But once the pieces are well placed and the opening faze of the game is over, what are the next goals to achieve? That is why it’s such a good idea to make threats, but, and this brings me to the second thing you should do in the middle-game, if you can’t make a threat, then see which of your pieces should be further developed. There are many skills that make a master, but one of the most important is pattern recognition. If king safety is a serious issue, a well-executed attack on the king can render other considerations, including material advantages, irrelevant. As supplementary reading you can also the article on the importance of pawns in chess. #1 - Centralize and coordinate your pieces. That’s why in this lesson I’ll discuss 6 middle-game strategies that you will actually be able to apply in your games right away! Basics of Chess Strategy. Note: This lesson on middle-game strategies is intended as supplementary material to the thinking methods presented in the 10-Day Chess Challenge. Black should move his queen. But now white can make another threat and at the same time develop this rook by bringing it to the open b-file. And since there are so many pieces on the board during the middle-game, it’s easy to overlook something and make a mistake. Page 1"At the middle game stage, there are several key strategical ideas to know and be aware of. Centralize and coordinate your pieces. Materialis another important consideration, Fine notes that—if all other things are equal—any material advantage will usually be decisive. #10 - Don't make unnecessary pawn moves in front of your king. In the middle-game many of the pieces and pawns will eventually leave the board as they get exchanged or capture and when there’s only a few pieces left, we reach the endgame stage. Why is one chess player a struggling club player and another a master? After a successful opening ones pieces should be placed on good-optimal squares both defensively and offensively. January 26, ... Because having your rooks connected is a strong position, a great mid game strategy is to attempt to force your opponent to move their rooks away from each other. Centralize your pieces. Many of these sound great, in theory, but is often very difficult or practically impossible to apply in your own games. When one of your pieces isn’t well developed, as is the case with the rook on f1, then we say that the piece is passive: Passive means that the piece isn’t doing much, and you should try to improve the role of that piece. You should play according to your pawn structure. You see, the thing is, if you make 10 or 20 good moves and then you make one bad move, then all the good moves you made becomes undone. You can make this rook more active by moving it e1: Now at least the rook helps to defend the knight and he is also attacking these important squares in the centre. If you can make a threat it is often a good idea, but of course, you must first check that your opponent doesn’t have any threats against you, otherwise if they do, you must first deal with their threat. White’s knight is very active, and he is well placed in the middle of the board. #3 - When ahead in material, exchange pieces, not pawns. The program has a clear advantage as apposed to a 1 hour lesson, as the student/ reader has the possibility of reading the material as many times as he would like, on his own pace. Lets get back to goal number one which has bean mentioned above-Making use of the pieces on there current squares". In an average middle game position there are about 40-50 legal moves. don’t move your pawns unless you have a good reason to do so and lastly. How should white make use of his knights on the king side? So, if you can’t make any good threats, then try to make your passive pieces more active. Usually most of the fighting action happens during the middle-game. Spend a few minutes, how would you proceed for white, what would your plan be? if an enemy piece gets into your territory, try to chase it away or exchange it. And it is at this point that many chess players find themselves thinking: There is a lot of information available (in books, videos and courses all over the internet) on how to play the middle-game in chess. In the next lesson I will show you how to find good moves in the endgame. I hope you enjoyed this lesson on the practical things you should and should do in the middle-game. 1)Making use of his pieces on there current squares, 2)gaining the upper hand by forcing the opponent to accept a long term disadvantage. How would you make use of whites pieces? Remember these strategies and they will help you find good moves at times when you’re not sure what to do. Sometimes it is acceptable to move this pawn on the side, if it serves a clear purpose: Now let’s shift our attention to the queen-side to explain something. White can make a very good move here: The black rook must go back to a safe square, probably to e5 or e7. The reason for this is that when an enemy piece comes into your territory, then usually that piece becomes very active and that is why it would be a good idea if you can neutralize it, either by chasing it away, or by exchanging it. But if black stayed calm and thought about the move, he would find that he can move the bishop back to e6 and defend the pawn at the same time.