The Everything Chess Basics Book (38 page)

Types of Plans

Of course the ultimate idea behind all plans is to eventually get a checkmate, or at least to avoid getting checkmated. But a plan to checkmate can be successful only if there is some way to get at the opposing king. Against an experienced opponent, that sort of situation isn’t easy to set up. So during most of the game, you will be working with more modest goals.

There are literally hundreds of books on strategy and planning in chess that are available in your local library or through the USCF or the Internet. Chess magazines of all types usually have a section or several articles devoted to this very important aspect of the game. Even computers are getting into the act, with software available that teaches how to form and carry out a game plan.

A typical early strategic plan is to bring out all your pieces in order to control the center. Once you have accomplished that, the next stage might be to force a breach in your opponent’s pawns or to get a bishop pair on an open board working against two knights or a bishop and a knight. Or you might work to create a passed pawn or to get a powerful knight posted in your opponent’s territory. Another strategic goal could be to double up your rooks on a file in order to penetrate into your opponent’s half of the board. Or it could be simply to expose the enemy king to an attack.

Carrying out the Plan

Once you get the hang of forming strategic plans, your only trouble will be carrying them out. The problem is that your opponent probably doesn’t want you to carry out your plan, so will try to stop you. It’s something like deciding to walk to the corner store in an unfriendly neighborhood or in the middle of a blizzard. You can do it, but it requires courage, persistence, and preparation.

When you have the advantage, you must attack, or you will lose your advantage. But beware of two things: First, make sure you really have a big advantage. Second, make sure you can find a way to continue the attack. Otherwise, your advantage can disappear through timidity or poor tactics.

Your strategic plans have to be realistic, or you’ll never be able to carry them out. At the same time, plans that are too modest won’t get you very far either, even if you do carry them out. For instance, if you plan to draw your game, the trouble is that you just might succeed. In such a case you never had a chance to win because you never tried.

Seeing Ahead

All plans, whether short-term or long-term, require that you see into the future at least a bit. You have to be able to predict what the chances of success will be with any given plan. With a combination, as long as it isn’t too complex, you can often see right through to the end of the captures and threats. Then it’s a matter of counting up what is left and assessing the results. A strategic plan is often harder to see through to conclusion before you begin because there are so many things that can go wrong when you don’t account for specifics.

A great way to carry out a strategic theme is to use threats and combinations to back up your theme. The following game fragment is a case in point:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 c5 4. e3 a6 5. Bxc4 b5

Position after 5. ... b5.

White has completed the first part of his plan from the beginning. He has developed bishop and knight aggressively and controls the center. Meanwhile, Black has only moved pawns. Not a single Black piece is moved yet.

But White is confronted with a dilemma. His bishop is under attack. What to do? It feels wrong to retreat the bishop when White has the only pieces in play and controls the center. The strategic plan demands an attack.

So common sense and tactics come to the aid of strategy. White
controls the a2-g8 diagonal. Black’s king is the only defender of his f7-pawn, which is on that diagonal. The a8-h1 diagonal also beckons, since Black has an undefended rook sitting there at a8, and White has a queen ready to go to f3. There is a very nice, strong central outpost for White’s knight on e5.

Can we make use of all these features of the position? Yes, we can, with the following combination:
6. Bxf7+
. White sacrifices bishop for pawn with the idea of bringing the Black king out into the open, vulnerable to a White knight on e5 and a White queen on f3.

6.
... Kxf7 7. Ne5+ Ke8 8. Qf3.

White threatens checkmate on f7 and the en prise a8-rook. One of them will have to go.

8.
... Nf6 9. Qxa8.

And White has won the Exchange for a pawn, and exposed the Black king as well.

Another way to carry out the same idea is with a different move order: 6. Ne5. White threatens 7. Bxf7 checkmate.

6. ... bxc4 7. Qf3

Now White threatens 8. Qxf7 checkmate as well as the en prise rook.

!7. ... Nf6 8. Qxa8.

And White has won the Exchange.

What if my opponent doesn’t go along with my plan?
If your plan is good, this shouldn’t matter. A good plan takes all reasonable moves and plans into account. If your opponent tries something unreasonable, chances are it will be bad, and he just did you a favor. But if his move is both good and unexpected, you should take time out to reassess the situation. You might also have resources that you didn’t foresee.

Planning Greater Force

A frequent strategic plan is to win material. This comes in different forms, ranging from winning a free pawn to winning the Exchange to promoting a pawn and thus all of a sudden going up a whole queen. This kind of plan will only work under the right conditions, however. And such plans often run the risk of allowing your opponent a different kind of advantage, such as giving her more squares or a good attacking position.

Conditions for Winning Material

In order to have a reasonable amount of success with a plan of winning material you have to have some idea of what material you are going to win. And that material must be weakened in some way. The material you’re after should meet one or more of the following conditions. It should be:

• Underdefended

• Undefended

• Exposed

• Too far away

• Unable to move

Under those conditions, you should have a reasonable chance of winning the desired material.

In the last example, the a8-rook was undefended and exposed, so it should not be surprising that White was able to plan for its capture.

What Are You Giving Up?

This one is harder to judge. Again in the last example, Black tried to win the White bishop. The problem with his plan was that it succeeded! His win of the bishop ultimately cost him his king’s safety, the center, and his poor exposed rook.

There are pieces and pawns left unattended every day that are best left alone. One example should suffice:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Bf4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Qe7.

Position after 6. ... Qe7.

Black has been bringing out new pieces with every turn, focusing on the e5-pawn, and is now poised to win it. This will recover the pawn he sacrificed back on move two. White decides to mess up the Black plan by threatening to capture the bishop on b4, which certainly seems like a reasonable thing to do.