Chess

Chess Middle Games

Before the endgame, the gods have placed the middle game. - Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch

Whether formulating a deep plan or calculating a tricky combination, you need to be well rounded in all facets of this most difficult phase.

Tactical puzzles

Click on a Puzzle set for seven puzzles of the type and difficulty indicated. Solutions are with each puzzle set.

Type	Level	Puzzle sets
Basic tactics	Easy	01  02
	Intermediate	01  02  03
	Difficult	01
Checkmate combinations	Easy	01  02  03
	Intermediate	01  02  03
	Difficult	01
Combinations for material	Easy	01  02  03
	Intermediate	01  02  03
Combinations for the draw	Easy	01

Try to solve all puzzles in a set without looking at the solutions. Then check the solutions. Go back to the puzzles without solutions and make sure you can solve each one. When you can see the solutions to all puzzles, you've mastered that set!

Articles

• Part 1 : Pattern recognition is one of the skills that makes a master. It's not inherent; it's learned. Why is one chess player a struggling club player and another a master?
• Part 2 : 'The Middle Game is chess in excelsis, the most beautiful part of the game, in which a lively imagination can exercise itself most fully and creatively in conjuring up magnificent combinations.' - Tarrasch
• Part 3 : 'The games of the the great masters are not played by single moves, but by concerted plans of attack and defence.' - Capablanca

• Double attacks : Tactics start to flow when one move does two or more things. For a deeper look into double attacks, our guide is Chess Tactics for Advanced Players by Yuri Averbakh. Don't be put off by the word advanced. Averbakh's advice is for everyone!
• Open lines : Open lines are the streets and roads the line pieces use to move around a chessboard. Paul Morphy showed us that tactics and combinations have a positional basis. He used pieces placed on open lines to strike quickly and decisively at his opponent's weaknesses.
• King safety : The loss of the King means loss of the game. The player whose King is well protected has a big advantage over an opponent whose King is poorly protected. Here's the why, when, and where to castle.