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25 Chess Tips: Middlegames (Beginner to Advanced) — Transcript

by Coleooy | Chess Teacher · 9,443 words · 1,302 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:0025 chess tips for the most confusing
0:02part of any chess game, the middle game,
0:04where the first 10 tips are going to be
0:06for beginners, the next 10 tips for
0:08intermediate players, and the final five
0:10tips for advanced players. And at
0:11[music] the end of each skill section,
0:13there will be a chess quiz to test your
0:15understanding. All right, let's get into
0:16it. Tip number one, starting out the
0:18beginner section. After you've castled,
0:20you are officially in the middle game.
0:22And so the easiest game plan from here
0:25for complete beginners are going to be
0:27putting your rooks in the middle of the
0:29board on the D and E files. And you are
0:32going to use this use your rooks in the
0:34middle to support your middle pawns
0:37going down the board. And what this
0:39might look like is starting out
0:41developing. Let's say they take. We can
0:44put both of our rooks in the middle. And
0:46we are pretty much just going to plan to
0:48push. If they attack, we can take, of
0:50course, and then pushing down the board.
0:52And the reason why we are pushing the
0:54center pawns is because our rooks are
0:56behind them. And all of our pieces are
0:59developed, if you've done the opening
1:01correctly, to support the middle
1:04squares. And so all of your pieces are
1:08helping and supporting uh in the middle
1:11of the board. And so this is a very easy
1:14and a lot of the times a great
1:15middlegame plan. Tip number two is that
1:17as your opponent is making moves through
1:20the middle game. Whenever they make a
1:22move, you want to sit and ask yourself
1:24two questions. The first one being what
1:27is the piece that they just moved
1:28attacking? So this knight is attacking
1:31both your rook and your queen. And
1:33before you get before you get all scared
1:36and start running your queen away
1:37because you have to give away something,
1:39the second question you need to ask
1:42yourself is can you win that piece?
1:45whether that's through trades or
1:47tactics, but uh most simply here is that
1:50your bishop actually all the way across
1:53the board if you had seen that uh can
1:55see that knight and so can save your
1:58valuable pieces. Tip number three is
2:00where you want all of your pieces in the
2:02middle game. So what I mean by that is
2:04your rook wants to be on open files in
2:07the middle game. You want to put your
2:09rook on open files or files that are
2:11most likely to get pawns traded off to
2:14become open. Your bishops want to be on
2:18long diagonals. The best diagonal for
2:21them to be on is the longest diagonal.
2:24Um but more importantly that the bishops
2:26are on open diagonals that they actually
2:28can see across the board. And knights
2:31want to be on outposts in the middle of
2:33the board. So outposts are squares
2:36supported by pawns ideally
2:39uh squares supported by pawns that your
2:42opponent's pawns cannot attack. So for
2:46example, the pawns that were on the C
2:49and the E files have all pushed past. I
2:52mean the C the C pawn is gone, but
2:54they've all pushed pushed past the
2:57knight outpost on D6. And so uh that is
3:01the best square for a knight to be and
3:03where the knight always wants to be in
3:05middle games. And the queen is the most
3:06flexible where it kind of can be
3:08anywhere on the board just as long as
3:11she's safe in the middle game and also
3:14very active. So these are kind of the
3:16two best things. A lot of the times you
3:19might not be able to have both, but you
3:21want ideally your queen to be safe and
3:23very active and active or good. Uh we'll
3:27go over that in tip, let me see, tip
3:30seven. So specifically, we'll go over
3:32that in tip seven. Whereas your king in
3:35the middle game wants to be extremely
3:37safe in the corner castled. Tip number
3:40four is in order to keep your king safe
3:43and castled in the middle game. You are
3:45not going to be pushing the pawns in
3:48front of your king. And just for
3:50completeness, the only pawn that is
3:53allowed to move is your H pawn because
3:56if you move your if you move your F pawn
3:59now, this diagonal pointed towards your
4:02king uh is very easy to attack your king
4:06using. Whereas with the H pawn moved up,
4:10you know, there's no there's no pieces
4:12that can hang out and attack your king
4:14from that diagonal, from outside the
4:16edge of the board. And uh for mega
4:19completeness, the middle pawn is only
4:21allowed to move up if you have a bishop
4:24behind that pawn kind of in this three
4:27pawn scenario with a bishop inside of
4:29it. This is a the fiancetto bishop, a
4:31nice sniper bishop. So, even if even if
4:36you push the pawn in front of your king
4:38and it happens to like win material by
4:41forking two valuable pieces,
4:44even then it's still probably not worth
4:48it because it is weakening your king so
4:52much, especially if their their queen is
4:55on the board. Okay, good. Tip number
4:57five is that a lot of times in beginner
4:59games, I see the queen being like
5:02overused. So I see a lot of the times
5:05beginners will use their queen to
5:07essentially try and win the game by
5:10herself. Like the queen will go on kind
5:13of lonesome queen attacks trying to like
5:16win the entire game by herself. And a
5:20term that I had used and first heard of
5:22from Daniel Neritzki is that you want
5:25your queen to be the supporting actress
5:28in your position. She is not going to be
5:30like she is not going to be charging in
5:33all by herself and winning the game. She
5:35is going to be attacking from a distance
5:39supporting the rest of the you know
5:41pieces attacking. Let's see how this
5:43attack for example is going to play out.
5:46We have a pawn push. We are developing
5:48all of the pieces, trading off, moving
5:50our other pieces toward towards the king
5:53to attack. Notice that the queen is
5:55still on the starting square. Um, and
5:59then finally, when it's very devastating
6:02for the queen to actually move and get
6:04involved, then she'll be a great
6:06supporting actress and finish off the
6:08game. So, that is how you actually use
6:10your queen in the middle game for
6:12beginners. Tip number six is what I like
6:14to call the scan method. So the scan
6:17method is after your opponent makes a
6:19move. We had went over earlier that you
6:21want to ask yourself two questions. And
6:23the scan method helps you remember those
6:26kind of questions. It just helps you
6:27remember what to do on your turn. Give
6:30you like a general guidance. So scan S
6:33in scan stands for safe. So all you need
6:36to do is after your opponent makes a
6:38move, the first thing you want to do is
6:40look at their threats. So their threats
6:42is, you know, they're attacking your
6:45rook. you know, are you safe? No, you're
6:47not. You know, the C in scan stands for
6:50checks and captures. And so [snorts] you
6:53will before you make a move, by the way,
6:55before you make a move of, you know,
6:57running the rook away, capturing
7:00whatever is attacking. No, before you
7:02make any move, you go through the entire
7:05scan acronym. So C stands for checks.
7:08There's only one check in this position.
7:10Bringing the bishop in. It doesn't
7:13really do much, but you know, you need
7:14to look at all your checks, captures.
7:17There's this capture that we looked at.
7:19There's um that is really it actually.
7:23Okay, those are the only that's the only
7:25capture. That's the only capture. Okay,
7:27A stands for attacks. [snorts] So, an
7:30attack is like moving your piece to try
7:36and attack another piece. It's different
7:38than a capture. It's confusing for
7:39beginners, but you move your piece to
7:42attack another piece. And there are tons
7:44of attacks here. Like, there's tons of
7:46attacks. You can move to attack a pawn.
7:49You can move to attack a bunch of stuff.
7:51So, as a beginner, the easiest thing to
7:54do first is just look at the most
7:57powerful and valuable pieces to attack
8:00first. So, with the rook and attack, you
8:03can see, is to attack the queen. I mean,
8:06it's not a good move, but you know, you
8:08should see it. Another way, ignoring the
8:11rook, another way to attack the queen,
8:13all of the ways to attack the queen is
8:15this knight move, actually. And so, you
8:18might have not looked at this at all,
8:20unless you were using the scan method,
8:22this knight move that as you look at it,
8:25you'll actually notice that this queen
8:28doesn't have any safe squares to move
8:29to. Um, so after your opponent makes a
8:33move, you go through the whole scan. And
8:34the N in scan stands for now what? So
8:37only now that you've looked through your
8:39opponent's threats with safe, your
8:42checks and captures with C, the attacks
8:45with A, now you find a move where uh you
8:50know your rook is in danger. Let's trap
8:53the queen that you've now found. You've
8:55now scanned and found that move for. Tip
8:58number seven. If you don't know what to
8:59do in a chess middle game, which is like
9:01the most common question that you'll
9:03have as a chess player, you don't know
9:05what to do. Uh, one of the easiest and
9:08best things to do for a beginner level
9:10player is to look around at all of your
9:13pieces and just try to think about which
9:17piece is your worst piece. And not worst
9:21piece as in least powerful, like your
9:23threepoint pieces as opposed to your
9:25five or your nine-point piece, but your
9:28worst piece as in which piece can see
9:32the least amount of squares on the
9:35opponent's side of the board. This is
9:36how I want you to think about good
9:38pieces in chess. So, right now, uh, your
9:42bishop
9:43your bishop can see the most amount of
9:46squares on the other side of the board.
9:47It can see five. Your bishop is your
9:49best piece. The queen, for example, can
9:51only see one square on the other side of
9:54the board. So, your bishop is actually
9:57much better than your queen right now.
10:00That's a interesting way to think about
10:01it. Hopefully, that sticks with you. So,
10:03your worst piece I is a piece that can
10:06only see squares on your half of the
10:08board. It's not not a good piece at all.
10:11That is both of your rooks. Uh, if you
10:14were looking at this bishop, this bishop
10:15can actually see one square on the other
10:18side of the board, this pawn, that
10:19counts. Uh, so both of your rooks are
10:22bad pieces. And so if you're looking and
10:25thinking around, I don't know what to
10:27do. Uh, Mr. Cole, Cole Louie.
10:31I My kids that I teach in my elementary
10:34school chess classes call me Mr. Cole.
10:35That's why I said that. But you've done
10:37the scan method. You can't come up with
10:39anything. These are your worst pieces.
10:42So, let's work on getting them improving
10:45those pieces. So, moving them to a place
10:48where it can see more squares. And
10:49you'll have to move this bishop out of
10:51the way for it to be for this rook
10:52actually to be a good piece. And the
10:55other way to make a bad piece a good
10:57piece is, you know, first to move it to
10:59a different place where it can see more
11:01squares or move the piece that's
11:03actually blocking it from seeing squares
11:05on the other side of the board. So this
11:07might be a good move for example like
11:09pushing this pawn trading this pawn so
11:12that this rook is actually a good piece.
11:14Okay, that's that's something you can
11:16do. Tip number eight, let's go over
11:18bishops versus knights and in which sort
11:21of positions bishops are better and
11:23which sort of position knights are
11:25better. So in positions where there are
11:29less pieces, less pawns on the board,
11:32bishops are able to see further because
11:35they're not staring at the back of
11:37pawns. And so bishops can move from one
11:40corner of the board and see the other
11:44corner of the board. And so these are
11:46the type of positions that really make
11:48bishops so powerful when when you know
11:53just by existing that they can cover
11:55like half of the board or the entire
11:57board where of course a knight cannot
12:00move you know and see the other corner
12:02of the chessboard. Uh but in the same
12:05way when when there are you know fewer
12:09pawns on the board and bishops become
12:11stronger when there are less or uh when
12:16there are less open diagonals and more
12:18pawns on the board. So here there's not
12:20a single pawn that's been traded off. Uh
12:22you'll see just like we were talking
12:24about bishops are staring at the back of
12:26pawns. They're staring at the front of
12:28pawns. Uh Nerdsitzki would call this
12:30biting on granite. this bishop cannot
12:32see anything. Uh, which makes the
12:35special power of knights the ability to
12:37jump over pieces. You know, in this very
12:40cluttered position, knights are much
12:43better because they can jump over and
12:46attack pieces even, you know, even if
12:48there's a bunch of pieces in their way.
12:50So, closed position, closed position
12:52with a bunch of pawns, knights are
12:54better. An open position with fewer
12:57pawns, bishops are better. Tip number
12:58nine, what is a good bishop and what is
13:01a bad bishop? So, a good bishop versus a
13:04bad bishop. It has to do with what color
13:07of square is your other pawns on? Are
13:11your other pawns on? So, here a lot of
13:14our pawns in the position are on the
13:16dark squares. That makes our light
13:19squared bishop more valuable.
13:22So the opposite color bishop as all of
13:26your pawns are on is more valuable is a
13:29more valuable bishop. And that is
13:30because we have all of these pawns
13:33fighting for the dark squares.
13:36None all the pawns fighting for the dark
13:38squares. Our dark squared bishop isn't
13:42really needed to fight on all the dark
13:44squares because we already have a bunch
13:46of stuff that can do that job for it.
13:49But we don't have any pawns that can do
13:52the job of the of the other light
13:54squareed bishop. And so we want to hold
13:56on to this bishop much more. So if your
13:59opponent makes this move, let's say this
14:02is, you know, this is a fine move.
14:03[snorts]
14:04Do we want to capture this bishop? Do we
14:08want to capture this knight? How do we
14:09want to deal with this sort of move?
14:12Thinking about a good bishop versus a
14:14bad bishop. Let's think about, you know,
14:16we know our bishop, this bishop is not
14:19so good. It's our bad bishop. What about
14:21the opponent's good and bad bishop?
14:23Well, their opponent has all of their
14:25pawns on light squares. And so that
14:28makes their light squared bishop the bad
14:31bishop. It's already their pawns are
14:33already fighting for the light squares.
14:35It's already doing the job of this guy.
14:37You know, this is you don't we don't
14:38need you light squareed bishop. But
14:41their dark squared bishop, they do need
14:42that dark squared bishop, which is why
14:45we can trade our bad bishop for their
14:48good bishop. And we are going to take
14:50that trade any day of the week, whereas
14:52we would not want to give away our good
14:55bishop for their knight, for example.
14:58Tip number 10, the last tip before we
15:00get into the beginner quiz section. So,
15:03I see a lot of the times when I watch
15:05beginner chess games that they don't
15:07know how to use their pawns. You know,
15:10they they move a lot of their other
15:11pieces, but their pawns they just kind
15:14of like leave they leave alone. They
15:16don't really they don't really know what
15:17to do as long as just, you know, push
15:19the outside pawn up as much as they can.
15:22So, the two most common ways for
15:25beginners to be using pawns is the first
15:28one, it is to trade off your opponent's
15:32annoying pawns.
15:34And if I asked you which which pawns in
15:37your opponent's position are the most
15:39annoying to you, which pawn's the most
15:42annoying, I think I hope you had said
15:44this D pawn because it's like it's, you
15:48know, cutting nails into your position.
15:51the furthest into your position. This is
15:53their most advanced pawn cutting, you
15:56know, shoving their nails into, you
15:58know, deep into your position. So, you
16:00can use your pawns to get rid of their
16:03annoying pawns. Um, and their second way
16:07is you can use pawns to open up the
16:10activity of your pieces. And I'll show
16:12you what I mean by that in a second. So,
16:14let's trade our let's trade a pawn for
16:17this annoying pawn. And we can do that
16:19by putting a pawn on one of the squares
16:23that the nails are stabbing into. So if
16:26we push a pawn to one of these squares,
16:30then we offer a trade of this pawn. And
16:33if they take, that makes, you know,
16:36there's no more annoying pawn stabbing
16:39nails into your position. And just like
16:42I'd mentioned, you used your pawn to
16:45open up this bishop. Whereas before it
16:47was just staring. It wasn't a good
16:49bishop or it wasn't a good piece. It
16:52couldn't see any squares on the other
16:53half of the board. You remember me
16:54talking about good pieces. It couldn't
16:56see any squares on other half of the
16:59board because this pawn was in the way.
17:02And we can use our pawn
17:04to trade off that annoying pawn. First
17:07of all, it's taking space in our
17:08position, but second of all, it was
17:10blocking that bishop. And now the bishop
17:12is a very good piece. All right, onto
17:14the beginner section here in this
17:16position. You are the white pieces, and
17:19your opponent has just played queen F6.
17:23Now, what I want you to do is try and
17:26come up with what move you might play in
17:28this position. So, you know, take some
17:30time, pause the video if you need, think
17:33through, think through the scan of the
17:37position, think through improving
17:39pieces, you know, think through all of
17:41the tips that we went over with in the
17:43beginner section, and try and come up
17:45with one or two moves that you might
17:47play in this position. All right, I'll
17:49give you a few seconds.
17:52Okay, if you're back from the paused
17:54video, I hope you were, you know, first
17:57of all, you your king has just castled
17:59as well, but I hope the first thing that
18:02you did was your opponent made a move.
18:04You were going to either scan or ask
18:07yourself those two questions. Scan.
18:10Let's look at our opponent's threat.
18:12What the queen is attacking. It's
18:14attacking this knight and it's attacking
18:16this pawn.
18:18Um, this is both neither of these are
18:22dangerous things. Both of these pieces
18:24are protected. Okay, good. You can ask
18:27if if you're doing the two questions,
18:29you can ask if we can win that queen or
18:32attack that queen. We can't, but I hope
18:33you did that. And if you have gone
18:35through scanning the board, [snorts]
18:39uh, you or scanning, you know, you did
18:42the safe. Let's look for checks. There
18:44aren't any checks. Let's look for
18:46captures. There aren't any captures as
18:48well. What about attacks? Did you look
18:50for attacks? Well, we can move our pawn
18:54up here. Attack, you know, attack the
18:57knight. That seems reasonable. We can
19:00move our pawn up here. Attack the
19:03knight.
19:04Let's say you didn't like either of
19:06these options. You could have just
19:09improved one of your pieces. You could
19:11have just improved one of your pieces.
19:13Moving your rook here is perfectly
19:15reasonable move. You could improve your
19:19queen by moving up your queen here. This
19:20is a perfectly good move as well. And if
19:23I had mentioned your moves, by the way,
19:25if I had mentioned, you know, any of any
19:27of these moves, then I am I'm very happy
19:30that you found those moves. That was you
19:32paid attention. Great job. And if you
19:35had seen pawn to B5 attacking the knight
19:38and attacking the rook at the same time,
19:41it is very very close to being a
19:44completely winning move where you know
19:46there's a double attack on both things.
19:49You can't save them both. But actually
19:51you can save them both. the opponent can
19:54save both of them by actually moving the
19:56knight here like you know getting into
19:59the in the way of your attack on the
20:02rook and protected by the queen but if
20:04you saw that honestly that that's a very
20:06good move too so if I if I had mentioned
20:10your move that you had seen you know
20:12rook here queen up to any of these
20:15squares pawn up attacking uh pawn up
20:19attacking especially this one if you had
20:22seen this move, double points. And if
20:25you had seen this knight back saving the
20:27knight, triple points. [laughter]
20:29Okay, nice job in the beginner quiz.
20:31Hopefully those all made sense. And
20:32hopefully you found one of those nice
20:34moves. All right, we are in the
20:36intermediate section. Tip number 11 is
20:38to always look out for and be aware of
20:41your opponent's undefended pieces and
20:45ways that you can create undefended
20:47pieces. So here in the you are the black
20:50pieces in this position. Let's look
20:52around for the undefended pieces that
20:54our opponent has and yours. Actually,
20:57it's just as important for you to keep
20:58track of your undefended pieces. The
21:01only I guess both of the rooks, both of
21:03our rooks are undefended. We don't have
21:05anything defending either of the rooks.
21:08Uh, okay. How can we create an
21:11undefended piece here? You can pause if
21:14you'd like to. Uh we can create an
21:17undefended piece by taking this pawn
21:21forcing and the bishop can't go here or
21:23else we take forcing their bishop to
21:25capture. And now the bishop and the rook
21:28are both undefended. And the reason why
21:30we keep track of undefended pieces is
21:33because we can find moves like this
21:37attacking both of those undefended
21:39pieces. And there are no way there is no
21:41way to save both of these pieces. And so
21:45that is how you win material. Tip number
21:4712. And this one is about when you have
21:49a piece. So not a pawn. When you have a
21:52actual powerful piece guarding another
21:55piece. Okay, this is like a team as a
21:57team together. So in this position,
22:00you're the black pieces. Your opponent
22:02just used their rook to capture one of
22:04your rooks and you can either take back
22:07with a knight or the rook. Which one
22:11would you like to take back with? That's
22:13a question. I'll let you pause if you'd
22:16like to. [snorts]
22:17Um, a common answer is taking with a
22:21rook because it's a check. But the
22:23problem is after the king moves away,
22:26uh, now the defender of that rook, the
22:30knight is under attack and the rook is
22:34under attack. Um, now here actually it's
22:37not a huge huge deal because your rook
22:40can move to guard, you know, and now
22:42they flip where now the rook's the
22:44defender. Uh, but this is a sticky
22:46situation to put yourself into. What I'd
22:50prefer, what I would prefer that you do
22:52is take with a knight. You know, it's
22:54not a check. It sets up discoveries,
22:56which is good. But the point here is
22:58that
23:00these two pieces, they're like a unit.
23:03They are a team. Uh we have our valuable
23:06pieces like defending another valuable
23:08piece hanging not hanging but like
23:12another attacking piece into their
23:14position and it becomes very easy to
23:18lose these sort of pieces when the
23:22defender is easily attackable. So for
23:25example, if we take with a rook, the
23:28defender of this, you know, defender
23:30attacker team, the defender is very easy
23:34easily attackable like this in that it's
23:37much easier to lose your pieces, your
23:40team uh as opposed to when the defender
23:43of your attacking piece is not so easily
23:47attackable. Nothing, you know, nothing
23:49is attacking this rook down here. So
23:51something to keep in mind when you have
23:52pieces guarding each other, it's very uh
23:56risky for the defending piece to be in a
24:00place where it's easily attackable. Tip
24:0313. When you attack something in chess,
24:06when you attack something, always make
24:09sure that you have an idea of where that
24:12piece can go and especially the queen.
24:15What I mean by this is let's say you
24:18capture this pawn and you're attacking
24:20the queen. I mean, what a treat. How
24:23this is a great move. I you this is
24:26genius. But
24:28don't stop there. Think to yourself,
24:31where is that queen moving to? Where is
24:34that queen going to move to? And let's
24:37also keep in mind of our undefended
24:39pieces. The rook in the corner
24:42undefended. the knight hanging out in
24:44the position undefended. That queen,
24:48oops, [laughter] that queen can move to
24:51F F6 and attack both of these pieces.
24:54And now you've just lost the game. You
24:56know, you've lost a valuable piece. So
24:59before you make a move, you know, a
25:02greedy, this seems like a very good
25:03move. You know, you're winning a pawn.
25:05Before you make a move that attacks
25:07something, where is that piece going to
25:09move to? Especially a queen. especially
25:12a queen. Queens are very, very slippery,
25:15powerful, can make, you know, can move
25:17two squares and all of a sudden see
25:19another corner of the board. Queens are
25:21very tricky. Be very careful. Tip number
25:2314, be very careful taking poison pawns
25:26in chess. Now, poison pawns are free
25:30pawns are pawns that a queen can freely
25:34capture on the other side of the board,
25:36usually near the opening of the game,
25:39the opening stages of the game. and very
25:41very very usually the B pawn. Uh in this
25:46case it's going to be the G pawn. The
25:48reason you don't want to take these free
25:50pawns or these poison pawns is because
25:52even though you get a free, you know,
25:55pawn of material, your queen is so
25:58valuable
26:00and near all of, you know, the pieces,
26:03all the white pieces in the position
26:06that they can improve their pieces and
26:11attack your queen. And your queen has to
26:13move, by the way. You can't develop any
26:14other pieces while this while this is
26:16going on. They are moving their pieces
26:19to activate
26:21to activate their pieces using your
26:23valuable queen against you. Now, it was
26:25so bad in this game. This is my game, by
26:27the way. I castled and my opponent not
26:30only took one of my poison pawns, but
26:31two of my poison pawns. And this ended
26:34very badly because I could I get to use
26:38uh I get to use my two pawns that I
26:41sacrificed, the poison pawns to develop
26:4410 points of material for free.
26:48Well, I get to develop 10 points of
26:50material, both of my rooks for the price
26:52of two pawns. Um, and how this game
26:55went, by the way, is that I used the
26:57powerful queen against my opponent to
27:00develop every single one of my pieces,
27:03and they got checkmated like five moves
27:05later. So, be very careful taking poison
27:08pawns. Notice that the only piece that
27:10had moved for my opponent in the last
27:12five moves was the queen. By the way,
27:14poison pawns are very scary. Be very
27:16careful. Tip number 15. When you and
27:19your opponent are in games that castle,
27:22you and your opponent are castling on
27:24opposite sides of the board, very often
27:27these games will be decided in the exact
27:30same way. 95% of the times these games
27:34are going to end the exact same way. And
27:37that way is going to be using the pawns
27:41that are in front of their king. using
27:43your pawns that are in front of their
27:45king to pawns storm and attack their
27:49king.
27:50Usually, you know, you would love to do
27:52this, but usually your king is behind
27:56those pawns. So, you won't be pushing
27:58those pawns. It'd be too dangerous for
28:00your king. But it's a win-win situation
28:02here because you can use those pawns to
28:06pawnstorm and you know destroy take out
28:12uh their safety blanket these three
28:14pawns in front of their king. Now you'll
28:17have to be careful because as you're
28:18doing that they are going to be and
28:22should be doing the exact same thing
28:24against you. So when you and your
28:26opponent have kings castled on opposite
28:29sides of the board, the like middle game
28:32plans that you might have thought of
28:33before the game kind of go out the
28:35window unless you plan for this because
28:37you should be now planning on
28:40pawntorming pawnstorming that king
28:42checkmating that king. That is priority
28:44number one. Now tip number 16. This is
28:47one of the most important chess tips
28:49that you are going to hear. So make sure
28:51you understand it. Make sure you write
28:53it down if you need to. The five chess
28:55pillars of any chess position. These are
28:59the five most important factors when it
29:01comes to am I winning this chess game?
29:03Is my opponent winning? Am I losing?
29:06Number one is king safety. So in this
29:08position, whose king is safer? Whose
29:12king is safer? Uh the black king. The
29:15black king is castled. The white king is
29:16not castled. So there is a king safety
29:20and even castling here. The F pawn is
29:22gone. So, this is something to think
29:23about. Your king isn't as safe with the
29:26F pawn gone. Okay. Second is material.
29:30The second chess positional pillar is
29:33material. So, here is material equal.
29:37You can count up all the pawns and all
29:38the pieces if you'd like, but yes,
29:40material is equal here. Okay. So, nobody
29:43has an advantage as far as material is
29:44concerned. Number three is development.
29:48Development. So, are your pieces who has
29:51more of their pieces developed?
29:55Uh, this piece isn't developed. They
29:57have really just two pieces developed.
30:01This bishop is, you know, it's moved off
30:02the starting square, but it's kind of
30:04stuck behind the other pieces. So,
30:06really, they have two pieces developed.
30:08And we have one, two, this bishop's also
30:11kind of stuck. Three, three, this
30:14bishop. So we are slightly ahead on the
30:17the development pillar. Okay. [snorts]
30:20Number four is peace activity.
30:23Similar to development but of the
30:26developed pieces,
30:29who has the who has the pieces that are
30:32more active that are that are better?
30:36And uh if you skipped to the
30:37intermediate tips and didn't watch the
30:39beginner tips, I I went through how to
30:42determine a good piece, a better piece
30:45versus a worse piece. Um but and I
30:48described it as the most amount of
30:51squares on the opponent's side of the
30:52board. And if you're an intermediate
30:54player, I kind of guarantee you haven't
30:56heard anyone describe it like this. But
30:58this is how I describe it. And I think
30:59it's a great way to think about piece
31:01activity. So, your pieces,
31:04who has more active pieces? Who which of
31:07which team's pieces sees more squares on
31:10the other side of the board? So, let's
31:13just count. Let's go one, two, sorry,
31:16one, two, three, four, five, and then
31:20I'm not going to say the last two
31:21numbers, but we have seven. We have we
31:23our pieces are looking at seven squares
31:25on the other side of the board. The
31:27opponent's pieces can see four squares
31:30on the other side of the board. So our
31:32pieces are almost twice as active as the
31:34opponents. The last positional pillar is
31:38space. And how I describe this, how I
31:42describe space to, you know, the the
31:45beginners that I teach is I want you to
31:48just like highlight all of the pawns in
31:50your head and imagine that all of the
31:53pawns are like the tips of a mountain
31:55range. So this is like a big old
31:58mountain. a big old mountain. You can
32:00imagine um who's and all you know
32:04whoever has more space is whoseever
32:06mountain looks taller. So this is our
32:08mountain you know this is let me
32:10highlight the opponent's mountain.
32:12[laughter]
32:13You get you know you get what I'm trying
32:14to say here. So our mon mountain is
32:17slightly taller because of this extra
32:20pawn that's pushed. Um so we have
32:22slightly more space. But the reason why
32:25these are so important as the as the
32:27five positional pillars is that if you
32:30are thinking about making a move, let's
32:32say you're thinking about making a move
32:34like this.
32:36Does this move improve any of the five
32:40chess pillars of the position?
32:44It doesn't. The only thing it it's like
32:46the tiniest thing on move on pillar
32:49five, which is space. It like makes your
32:50pawn mountain a tiny bit better. But if
32:54the move you're thinking about making
32:56doesn't improve one of those five
32:58pillars or worsen one of those five
33:02pillars for your opponent, then chances
33:04are it's not a good move. That's the
33:07important part. If it doesn't improve
33:10your five pillars or worsen the
33:12opponent's five pillars, then that move
33:14that you're thinking about, you know,
33:16you're thinking about A3 is probably not
33:18a good move. Tip number 17, we are going
33:21to now start talking about weaknesses.
33:23Uh tip 17 is looking at your opponent's
33:27weak squares in the position and weak
33:30color complexes in the position. These
33:32are going to help you win a ton of
33:34games. So, uh what I mean by this is if
33:36we look at the black position here, what
33:39are their weak squares in the position?
33:43And another way to think about this is
33:46if you can't think of a weak square, uh
33:48what square would we love to put one of
33:51our knights on for a knight outpost?
33:54That's an interesting way to think about
33:55it. That would be a weak square.
33:58And if you're thinking about it, this F6
34:01square is the weakest square in their
34:04entire position. We would love We would
34:06love for our knight to, you know, we
34:11would love for our knights to make its
34:12way make its way downtown and sit on
34:15this beautiful, gorgeous weak square,
34:17this beautiful, gorgeous outpost. Um,
34:20okay. And color complexes, weak color
34:23complexes [snorts] are, you know, um the
34:27easiest way to think about this is is do
34:31does the opponent have a have a lot of
34:33pawns on the same color without a bishop
34:38or queen around guarding that color.
34:43So [laughter]
34:44that might be a vag way of of explaining
34:46it but the near the king there's a lot
34:49of pawns on light squares and there's no
34:52bishop no fiancetto bishop guarding the
34:55dark squares that the pawns are you know
34:57the pawns
34:59are only guarding light squares they can
35:02only guard each other on light squares
35:04nothing in black's position is guarding
35:07the important dark squares there's no
35:09bishop here the queen is a bit are from
35:12these squares. [snorts] And so you can
35:15use your pieces to to take over these
35:22dark squares in the position. Something
35:24like this. Um so using, you know,
35:27thinking about weaknesses in terms of
35:29squares and color complexes can also
35:31help you win a bunch of games. Tip 18.
35:34This is going to be a quicker one. Uh,
35:35also weak pawns can also help you, you
35:39know, create an advantage and win a
35:42bunch of games. And weak pawns are most
35:45uh most commonly isolated pawns. So
35:48pawns that aren't they're away from all
35:50of their their other pawns. They have no
35:51pawn neighbors that can, you know, guard
35:54it on on the file next to it. So
35:56isolated pawns. Also backwards pawns.
35:59These are a little bit hard to identify
36:01if it's the first time you're hearing
36:02about them, but backwards pawns
36:04essentially they can't move forward or
36:07they have a really tough time moving
36:08forward because the other team has a
36:11pawn guarding the square that they want
36:13to move forward into. Uh so backward
36:16pawns are a big weakness. It's it's
36:19often a very good idea to team up on
36:22backwards pawns. These are very easy to
36:24win. And also of course doubled pawns.
36:27These are also very very weak. And if
36:29you're an intermediate player, you know
36:31why they're weak because they're on top
36:32of each other. They can't guard they
36:34can't guard, you know, forward and
36:36backwards. So these are very weak pawns
36:38and can also help you win games by
36:40teaming up on those. Tip number 19. In
36:42your middle games, when your opponent
36:45makes a move or makes a threat, for
36:47example, here they moved their rook to
36:50B8, attacking your pawn on B2. They're
36:53making a threat. Uh,
36:56one of your pieces needs to do the job
36:59of guarding this threat, of guarding
37:01this pawn. You know, someone's got to do
37:03it. Do you think it would be better for
37:06your queen to guard the pawn,
37:09your rook to guard the pawn, or your
37:13bishop to guard the pawn? Now maybe when
37:15I ask it like that it becomes you know
37:17intuitively obvious to you but your
37:20least valuable piece should be in charge
37:24of guarding pawns or of doing jobs. Your
37:27least valuable piece should be the one
37:30to do the job.
37:32>> [snorts]
37:32>> uh your queen guarding this pawn. Your
37:35queen guarding a pawn is how I like to
37:38explain it or the analogy I like to say
37:40is it's like you you being at home and
37:44now you're in charge of going outside
37:46and watching a blade of grass grow to
37:48make sure nothing happens to it. You
37:50have better things to do. You got better
37:52things to do than watch a blade of
37:53grass. Your queen has better things to
37:55do than guard a pawn. Um, and this this
37:59applies to not only guarding pawns, but
38:02guarding squares. Like let's say uh you
38:06had two rooks here and they had a knight
38:08about to jump in. Someone has to guard
38:10this square. A queen would not be the
38:13best to guard it. So, you know, a rook a
38:16rook could guard it. Or if a bishop if
38:19we had another bishop could guard that
38:20that square. That's the that's the
38:22analogy. The least valuable piece should
38:26be in charge of doing jobs. Tip number
38:2820 and the last one in the intermediate
38:30section is actually a checklist for you
38:32to run through when you don't know what
38:34to do in a position. So, this is going
38:36to be kind of like a guide uh in the
38:39middle game if you were thinking to
38:40yourself, I don't know what to do. And I
38:43actually made a graphic that is an I
38:45don't know checklist. So, number one on
38:48the on the checklist is to scan the
38:50board. And if you had missed scan, it
38:52was actually introduced in the beginner
38:54section, I believe. Tip number, let me
38:57look. Tip number six is scan. Uh number
39:00two is undefended pieces. You should be
39:03looking out for tactics, the five
39:05positional pillars that we walked
39:07through and pawn breaks and weaknesses.
39:11And this is a checklist, so feel free
39:13to, you know, take a screenshot of it. I
39:15also added it to a like a mug, a chess
39:18mug. And so this is the checklist added
39:20to a mug if you're interested in
39:22something like that. Below I will put
39:23the link to the chess mug in the store.
39:26So if you purchase it, it does support
39:28me. Huge thanks. But this is your six
39:32sort of checklist items when you don't
39:35know what to do in the middle game. And
39:37this is convenient because in the
39:39intermediate quiz, this is the position
39:43you can go through this checklist in the
39:45position to find what sort of moves you
39:47would make. And I will give you some
39:49time to pause the video, find [snorts]
39:51what kind of moves you'd like to play.
39:54All right,
39:55if you pause the video and you've gone
39:57through the checklist, there are a few
40:00key moves that I hope you had found in
40:03this position. Uh the first one being
40:05some attacks like we can we can attack
40:07this undefended piece in the position.
40:10We can also attack uh some pieces over
40:13here. We wouldn't want to importantly we
40:16wouldn't want to attack this piece this
40:18knight. And I hope you realize that we
40:20don't want to give them we don't want to
40:23create this weakness in our position
40:26this weak hole in our position um for
40:29the knight. So I hope you maybe if you
40:32saw this crossed it off. Pawn breaks in
40:34the position. You might have looked at
40:36this pawn break. This just loses that
40:39pawn. Um so the key ideas for you to
40:44find in this position would be center
40:46around centered around this weakness.
40:49This D3 pawn is a huge huge weakness and
40:53we we can actually get a very big
40:55initiative on it by either jumping in
40:58the knight, getting a tempo on the
41:00bishop first and then jumping in this
41:03knight, forcing all of their pieces into
41:07very inactive squares. Like we are
41:09attacking everything. Um, and with these
41:12moves, we've improved the knights that
41:14were sitting on the sixth rank all the
41:16way into their position that are now
41:18very, very active pieces. We are also
41:21shutting down the activity of three of
41:23their pieces. Just a very dominating
41:26position. It's not like the moves that
41:29you wanted to find were just, you know,
41:31completely winning or winning a rook or
41:33anything like that. Um, but if I hope
41:37you looked at, you know, this maneuver,
41:39finding out that these knight jumps
41:41going around and targeting uh these
41:44weaknesses in their position was the
41:46right way forward. If you did, nice job.
41:49Tip 21. And the first tip in the
41:51advanced section is that the opening you
41:54play, whatever opening it is, should
41:56dictate the middle game plans that you
41:59have in the position. For example, here
42:02in the Grand Prix attack of the
42:05Sicilian. So, this game started out as a
42:08Sicilian defense with the Grand Prix. I
42:10play this a lot because I'm very
42:12familiar with the middle game plans. Um,
42:15future video on the Grand Prix, maybe
42:17even a course coming soon. This is just
42:19like my baby opening. So anyways, the
42:22Grand Prix, the middle game opening or
42:25the middle game idea of the Grand Prix
42:27every single game is that you are
42:30creating this pawn chain uh pointing
42:34towards their king side when they are
42:36going to you know castle king side. I
42:38know this queen maneuver you are
42:41bringing it over to the queen to the
42:42king side. Um you are developing the
42:46bishop comes here. I I know that because
42:48of the middle game plans, the rooks come
42:50here. You are you have this very uh very
42:55common pawn break idea with the F pawn
42:59coming forward, even sacrificing it. Um
43:02and you know, it's not like we're
43:03learning how to play the Grand Prix
43:04here, but just to give you an idea that
43:07already like 20 moves deep into the
43:10opening, even though I don't know like I
43:12haven't memorized if they play this
43:14move, then I play this move. the best
43:16computer lines. I know my middle game
43:18plans. So, if you're studying an opening
43:21and you don't know the middle game
43:22plans, just go on YouTube, type up uh
43:26type in your opening, you play middle
43:29game plans. I will also, like I
43:31mentioned in the 25 tips for the
43:33openings. I will also be doing like a
43:36middle game plan series. So, if you'd
43:39like to see that, you know, drop
43:41whatever opening you would like to see
43:43in that middle game series. There's
43:45already a bunch of comments on the last
43:46video. Anyways, your middle game plans
43:49should be dictated by the opening that
43:50you play. Tip number two is on
43:52initiative in chess. So, initiative in
43:54chess is when you make a move, for
43:56example, here E4, that forces your
44:00opponent to react to your move. So,
44:03initiative is when you make a move that
44:04forces your opponent to react. And the
44:06reason why this is so important at the
44:09advanced level is because initiative is
44:13what is going to you can think of
44:14initiative as asking questions to your
44:16opponent. You are asking questions. The
44:19first question is where are you going to
44:21move your queen? Okay, they've answered
44:24that question. Now we are creating
44:26another move with initiative. We are
44:28attacking the pawn. We're attacking
44:30their knight. They we are asking them
44:32another question. It's like you can
44:34think of this like a test. You know,
44:36we're testing our opponent. Question
44:38one, where are you going to move the
44:39queen? Question two, how are you
44:41handling this tension in the center?
44:43Let's say they take. Question three, now
44:47we are attacking their queen again. Um,
44:50you know, where are you going to move
44:51the queen? What are you going to do with
44:52this tension? And all it takes is one
44:56question that you're asking your
44:58opponent to be answered wrong, to be
45:00answered incorrectly for them to make
45:03one mistake to win or create an
45:07advantage in your position. For example,
45:09here the ad the initiative that we've,
45:12you know, made has created this
45:14opportunity for us to win the queen. And
45:17that's only because it's not like, you
45:19[snorts] know, if you make moves that
45:21attack your opponent's pieces or create
45:23initiative, you're just going to win the
45:25game. But you can think of it like, you
45:28know, you're giving a test to your
45:29opponent with all these questions. And
45:32in a chess game, if you're never asking
45:34questions to the opponent, it's very
45:36easy for them to, you know, not make
45:39mistakes. You can think of it like it's
45:43very easy to pass a test that doesn't
45:45have any questions on it, right?
45:47[laughter]
45:48Your your opponent is only going to
45:50fail. Your test is only going to make
45:52mistakes if you're asking them
45:54questions. I hope that makes sense. Tip
45:56number 23 is the so what technique or
45:58this sort of thinking process that I
46:00learned from Nerditzky where your
46:02opponent makes a move and a lot of times
46:05I see you know your opponent makes a
46:07move you see that their idea is coming
46:09to come pawntorm you and attack your
46:11bishop. So instead of just you know
46:15seeing that this pawnstorm is coming
46:17your bishop is going to be in danger you
46:19move the bishop right away. [snorts]
46:21Instead of that, I want you to think of
46:24I want you to think of it like this.
46:26Okay, your opponent's playing this. They
46:28are planning this move, this move, this
46:31move, like one, two, three, four moves.
46:34Um, and so what? So what? They've made
46:37four moves and they get your bishop.
46:40Okay. Now, let's say you get four free
46:44moves in your, you know, you were um
46:47making four moves in a row. your
46:49opponent just got four moves in a row.
46:50Uh let's see what how deadly of an
46:53attack or whatever that you could get in
46:55four moves. Um for example, here takes
47:00uh queen over and checkmate. So in four
47:03moves your opponent has captured your
47:05bishop and in four moves you are you
47:07know checkmating your opponent. And so
47:09this is this is sort of two passive
47:12thinking. The first one being okay your
47:14opponent has a plan. So what even if
47:16they get everything they want what what
47:19do they get from it? And in this case
47:21it's a bishop and the second line of
47:24thinking is let's say let's imagine you
47:26get four moves in a row. What would your
47:29ideal attack look like? So these kind of
47:32this this sort of thinking process goes
47:34handinand and it can be a very useful
47:37process to not only like analyze your
47:39opponent's threats but also just like
47:41imagine good attacks that you have. Tip
47:44number 24 is that you should be very
47:46careful when you take material if taking
47:49that material leaves your piece that you
47:52took with stranded. And this is what I
47:54mean. Um, so we jump our knight in. You
47:58are forking the rook and the pawn. They
48:00move their rook and now you take the
48:02pawn. But winning this pawn, winning
48:06this pawn has now stranded your knight
48:08very far out of play. Okay. So the
48:13opponent's play, all of the important
48:15play is over by your king's side. And
48:17now the knight that was once here, a
48:19very good defender, just like a great
48:21piece in general, is now over here
48:24stranded on one side of the board just
48:26for the price of one pawn. And material
48:29is important, but not only is this
48:33knight on the side of the board um away
48:36from defending, but it's also an
48:38undefended piece now. So the piece that
48:41you've captured with can often turn into
48:43a target. For example, here the queen
48:47can sidestep because you know we were
48:49attacking the queen if you didn't see
48:50that. And that can be another, you know,
48:52tempting move where attacking the rook
48:54and we get a free pawn and attack the
48:56queen. I mean th those are very tempting
48:57moves. But now the queen can reposition,
49:02use your undefe undefended piece as a
49:04target in order to like launch this huge
49:08huge attack all for the price of a pawn,
49:11you know, that you, you know, left your
49:14knight out on the edge of the board for.
49:16So a pawn is not always worth it if the
49:19piece you're capturing with is way out
49:22of position capturing it. Tip 25 and the
49:25last tip before our advanced quiz that I
49:27have for you. So tip [clears throat]
49:29number 25 is that if you have pieces
49:33that just cannot get open, you know, you
49:37have pieces that are very important to
49:39the position that cannot get open,
49:41cannot find anywhere to live. Uh you can
49:44look for clearance sacrifices.
49:47So a clearance sacrifice for example
49:50would be throwing this pawn forward,
49:52just sacrificing it. I mean, if you
49:53take, you know, you're losing this pawn.
49:56Uh, but pushing that pawn forward opened
49:59your bishop up to attack. And after they
50:04capture, it deflected the piece away to
50:09capture the piece that you sacrificed.
50:12Um, and it's not defending a key square
50:15anymore for your piece to jump in. And
50:18so now for the price of a pawn that
50:19you've sacrificed away, now you have a
50:22nice nice initiative on their position
50:24and you have great piece activity. So
50:26keep in mind some moves where you can
50:28sacrifice a pawn for activity in the
50:31position. Okay, we are at the advanced
50:33quiz to test your understanding of you
50:36know the tips that I had given you. And
50:38so in this position you are the white
50:40pieces and your opponent plays C5
50:44attacking your center. Now, you can uh
50:48pause, but I do want to say that it's
50:51very helpful to go over the checklist so
50:54you can screenshot if you need. Once
50:56again, I created a mug for this. If
50:58you're interested in having this sort of
51:00I don't know what to do checklist uh to
51:02go through while you're playing. Uh the
51:04link is in in the description. Purchase
51:06a mug. It supports me. Anyways, you can
51:08go through this checklist
51:10of of what to do. And the important
51:12thing at ad at at the advanced level is
51:15not only do you want to look at your
51:17undefended pieces, your the five
51:20positional pillars and their weaknesses
51:22and the pawn breaks that you want, but
51:24it's very very very important that you
51:29also look at your weaknesses, your
51:31undefended pieces, like the pawn breaks
51:34for the opponent. And um okay anyways go
51:38ahead pause the video try and find how
51:41you should deal with this you know this
51:45move that your opponent played. Okay.
51:47Now we wouldn't want to take the pawn
51:50first of all uh when we're trying to
51:53deal with this you know tension. We
51:55wouldn't want to take the pawn. They
51:57could damage our structure and then you
52:00know activate their pieces that they're
52:02trying to activate. Um, this is just a,
52:04you know, a perfectly fine position or a
52:07perfectly fine position for the
52:09opponent. A bit unpleasant for, you
52:11know, us as the white pieces. And you,
52:13for the kind of the same reasons, you
52:15wouldn't want to let them take. Um,
52:18let's let's say you're planning to
52:19double or something like that. You
52:21wouldn't want to
52:23uh let them take either. Now they they
52:26open a rook and you know the all of our
52:29heavy pieces are now stuck behind
52:32stuck behind pawns are not staring at
52:34open files. So the best move in this
52:37position, how to deal with this tension
52:40is actually to push to push. And not
52:44only does this shut out the activity of
52:48their bishop, like the five pillars, you
52:51know, the five pillars in our checklist,
52:53the peace activity. And not only does it
52:57take space, also five pillars, you know,
53:00space, uh, but it also creates this
53:04weakness. It creates this pawn weakness
53:08on E7. Um, now an important move would
53:14be to I guess you can pause and try and
53:16find the best move for your opponent
53:19here. And that's a very important thing
53:21as you get to the advanced level is
53:23finding your opponent's best response.
53:26So, pause the video.
53:28All right, your opponent's best
53:30response.
53:32And maybe you can frame it like this.
53:34This is this can be a weakness for us.
53:38This this pawn all by himself if it's
53:41not protected by another pawn if it's
53:43not solidified by another pawn which
53:46makes their best move to keep our
53:49isolated pawn to keep our isolated pawn
53:51a weakness to push this pawn uh to C4
53:56not letting not letting our pawn to get
53:58to C4 defending our D5 pawn. And so that
54:02is a very important move. And you know,
54:05for fun, if you'd like to try and figure
54:07out what each other's middle game plans
54:10uh will be here, um you can pause and
54:13then I might spoil it in a few seconds.
54:16So all right, the middle game plans here
54:19is that now with this E7 pawn as a
54:21weakness, our middle game plan as the
54:23white pieces is to stack up, build
54:25pressure on that pawn. and with this
54:28pawn as a weakness for us is to stack
54:30up, you know, build pressure on this
54:32pawn. So, this all of the, you know,
54:35beginner, intermediate, advanced quizzes
54:38weren't like find a way to win the
54:40position or anything like that. It's
54:41just more so, you know, find like the
54:44best moves or find like the best thought
54:47processes
54:48um using the tips and the checklists and
54:51all of that. So, all right. Hope you
54:53learned something. If you did, please
54:54drop a like. It really helps the channel
54:56out. [music] And for comments, what are
54:59some things in the next episode of 25
55:01tips, the endgame tips? If there's some
55:04part of the endg games that you guys,
55:05you know, struggle with, let me know
55:07down below. Also, subscribe to see that
55:09one. I really appreciate it. All right,
55:11see you in the next

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