons why is that my knowledge of middle game plans is apparently not so good, i came across ramonovskys work and i love the way he writes, what i am worried about is that it might be too advanced for me, if that is too advanced whatbook would you recommend?

hello Kaitov,

sorry for this maybe not related answer, but I've heard from some GMs that is it recommended to improve your tactics up to something like 2500 before reading any middle game/strategy books

"The Middle Game In Chess" by Reuben Fine...A classic... but it covers middle game "basics and concepts" very well. All chess players plateau out...If you absorb the info in this book...I guarantee your level of play will improve. You are not rated to low for this book. Among accomplished chess players...the middle game is where the game is won or lost...it truly separates the "men from the boys"...in the abyss of middle game. Its a really thick book. :]

as @CheckmateDelivery you should most definately go after tactics first. I reccommend "My System" by Nimzowitzh (Dm me)

I read that people write books to make money. Be wary of all books.

Actually many good trainers don't even believe that a novice must start from tactics(but that's another topic) so all this about getting 2500 first in tactics is just a nonsense from GMs that want easy money. When tactics trainers didn't existed how people trained in tactics? And how did they know if they were good enough? Without tactics trainers tactical geniuses like Morphy, Tal, Fischer and Kasparov were created , how did that happen. Even cognitive scientists don't believe in the effectiveness of tactics trainers.
So first , tactics trainers are not even necessary. A good book and a real board are just fine. Tactics are about understanding , they are not about getting a meaningless number.

Now about Romanovsky's books. Chess is not really knowledge it's skills. If you are learning without developing skills you don't do much.It doesn't matter so much what you study. What matters is how you study it.You must study on a real board , try to calculate the lines , then play the lines on the board. You must try to understand the moves and what the author tries to explain. Don't try to finish the book , stay in a position one , two or more days if you can't understand it. It is important to be sure that you fully understand what the author explains before you move on. If you find Romanovsky difficult maybe some other books that will explain you the basic strategic concepts will help.

Pawn structure Chess by Soltis and Pachman's 3 books "Complete Chess Strategy" are all time classics. You can't go wrong with them.

Good luck!

I would go for the Romanovsky book. A book cannot be too advanced. It can be too simple or it can be wrong. You Always get something out if it and you can go back to it later.

@Emdryo "My System" is about strategy. Does not really match you recommendatin about tactics first. But even at low level you need both skills. You cannot IM level tactician unless you know how build those situation where tactics appear

@petri999 ah yeah, my mistake. I reccomend Bent Larsen's Mixed edition of his three books, including find the plan. It is quite good