Simplifying Chess Middlegame: Easy Ways to Find Effective Plans

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Targeting weak pawns and weak squares are another effective middlegame plan. In the following example, Black creates a weak square on d5 after 13...c5, and Botvinnik nicely formulates a middlegame plan around the d5-outpost: www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...
Fischer - Spassky (1992) ful game: www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...

[@davidmchugh7264]

More good material...thank you Dr cab

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Much appreciated!

[@DanielDollinger1959]

Messing up my middle game after my strong opening has been my enemy for almost 50 years. It is evil and it loves torturing me. Thanks for the wonderful ideas. Great presentation as always.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much! I hope this video will take a little sting away from that devil :)

[@TrueBlueAndrew]

Thank you for your videos. It is teaching me things that I never understood about the game before.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

I am so glad to hear this, thank you for your support! 🙏 And please do not hesitate asking any questions along the way!

[@southernrun9048]

Excellent video. Always seems clear when you explain this type of materiel but when playing never see the moves like this. Time for more practice. Thanks

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Glad it was helpful! Time for practice indeed! ☺️

[@CC-ii3ij]

Brilliant! And I couldn’t find the plans in last 3 games.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for your kind feedback ☺️

[@Deadeye1967]

Well done Dr Can on another insightful video, one that I missed. You will be one of the top chess channels in time, you deserve more subs.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for this extremely encouraging comment! ❤️

[@supermario1123]

Great tips as always!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you, your doctor is here to help.

[@masonparkman5567]

Great! Thanks Can

[@Dr.CansClinic]

My pleasure!

[@southernrun9048]

Excellent video with some great learning points.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much!

[@Socrates...]

Thank you so much

[@Dr.CansClinic]

My pleasure.

[@Daniel-G-P]

Fantastic video!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you!

[@luizfernandotesck144]

Very instructive video. I would love to see more.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much! More is surely coming!

[@ahmedgaafar5369]

you are a talented teacher Dr Can. great videos indeed, i just put some of your courses on chessable on my cart....thank you sir.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind comment! I am really glad to have helped you.

[@nhossain]

Really enjoyed your explanation, will keep an eye out for more!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks a lot! Energized to produce more!

[@user-ot8bb3ng7o]

👏💯 really like this hope you can put more, very informative, clarity in explaination,is very important in understanding chess,an its many concepts

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind comment. More is surely coming! :)

[@michaelfortunato1860]

Professor -- Would you comment on the ravens (crows?) in the background?

[@Dr.CansClinic]

I did my Ph.D on the cognitive abilities of the ravens.

[@EliDollinger]

Excellent video. A few questions came to mind when watching: 1. What is the best way to learn typical middlegame plans? 2. Analyzing a position in order to figure out a plan takes time. What do you recommend when playing under time pressure? What do you recommend when playing rapid or blitz? 3. For the attacks shown in the video, how much of it do you think was calculated and how much do you think relied on intuition? How do you develop your intuition?

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you for your comment. 1- I am not sure whether there is a best way, but I would say reading some middle game strategy books would be helpful, together with well annotated master game collections. Also studying some model games from your own openings should be good as you can look at tabiyas and the typical plans in the middle game from your structures. I played Catalan for a long time, and I know how important it is to try to prevent the bad c8-bishop from joining the game. That shapes the large part of the middle game strategy there - of course there are plenty more. 2- General rules of thumb should help in time trouble, such as improving a worst-placed piece and orienting towards the targets/weaknesses. Blitz tests for such fast pattern/chunk recognition and a deep study on the typical plans from your openings can also improve your blitz play. 3- The pawn storm position: g4-g5 requires no real calculation as it is a very logical strategic move that ensures the kingside will open in the future. Alekhine's e4-e5 also did not require much calculation as he is forcing a positional concession after Qe4 to follow. It is rather about the skill of properly evaluating the resulting position after ...f5 exf6 Nxf6. Intuition is developed by immersing yourself with learning chess chunks. Some researches say intuition IS pattern recognition. I will soon upload a video about intuition, so stay tuned! :)

[@EliDollinger]

@@Dr.CansClinic Thank you very much for answering my questions. I eagerly await your next video.

[@ChessBootCamp]

I really wanted to watch this, but the computer fan noise is too much for my sensitive ears. It's a big shame. You can get noise removal in many editing software suites.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

I am so sorry for this technical issue, I solved it now and my future videos won't have this problem.

[@ChessBootCamp]

@@Dr.CansClinic Brilliant, thank you. I only recently discovered your channel and would love to support it, but this is the second video I've tried to watch and then had to abort, unfortunately. Hope you don't mind the feedback.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Not at all, thanks again! This is a long-term project and I will keep producing videos without these technical issues. So please stay tuned! My last video already fixed this problem actually.@@ChessBootCamp

[@ChessBootCamp]

@@Dr.CansClinic Yes, thanks, it's perfect now. I have subscribed by the way. Thanks for putting this content out there.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

@@ChessBootCamp That is great to hear, thanks for the subscription!