Eade, James. “Making
Headway during the Middlegame.” Chess for Dummies, For Dummies,
2016, pp. 227–262.
For my final blog post I will talk about tips for the middlegame. To begin, the middlegame is the most difficult part of chess to play due to the lack of strategies. Here is how James Eade describes it, "The middlegame commences after the pieces are developed and the opening phase of the game ends.You don't have an arsenal of theory for use the middlegame as you do in openings and endings" (Eade 227). Unlike the opening and the endgame where you have plenty of formations and strategies to help you, in the middlegame you're mostly on your own. Luckily, there is still a few principles to follow. Here are a few basic principles you can follow by:
- Attack if you control the center
- Attack if you control more space
- Keep your knights near the center
- Exchange piece to help defense (Less pieces trapping each other)
- Advance pawns to open up the back line
During the middlegame you need to be able to judge a position this means instead of just moving pieces around, plan ahead. Even a simple plan can help such as this one provided by Eade, "I'm going to advance my pawns and weaken my opponent's pawns and then attack them with my pieces" (Eade 228).
Here is an example of me playing during the middlegame. Since most pieces have been captured there's a lack of formations on both side. With very little to guide you during the middlegame it is considered the most creative part of chess (Eade 227).
Question: Do you think what you learned during this blogging project will have a large impact on your life?
I like the example of you playing during the middlegame. Do you have a strategy on how you can save your pieces from being captured?
ReplyDeleteHello Jerico, thank you for taking your time to comment on my blog. To answer your question, there aren't specific strategies to save your pieces from being captured but you can always look one step ahead and ask yourself the question "Will my piece(s) get captured if I move it into this square?" I hope my advice can help you in your future games.
Deletethis was a very in-lighting post. what do you recommend to do when your opponent takes over the middle and you have lost all of your pawns?
ReplyDeleteHello Jacob, I'm glad you found this post interesting. The situation you described seems very difficult to recover from but that doesn't mean a loss is guaranteed. If you are lucky and the opponent makes a big mistake you could turn the game around by taking over the middle with the pieces you have left and slowly take back the game. However, if your opponent plays carefully you'll have to try and create a stalemate. You can do this by forcing your opponent to put you into a situation where you can't make a move. An example would be your king not being able to move because all surrounding squares would put your king into check. Corners are often good for this tactic since it eliminates limits the amount of legal squares your king can move to but be careful since it could also make it easier for the opponent to win.
DeleteHi Jay, to answer your question, I think that my project will definitely have an impact on my life. Since I am learning the piano, it has taught me to read complex music. On top of that, I no longer will look at the piano with a sense of mystery and intrigue, but a feeling of familiarity. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHello, Nathan thanks for commenting on my post. Like you by learning more about chess, I also don't view it with a sense of mystery and intrigue anymore. Yet I still don't feel familiar with chess. Hopefully, I can attain that sense as I continue to delve into this subject.
DeleteI like the post Jay. I always have trouble with the mid-game, since I prefer some clear structure and strategy, which as you explained the mid-game lacks. But the short list that you have really helped to give me a better idea of how the mid-game is meant to be played.
ReplyDelete