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I've seen many books devoted to chess opening and to the endgame, but not so many that are devoted to the middle game. Why is this? It's probably because the middle game is the most complicated one in chess. If you don't know how to play the middle game well, you may not survive long.

One way to improve your middle game is simply to study the games of grandmasters. Players such as Tigran Petrosian and Anatoly Karpov are masters of the art of doing nothing. This means that they are excellent at capitalizing on their opponents' mistakes. They know how to encourage them to go wrong. They are also known as positional players. They simply go about improving their position on the board and try to gain small advantages which they later hope to exploit in the endgame. These types of players are often happy to win a game with the advantage of just a single pawn.

Other players, however, prefer to win with tactics. They may sacrifice a piece to gain a superior pawn structure or to expose the enemy king. It's an excellent idea to become familiar with tactics such as forks, pins, skewers and sacrifices.

In the middlegame, it's very important to formulate a plan and stick with it unless there's a very good reason to change it. Top players always look for weaknesses in their opponent's game and do their best to exploit them. One piece of advice is to research an opponent's games to become familiar with his/her style. Top players usually do extensive research in preparation for a match.

Though the middlegame can vary greatly from match to match and is very complex, here are a few useful tips. To avoid the danger of a backrank mate, move one of the pawns in front of your king. The term for this is making "luft". This is the German word for "air" and simply means that you give your king an escape square if he is checked on the backrank. Before going on a full-scale attack against the enemy king, make sure that you have consolidated your pieces and have enough firepower for the attack. Many beginners make the mistake of launching an attack without enough firepower. Also, pay attention to the dark and light squares of the chess board. If your opponent is weak on the light squares because he doesn't have a light-squared bishop and you do, consider placing your pawns on light squares where your opponent's bishop can't attack them. This will help to control the light squares on the board.

The middlegame is a very important part of chess. It is very important to develop a plan and stick with it unless there are good reasons for changing it. Consolidating your pieces before starting an attack and exploiting weaknesses in your opponent's position are two useful tips for improving your middle game.

Learn more about this author, Les Zsoldos.
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