Strategy · Plan long-term

A plan, step by step

Middlegame plans in chess are practice in moving towards a goal one step at a time. Off the board, the habit grows only if you practise it there too, as this week’s task asks.

On the board, a plan is a goal and a route to it. Here White wants a knight on d5, a strong central square that Black's pawns cannot easily attack. It takes two steps, Nc3 and then Nd5. After each step White looks again, because Black moves too.