Most openings books (at least those I encountered) fail miserably when it comes to explaining plans, not variations. That's what I can take with me when I play a game: I want to know what plan to follow in a certain position, where I should put my pieces, whether I should go for a queenside or kingside attack, or maybe I should defend.

For instance, in the following position, what should White do? Alternatively, what are Black's ideas? It's Black to move, obviously.

First we should look at where White's play went wrong.  You don't want to end up in an IQP position with Black so actively placed, your Bishops inactive, and neither Rook on an open file. 

We presume Black will stay active with ...Qa5, although ...Qd7 is also playable.  Then White needs to play Be3, not an ideal placement, but with the Black Bg4 on his Nf3, d4 needs protection to free up the Queen to go to c2 or b3.  White wants to play Rf1-e1, Ra1-c1 or d1, and either occupy e5 with a Knight or try to push d4-d5.  In the given position, though, Black is pretty well placed to defend those ideas, again because of the Bg4.

The Bg4 had to go there before e7-e6, so White's error here was allowing an IQP formation after that had happened.  Put the Bishop back on c8 or d7 and White is in much better shape.

I would be a little less pessimistic than Estragon here, as white still has some development advantage, and black's queenside may prove slightly exposed. It's true that if white doesn't threaten a quick d5 push or doesn't put pressure on the queenside, black will probably be better.

Specifically, after a Qd7 retreat, I would consider h3 trying to get the bishop pair, and after Qa5, Be3 followed by Qb3, or Bd2, or an immediate Qb3.

As for white's piece position, ideally, it would be Qb3 and Rfd1, Rac1, but probably we have to adapt to the circumstances

IQP typical plans are widely explained in the chess litterature, there's even a whole book dedicated to them !

What is an IQP?

Isolated Queens Pawn

Thanks RR... learned something new...

Now all you need to learn is all the pros and cons of having an IQP!

Well, nothing went wrong in White's play. Here are the opening moves:

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O cxd4 8.cxd4 Nc6 9.Nc3

As you can see, there is nothing to prevent Black from playing the active Bg4 and then e6. As for rooks on the open files, there was simply no time for such a thing. Surely, after h3 Black will simply retreat his bishop to h5. OK, Qb3, Rc1, Rfd1 but the problem is, if Black doesn't play passively, White cannot push d5. That's what I knew was the main idea behind IQP.

You say that, after Bg4, White should not allow IQP? Well, he then might lose the right to castle and the endgame might be quite difficult to play. True, 6. Be2 was considered an inferior move by Kasparov.

Babs: IQP means isolated queen pawn. In the first diagram, White's d pawn is isolated. In short, the side with IQP should look at a d5 push and should not exchange minor pieces. If White pushes d5, he will have an easy game and a slight advantage. On the other hand, if Black manages to exchange the pieces into an endgame, then White is worse and probably losing.

Pushing d5 is the primary aim in IQP positions, but it's not the only plan available ! White can also try to build a kingside attack, taking advantage of the extra space he has in the center and the e5 square for his pieces. Another plan is to try to infiltrate the queenside, and especially the c5 square...

Ya it is a IQP postition, but isn't thought very highly of since what white usually has going for him in IQP is activity but black seems to have that covered for him.

A fantastic opening series if you want ideas from the openings is John Watson's e4/d4 books they are fantastic but targeted at mainly 1800+. Being a die hard e4 player I switched to d4 after reading them (who knew that d4 was so interesting?)

I would add miniature games and long games (for endings) to ozzie's excellent piece of advice. They show what are some common traps/mistakes to avoid in the position

There are pros to having an IQP?

When you say Isolated Queen's Pawn do you mean no other pawn is backing it up?

Sorry, just trying to understand exactly what that lingo means.

when you say pros to having an IQP, I would guess those pros would be because part of the master plan for better positional play for an upcoming attack, or possibly defence, but more so attack... just like with a Sac or exchange... Yes? No?

Thanks for the explanation Catalin, I only just saw it...

Later today when have some more time, I will study all said here properly... 1st thing I see white can't move d5 in either of the diagrams, so I assume you meant white should have moved d5 or should still try to move d5 as soon as possible?

Looking at this game I would be moving a3 to stop black's knight advancing?

in most IQP positions that pawn gives white extra space and better central control which he needs to use to his advantage

As hicetnunc (what a strange handle, does it mean something in French?) points out, the d5 push is not the beginning and end of White's strategy in this kind of position. The open c ande-files and the e5 outpost are also factors. In the current position, after something like 1...Qd7 2.Be3, Bd6 3.h3 White is probably OK, although no better than OK.

hicetnunc, here and now in Latin (not French), as I'm sure paulgottlieb knows but just for the benefit of others without a classical education. It's late at night here and it's St. Patrick's Day also so I won't attempt to comment on the position given, I just wanted to point out the series of videos on IQP by IM Danny Rensch on chess.com available to diamond members which some of the posters in this thread are.  I haven't viewed then yet but his rook and pawn nendings videos are very good, so these might be helpful.

If nothing went wrong with White's play, then why are you stumped before ten moves have been played?  I don't pretend to be an expert on the Alapin, and I know this is a known line at least through 7 0-0.  I'm sorry, but I just don't see the attraction for White. 

If White is going to invite Black to saddle him with the IQP, he should have a plan to deal with that eventuality.  But Black is fine here!  There's nothing for White after a few moves, how can this be popular?

I didn't say it's popular, I only know that I can't play the normal Sicilian due to the hundreds of critical variations and subvariations. I know that Black gets an easy play and has no opening problems, I was just wandering if someone knows a clear plan of action for White. I don't. In the games I looked at White is stuggling a little bit.