Lesson 19: Middle Game

WHEN AT PEACE - you should use strategy/positional play to develop your army as a whole and create more opportunities for when you battle

(use this pneumonic to remember your priorities when developing = "Check And Shuffle") 

1) check, 2) anticipated defence (paraphylaxis), 3) Shuffle - find your worst placed piece and ask yourself where would it be ideally placed OR find any strategically important or weak spots and overdefend it (a good defence will always have one more defender than the number of pieces attacking - so if there are no pieces threatening  have 1 defender, if 1 piece threatens it you MUST have at least 2 defenders - 1 is insufficient and is a tactical weakness)

Tip#1: Naturally there are some areas where pieces work best and others where they cannot perform their best:

• keep one rook on the back rank to protect the castled king & provide support to passed pawns. 
• a knight on f6 best protects a castled king (on g6) 
• Pawns should capture towards the centre
• the centre (defend it with pawns) is the best place for ALL pieces except the rooks (who are the only pieces that work equally well on the rim) similarly, keep all other pieces away from the  rims and corners
• rooks should use open files to penetrate the back or 7th rank (to trap the enemy king from escaping)! Bishops should use open diagonals in a similar manner - fiancettos are good. 
• a Knight is well placed on a defended outpost to fork enemy pieces 

Tip#2: connecting your pieces helps your army to work together for greater attacks and also keeps every piece defended by something (There are some connections that work well and some to avoid: 

• Pawns are best used as defenders of main pieces or as walls (know that the weakness of a pawn chain is at its base & always avoid isolated pawns
•  Knights work wellside-by-side or behind /diagonally behind a pawn (either your own passed pawn, to block an enemy pawn, or on an outpost behind an enemy pawn)- but avoid defending knights with knights as it ties them down!
• Rooks behind enemy passed pawns blockade them and get ready to occupy an open file if that pawn moves to another file an dif  behind friendly passed pawns provide support 
• Bishops side by side are very strong (horwitz bishops), 
• Rooks lined up OR Bishops lined up diagonally are strong (battery) -
• Avoid lining up the King and Queen and avoid lining up other pieces with the King or queen (except bishops or rooks in the case where the queen is behind)as this is a recipe to get pinned

WHEN IN BATTLE - You should use tactics

(use this pneumonic to remember your tactical arsenal = "Double Check For Pin, Discover Threats SeConD")

1) double attack (a piece being double attacked must avoid / cannot be blocked), 2) check, 3) fork, 4) pin (a pinned piece poses no threats), 5) discovered attack (a discovered attack on the King means all other pieces pose no threats), 6) threats, 7) sacrifice, 8) concentration of superior force, 9) defender

You should always  go into battle with a mini plan/goal in mind your plan can be based on a position you'd like to have  - perhaps one that foils your enemies plan OR one that prepares you for a winning endgame - and be creative in how you combine tactics together to achieve it (whilst exploiting any weak squares in your enemies position or defending pieces (especially overburdoned ones) -if there are any - if not create som - perhaps with a sacrifice that changes your enemies pawn structure?e!).  -  and dont worry if your plan gets foiled by the opponent, just  change plans