How to play middle games?(Classical)
Study annotated grandmaster games to learn.
@tpr said [^](/forum/redirect/post/LES1HlHX)
> Study annotated grandmaster games to learn.
do you mean annotated like this ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSi4ZHhZhng
"... [annotated games are] infinitely more useful than bare game scores. However, annotated games vary widely in quality. Some are excellent study material. Others are poor. But the most numerous fall into a third category - good-but-wrong-for-you. ... You want games with annotations that answer the questions that baffle you the most. ... masters usually don't make the kind of instructive mistakes that amateurs learn the most from. In master-vs.-master games, the errors are usually minor and the punishment is so slow coming that the educational value is often lost. ... there are major advantages to studying older games rather than those of today. The ideas expressed in a Rubinstein or Capablanca game are generally easier to understand. They are usually carried out to their logical end, often in a memorable way, ... In today's chess, the defense is much better. That may sound good. But it means that the defender's counterplay will muddy the waters and dilute the instructional value of the game. ..." - GM Andrew Soltis (2010)
At https://lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/what-books-to-read-for-improvement-rating-1400-1500-fide, a number of the suggestions are essentially collections of annotated games.
@MyMace said [^](/forum/redirect/post/Jh5qBqC6)
> How to play middle games?(Classical)
If you mean in a classical sense (old-school), "The Art of the Middlegame" by Keres and Kotov or the two-book "The Middlegame" by Euwe and Kramer will give you that sort of feel. No engine lines, no "centipawn" evaluations. Just good, old fashioned chess-speak commentary that a real person can wrap their heads around. Neither are too heavy or deep.
My version of the Keres book is in Descriptive notation, heavily marked up, and well used, rabbit-eared. It's not overly analyzed, so there is some thought-space in it because of that.
"... lower rated players will get something useful out of [the first section by Golombek of The Art of the Middlegame] ..., [Kotov's 'Strategy and Tactics of Attack on the King' and 'Various Pawn Positions in the Center'] will be enjoyed by Class B and A players ... the two Keres’ offerings: 'How to Defend Difficult Positions' and 'The Art of Analysis.' ... are advanced, and I think that players of expert strength and higher will get the most out of them (actually, 'The Art of Analysis' is for senior masters, IMs, and grandmasters). ..." - IM Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20220625165746/https://www.jeremysilman.com/book-review/art-of-the-middlegame-the/
I recommend...'The Middle Game In Chess' - By GM Reuben Fine - (A timeless book) -:]
This legendary work by Reuben Fine returns in a completely revised and corrected edition in 'modern algebraic notation'. After explaining the basic elements of combinations and attacks against the King, Fine discusses how to evaluate a position; how to handle superior, equal, and inferior positions; the significance of pawn structure and space; the transition from opening to middlegame and middlegame to endgame; and much more. With hundreds of diagrams and examples from actual play, The Middlegame in Chess is one of the modern classics of the game.
I'd say that mapping out your thought process after a game and trying to improve it (usually easier and more fun with partners) is useful