Why Your Opponent's Plans Matter More Than Yours

Prophylaxis is one of the most important strategic ideas in chess. It is the art of anticipating your opponent's intentions and taking measures against them before they become dangerous.
At every level, strong players constantly ask themselves a simple question:
What does my opponent want?
For less experienced players, prophylaxis often takes a very concrete form. It may simply mean preventing a checkmate, avoiding a tactical trick, or creating an escape square for the king before a back-rank disaster becomes possible.
Many players have lost games because they forgot to make luft for their king. A move such as ...h6 may not look ambitious, but it gives the king access to h7 and removes the possibility of future back-rank motifs. Learning to ask "What is my opponent threatening?" before pursuing your own plans is one of the most valuable habits a chess player can develop.
A simple example illustrates the point perfectly.
Just imagine a simple position where White is threatening bank rank mate Re8#. Black could waste time looking for active counterplay, but none of it matters if the game ends on the very next move. Instead, Black calmly plays ...h6!, creating an escape square on h7. The immediate threat disappears, and only then can Black return to improving their own position.
It is a simple move, but it demonstrates one of the most important principles in chess:
Before asking what you want to do, ask what your opponent wants to do.
For stronger players, however, prophylaxis becomes a much more subtle concept. It is no longer limited to preventing immediate threats, but extends to restricting ideas that may not materialize until many moves later.
Former world champion Tigran Petrosian was famous for his extraordinary sense of prophylaxis. It was once said about him that "he prevents his opponent's ideas before they even think of them."
IM Mark Dvoretsky considered prophylaxis one of the cornerstones of chess understanding, and he frequently illustrated the concept using games by GM Anatoly Karpov. Indeed, few players embodied prophylactic thinking better than Karpov.
Here is one of the classic examples from Dvoretsky's writings.

Three consecutive moves...

22.Rg4!

23.h4!

24.Rb4!

...and every single one of them is primarily concerned with preventing Black's ideas rather than creating White's own.
This is what makes the sequence so beautiful.
Many players think of attack as constantly creating threats. Karpov shows a much deeper understanding. Before every attacking move, he first asks what resources his opponent possesses, then quietly removes them one by one. Only once Black has been stripped of every meaningful defensive possibility does the attack continue.
It is a perfect illustration of Dvoretsky's philosophy that prophylaxis is not a passive concept at all. Quite the opposite, it is often what makes a successful attack possible in the first place.
The next example demonstrates prophylaxis in an even more subtle form.

When I first encountered this example in Dvoretsky's writings, I assumed it was one of those beautiful positional ideas that rarely appear in actual games.
Then, during the 2026 TePe Sigeman tournament, something remarkably similar appeared in a game between two of the world's very best players.
The position from the Dolmatov game immediately came back to mind.
Although the move order is not identical, the underlying idea is strikingly similar.

Just as in Dolmatov's game, Black quietly steps out of the way and prepares a hidden defensive resource long before White has any reason to suspect it.
The resemblance is hard to ignore.
Whether GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov remembered Dvoretsky's example or simply rediscovered the idea at the board is impossible to know. Either explanation is impressive. If it was preparation, it demonstrates a remarkable memory for classical strategic ideas. If it was found over the board, it is a wonderful illustration of the depth of his prophylactic thinking.
Either way, it serves as a reminder that the great strategic concepts of chess never become obsolete. The same ideas that appeared in games from the 1970s and 1980s continue to appear at the very highest level today.
As instructive as that example is, another of Abdusattorov's games from the same tournament contains an even purer illustration of prophylaxis.
The position below arose against GM Andy Woodward.

It is an attractive mating sequence, and at first glance there seems to be nothing Black can do about it.
However, prophylaxis begins with a different question.
Not:
"How do I win?"
But:
"What does my opponent want?"
Abdusattorov looked beyond the obvious attack and searched for Black's hidden defensive idea.
He found it.
If Black could somehow generate perpetual checks, or even better, force a stalemate, the entire attack would collapse.
Sure enough, after the tempting 58.Qf6?, Black has an astonishing resource:

It is one of those defensive ideas that feels almost impossible to spot until someone shows it to you.
Instead of beginning his combination immediately, Abdusattorov played a move that almost looks like a waiting move.

Objectively, 58.Kg1 does very little.
It creates no direct threat.
It wins no material.
It does not even improve White's attacking pieces.
Its entire purpose is prophylactic.
By stepping the king onto g1, White quietly removes every possibility of the stalemate mechanism Black was hoping for.
Only once the defensive resource has disappeared does White become free to continue playing for the win.
That is prophylaxis in its purest practical form.
The move itself is quiet.
The idea behind it is profound.
Most players become so focused on executing their own combinations that they stop asking what resources their opponent might still possess. Abdusattorov does the exact opposite.
Before carrying out the winning plan, he first eliminates the only thing that could possibly save the game.
That habit separates good calculation from great calculation.
Strong players do not simply calculate their own ideas further than everyone else.
They calculate their opponent's ideas just as carefully.
Perhaps no author captured this way of thinking better than Aron Nimzowitsch.
His famous concept of "the ghost on c4" has become one of the enduring illustrations of prophylaxis in chess literature.
The square c4 is empty.
Nothing has happened yet.
And yet White already begins to feel its influence.
The "ghost" is coming.
Nimzowitsch's famous example comes from his classic work My System, where he introduces one of the most memorable metaphors in all of chess literature.

Although Nimzowitsch's terminology can sometimes feel old-fashioned, the underlying lesson remains just as relevant today as it was nearly a century ago.
Whether it is Karpov quietly removing every defensive resource...
Dolmatov preparing against a plan that has not yet appeared...
Abdusattorov refusing to allow a hidden stalemate defence...
...or Nimzowitsch's invisible "ghost" slowly marching towards c4...
...the common thread is always the same.
The strongest players are not obsessed with finding their own plans.
They are obsessed with understanding their opponent's.
That is why prophylaxis is so much more than a strategic theme.
It is a way of thinking.
Many improving players naturally ask themselves questions like:

• Where should I put my pieces?
• How can I attack?
• How do I improve my position?

These are all good questions.
But they are often not the best question.
Before searching for your own plan, pause for a moment and ask:
What does my opponent want?
Very often, that single question points directly to the best move on the board.
Sometimes it will be a humble ...h6, creating luft.
Sometimes it will be a rook lift like Rg4!, quietly removing a defensive resource.
Sometimes it will be a move as subtle as Re8!!, preparing for an idea that may never even appear.
And sometimes, as Abdusattorov demonstrated, it will be a king move that seems to do almost nothing, except eliminate the only drawing resource your opponent has.
The strongest moves in chess are not always the ones that create threats.
Very often, they are the ones that quietly erase your opponent's best ideas before those ideas ever have the chance to become reality.
That is the true essence of prophylaxis.