Originally posted by gritI recently finished "The Amateur Mind" and "The Reassess Your Chess Workbook" by Jeremy Silman, and I have to say they're fantastic! Humourous and well-written, and illuminating at the same time. I've been playing chess (poorly!) for years, and I feel like an entire new world has opened up before my eyes.
What are some good books on how to plan in chess for a beginner plus/intermediate? Tactics are a must, but what if you have no plan of what to do after the opening?
grit
Highly recommended. 🙂
Judgement and planning in chess by Euwe is good, for the basics of planning. It goes through the stages of how to evaluate a position and form a plan.
Also The Art of the middlegame by Kotov and Keres.( with golombek). This is also useful.
These are the only two on planning I have (I suppose My System - Nimzowitch could be included). I should point out I have only skimmed these books and not studied them, hence my rating!
Originally posted by gritThe best advice I've seen regarding your question is Dan Heisman's two Novice Nook articles below. (There's a tremendous amount of good, free information on his web site.)
What are some good books on how to plan in chess for a beginner plus/intermediate? Tactics are a must, but what if you have no plan of what to do after the opening?
grit
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman19.pdf
Dan's site:
http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Main_Chess/chess.htm
Originally posted by robbie carrobieRobbie, I have Purdy's book! I have also his Guide to Good Chess which I am now reading. I have not yet gotten into the Search for Chess Perfection. Is there a bit in it that would help me with planning?
J C S Purdy, the search for chess perfection, probably the most lucid chess writer that I have read, funnier than greenpawn on red nose day and immensely less condescending than Silman
You are right about what a delightful writer he is.
grit
Originally posted by gritYes, its like a much more expansive version of Guide to good chess. He shows with reference how the 'key', to each position may be attained from a correct evaluation of the position, and how this facilitates the planning process. For example, here is a position from a game Sultan Khan (black) and Tartakover, black to make his 16th move
Robbie, I have Purdy's book! I have also his Guide to Good Chess which I am now reading. I have not yet gotten into the Search for Chess Perfection. Is there a bit in it that would help me with planning?
You are right about what a delightful writer he is.
grit
whites last move 16.a3 invites black to win a pawn, but the combination is superficial, because after 16... Bxa3 17. Nxb5 axb5 18. bxa3 Rxc2 19. Rb1 Rc5 20. Be2 Rxe5 20. Bxb5, white seems to have recovered a field of action and perhaps even the initiative. thus black wisely declines!
a correct evaluation based on strengths and weaknesses helps the planning process, in this position what are they? whites great strength is his e5 pawn which cramps blacks game, his weakness the queens wing, blacks strengths, his two bishops which wanted open lines and his weakness the backward d pawn. thus how may black undermine whites advanced post at e5? a simple three move positional plan, Be7, f6, and if exf6, Bxf6, thus black is able through a correct evaluation of the strengths and weakness of the position able to avoid a superficial combination, exploit his opponents weakness, undermine his strengths and establish his own. thus the game went
16...Be7, 17.Rd2 f6, 18.exf6 Bxf6 - the cramping effect has disappeared and black is bearing down on whites weak queenswing, white is now forced to waste time with Nd1 and c3, while black after 0-0 and d5, can prepare an ultimate breakthrough on queens wing by a pawn advance.
while this example was provided by Purdy to show the futility of going for a superficial combination, it provides a little insight into the planning process, there are other examples which demonstrate the process more fully. the greatest benefits of this book are that it provides a framework for recognizing, through the thought process, not only how a position may be evaluated, but also when a combination may be deemed to be acceptable or not, based on geometric motif. i have the Silman books, but this book is just so enjoyable and practical i would without a moments hesitation recommend it to anybody. it covers planning, but also much more. if you enjoyed guide to good chess, your gonna love this!
CHESS TRAPS FOR CATCHING SAPS by me.
The plan being, set a trap and your opponent will fall into it.
Joking aside.
There is no mystic to planning, most of us do it all the time.
We see a situation and plan how to take advantage of it or defend against it.
We play a series of mini-plans which are often interupted with tactical breaks.
Very rarely does one plan cover the whole game.
The following game is an exception. My plan lasted 36 moves.
The moment my opponent played 7...e5 I decided I would swap
everything off leaving him with a bad Bishop (his King's Bishop) v a Good Knight.
And that is how it panned out. I picked up the backward pawn
on the open file, I think my opponent had too much faith in the
'myth of the Two Bishops' and coasted in.
The Bishop did eventually get free but it had no targets - the winner
was the outside passed a-pawn.
Note the wee trap I avoided - 19.Nxe5 Rxe4 wins for Black.
Easy to spot because in these situations I rarely grab the pawn,
it would only free the Bishop. and that was not part of the plan.
It's not the greatest game in the world but it's given to show
even hackers like me (us) can make lengthy plans and think along
strategic lines.
Originally posted by greenpawn34what a beautiful played strategic game, not bad for an old hacker! here the evaluation of the position was based on minor pieces, in this case bishop v knight, and my goodness how that bishop suffered! of course one also notices that after 11.Qxd6 white has a pawn majority on queenside which will also lead to advantageous endgame, thus greenpawns plan of exchanging pieces was most justifiable from this perspective as well.
[b]CHESS TRAPS FOR CATCHING SAPS by me.
The plan being, set a trap and your opponent will fall into it.
Joking aside.
There is no mystic to planning, most of us do it all the time.
We see a situation and plan how to take advantage of it or defend against it.
We play a series of mini-plans which are often interupted with tactical breaks.
V a4 Kc5d6 40. Kc3c4 f6 41. b6 Kd6c6 42. b7 Kc6xb7 43. Kc4b5[/pgn][/b]