Understanding Chess Middlegames

Cover......Page 1
Copyright © John Nunn 2011......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 10
Myths of the Middlegame......Page 12
Interconnectedness......Page 19
Material Imbalances (01 - 12)......Page 24
01 Advantage of the Exchange......Page 27
02 Rook vs Two Minor Pieces......Page 29
03 Piece for Three Pawns......Page 31
04 Queen vs Rook and Minor Piece......Page 33
05 Queen vs Two Rooks......Page 35
06 Queen vs Three Minor Pieces......Page 37
07 Queen vs Two Minor Pieces......Page 39
08 Playing with an Extra Pawn......Page 41
09 Playing with a Pawn Less......Page 43
10 Bishop vs Knight (1)......Page 45
11 Bishop vs Knight (2)......Page 47
12 The Two Bishops......Page 49
Strategy (13 - 22)......Page 51
13 Creating a Plan......Page 53
14 When You Can't Think of a Plan......Page 55
15 Central Pawns......Page 57
16 Improving Piece Position......Page 59
17 Space Advantage......Page 61
18 Manoeuvring......Page 63
19 Liquidating to an Endgame......Page 65
20 Using the Whole Board......Page 67
21 The Minority Attack......Page 69
22 I nferior Positions......Page 71
Activity (23 - 36)......Page 73
23 The Curse of Passivity......Page 75
24 The Initiative......Page 77
25 Open Files......Page 79
26 The Seventh Rank......Page 81
27 Outposts......Page 83
28 The Dominant Knight......Page 85
29 Misplaced Piece......Page 87
30 Good and Bad Bishops......Page 89
31 When a Bad Bishop is Good......Page 91
32 Opening Lines......Page 93
33 Positional Pawn Sacrifices......Page 95
34 Liberating Moves......Page 97
35 Positional Exchange Sacrifices......Page 99
36 Other Positional Sacrifices......Page 101
Attacking Play (37 - 58)......Page 103
37 King in the Centre......Page 105
38 The Bxh7+ Sacrifice (1)......Page 107
39 The Bxh7+ Sacrifice (2)......Page 109
40 Disaster on g7......Page 111
41 The Bxh6 Sacrifice......Page 113
42 The Weak f7-Square......Page 115
43 The Nd5 Sacrifice in the Sicilian......Page 117
44 The Bxe6 Sacrifice in the Sicilian......Page 119
45 The Nf5 Sacrifice in the Sicilian......Page 121
46 ... Rxc3 in the Sicilian......Page 123
47 Castling on Opposite Sides......Page 125
48 The Rook-Lift......Page 127
49 Advancing Pawns against the Enemy King......Page 129
50 Bringing up the Reserves......Page 131
51 Excluding Defensive Pieces......Page 133
52 Opening Files against the King......Page 135
53 Attack against the Fianchetto......Page 137
54 The Deadly Long Diagonal......Page 139
55 Marginal Sacrifices......Page 141
56 Breakthrough to the King......Page 143
57 The All-Out Attack......Page 145
58 Surprise Moves......Page 147
Defensive Play 59 - 66)......Page 149
59 The Risks of Attacking......Page 151
60 Exchanging Attacking Pieces......Page 153
61 Avoiding Weaknesses......Page 155
62 The Defensive Sacrifice......Page 157
63 Coolness under Fire......Page 159
64 Running with the King......Page 161
65 Counter-Attack......Page 163
66 Don't Panic!......Page 165
Pawn-Structure (67 - 80)......Page 167
67 Isolated Pawns......Page 169
68 The IQP......Page 171
69 Hanging Pawns......Page 173
70 Doubled Pawns......Page 175
71 Two Bishops vs Doubled Pawns......Page 177
72 Backward Pawns......Page 179
73 Pawn-Islands......Page 181
74 Weak Colour Complex......Page 183
75 The Central Passed Pawn......Page 185
76 Queenside and Kingside Majorities......Page 187
77 Pawn Breakthrough......Page 189
78 Pawn-Chains......Page 191
79 Pawn-Chains and Space Advantages......Page 193
80 Sacrificial Demolition of Pawn-Chains......Page 195
Typical Central Pawn-Formations (81 - 89)......Page 197
81 The Open Centre......Page 199
82 The Open e-File Centre......Page 201
83 Closed Ruy Lopez Structure......Page 203
84 French Winawer Structure......Page 205
85 Sicilian Scheveningen Structure......Page 207
86 Sicilian Najdorf Structure......Page 209
87 Caro-Kann Structure......Page 211
88 Samisch King's Indian Structure......Page 213
89 Benon i Structu re......Page 215
Typical Mistakes (90 - 100)......Page 217
90 Falling into Traps......Page 219
91 Underestimating an Attack......Page 221
92 Overestimating an Attack......Page 223
93 Missing a Tactical Defence......Page 225
94 Overvaluing a Material Advantage......Page 227
95 Overvaluing the Two Bishops......Page 229
96 Automatically Accepting Sacrifices......Page 231
97 Lack of Alertness......Page 233
98 Allowing a Swindle......Page 235
99 Losing the Thread......Page 237
100 Giving Up......Page 239
Index of Games......Page 241
About the Publisher:......Page 243
Backcover......Page 245