The Art Of The Middle Game

A fundamental necessity both for a successful attack and a correct defence is the formation of a sound plan, and the logical adherence to this plan despite any seductive alternatives that may present themselves during the course of play. Two sure ways of spoiling a good attack or of collapsing in defence lie in adopting a piecemeal policy, or, still worse, in simply drifting. To play from move to move is obviously reprehensible but the tendency to drift is more insidious. This characteristic is, indeed, one way of distinguishing the great master from the ordinary player. There is no impression of drift in his moves; on the contrary , they fit into a logical pattern so as to form a deep plan that dominates the whole game. In the international field nowadays most players are fully aware of the necessity of forming a plan; but they tend to err by virtue of the fickle nature of humanity. By this I mean that they will go astray through a fitful handling of the attack or of the defence. They will start on one plan, switch over to another that seems more attractive, and then, when it is too late, try to return to the original plan. As a good example of this fits-and-starts policy consider the following game that was played in the Golden Sands Olympiad of 1962.