How to think in middlegames

Piece Play

1. Develop pieces: Get them out, get them active! Aim to develop your pieces to good squares where they can influence the game.
2. Control the center: Use pawns and pieces to dominate the castled squares. This will give you more mobility and flexibility.

3. Attack weak points: Target your opponent's weaknesses, such as undefended pawns or pieces that are not well-supported.

Pawn Structure

1. Create pawn chains: Block your opponent's pawns, open lines, and create weaknesses in their structure.
2. Use pawn islands: Create weaknesses in your opponent's structure by targeting isolated pawns or pawn islands.

3. Manage pawn breaks: Open files, create counterplay, and challenge your opponent's central control.

Tactical Tips

1. Look for pins: Win material or create weaknesses by pinning your opponent's pieces against more valuable pieces.

As the queen is undefended, even as the knight's pinned, it is a blunder
2. Use skewers: Attack multiple pieces, win material, and gain an advantage.
3. Find combinations: Sacrifice material to win more, create weaknesses, and gain an advantage.
4. Always use the CCA checklist (By Levy)
5.Whenever down Material, trade pawns, not pieces and vice-versa for being up material

Positional Play

1. Improve piece placement: Move pieces to better squares, improve mobility, and increase influence.
2. Create weaknesses: Target your opponent's pawn structure and piece placement to create weaknesses.
3. Prophylactic thinking: Think ahead, prevent your opponent's plans, and anticipate their moves.

Some key concepts to keep in mind:

- Open files: Use rooks to control open files and put pressure on your opponent's position.

In this position, the rooks are focused on the open files, making them strong
- Piece coordination: Coordinate your pieces to attack weak points and create threats.

In this position, even though black has more material, white is winning as black has a weak spot 

- Endgame transition: Think about the endgame, and transition into it with an advantage.

This leads to a winning endgame with one extra rook
Note: The players used are not in the specific games, it is only for design