Some General Guidelines on the Middlegame

The middlegame is the hardest to define. There are billions of possibilities which can happen in a middlegame, so precise predictions or analyses cannot work here. However, we have provided some information here on the middlegame and we hope it proves useful to you.

Attack and Defence

You must think for both sides. I would guess that the vast majority of decisive mistakes in amateur play are not misjudgements (like "I thought my attack would be faster than yours!") but oversights ("Oops - missed that one!"). Someone once said that you will never overcome blunders by effort alone (what you need is a trained eye), which is surely true, but you must also put in the effort! If you never try to work out what your opponent might be doing, you will never find out until it is too late. Chess is a tense game. This tension may make you want to believe things that aren't really true, and comfort yourself with things that mean you don't have to think too hard any more. Not a bit of it!

Remember:
1. Every position is capable of being ruined.
2. Minor details can affect the outcome.
3. If there is only one way you can lose, make sure you secure against it.
4. If the position changes, re-assess your previous conclusions.
5. Actively search for danger as a routine part of your choice of move.

Danger signs include:
1. Leaving the King without sufficient support from other pieces.
2. Weakness of the eighth rank.
3. Entering a lasting pin.
4. Poisoned Pawns.
5. Placing pieces without escape routes.

You mustn't ignore genuine threats, but don't be panicked or distracted by them. Don't worry needlessly, resulting in panic and retreat - you need to keep active and keep counterplay. Take nothing for granted. Don't fret needlessly - analyse and find out if there is a win for your opponent. If your opponent is going to threaten mate (meaning that the best they can achieve is a one move threat that can be easily contained), you do need to react, but don't worry needlessly; carry on with your own plans. There are some "clockwork" attacks that will eventually produce checkmate if left alone, but usually the best recipe is to counterattack, even if you do have to stop from time to time to counter a mating threat. In particular, don't panic and refuse sacrificed material that you could have for free. Don't decline "on principle". That is declining from fear, not knowledge. Play the strongest move, which may well be to take the material and make your opponent prove their judgement was correct. Neither should you be over-impressed by your own threats. An attack by one piece on another is meaningless in itself. Equally, don't assume that a stock combination or sacrifice works for you in the position you have today - small differences can make it fail. Don't hope vainly - analyse and find out. Don't allow counterplay, e.g. a counterattack, if you don't have to. Defensive play is difficult, and playing the downside of a position without active chances of your own is doubly so.

Strategical Advice

Don't seek or avoid exchanges without good reason. Exchanges are just moves, they make changes, and you must assess these changes. Many players exchange almost by reflex, because when learning chess we may become anxious about leaving exchanges "on", in case we leave the piece or pawn undefended later, and as such, do not like the tension of unresolved exchange possibilities. A mark of maturity in a player is the capacity to manage tension in the position.
Quiet positions demand patience. They are not to be abandoned as a draw or played carelessly - you must learn to concentrate and outplay your opponent in these positions as well as when it's very tactical.
Accumulation theory: even if you have several advantages, don't be too confident to pick up another.

We hope that you will benefit from the advice given here about middlegames. This is the second-last page in the International Chess section. You can go to the last page, Endgames, by clicking on the link.