Making plans when having positional advantage

I played quite a few OTB games recently, and I think, my major weakness currently is attacking. The situation is always as follows: I have the better position. My opponent has some weaknesses that I am able to detect, but unable to exploit. It could be pawn structure, piece activity, etc.

I want to share 5 positions from 5 different games, where I always don't really know, how to proceed. Let's start:

I thought about a pawn break with g6, so I can open up the king side and attack the white king. Another idea would be to attack a pawn as they look weak (but which one?). The problem was that I couldn't decide, whether I should be worried about my weaknesses. There's the open e-file and the f1-a6-diagonale.

I think, I am better, because of the pawn structure and the dark squared bishop, so I should be better in an endgame. Right here I thought about pushing my queen side pawns, but didn't really know, what I would actually like to achieve because of that. Another thought was to attack a pawn, but he can defend all of them pretty easy.

The position favours an attack on the black king. I played Nf5, but I think, it was premature. There are quite a few candidate moves here. Rg3, f4, Qh5. But again, which one? Maybe all of them, and move order doesn't matter. These moves might prepare Nf5, then followed by Nxg7 or Nxh6.

Again a good position. My bishop on h7 attacks crucial squares in white's camp. I was working hard to get one of his queenside pawns, but couldn't make it work. I played N6a5, but the knight trade didn't help me. Maybe I should have prepared a pawn push in the center (e5) or maybe a5 threatening to chase the knight away.

I am completely dominating my opponent at this point. But how to take advantage of that? Kingside or queenside attack? What to do with the h-pawn? Placing a knight on f5? What, if my opponent places a knight on f4?

I appreciate your help. Thank you.

In that first position I don't see that you have an advantage at all... what would your advantage be? To my way of seeing White has space and better pieces. I think the g6 break is crucial -- it's going to open up the game creating lots of tactics -- which you want because IMO the positional status quo does not favor you -- might as well go for complications and counterplay. As it stands the key to position 1 IMO is that you are weak on the light squares (all your pawns are on dark squares) and if I were white, my plan would all be built around exploiting that weakness. I'd try to find a way to exchange a N for your light square bishop, and to use my Qa6+ and even perhaps get the long h1 a8 diagonal for my bishop, etc.  In the face of all that I don't think you want to try to solve/defend your weaknesses -- i think you want to create counterplay -- g6 is the move.

1st position: The inactivity of your knights is problematic. You should at least exchange one pair with ...Ne7-g8-h6. The position looks balanced.

2nd position: Pushing your queenside pawns would tie down their queenside pawns, allowing you to attack them more easily. Imagine putting a pawn on b4 and exchanging the dark-squared bishops. That c2-pawn looks like an appealing target, right?

3rd position: You're missing the most important issue: should you let Black take your bishop or not? After trading on d3, Black can equalize easily with ...Rad8, ...c5, and ...d5. Therefore, Ba6 should be considered. Here, I think White keeps a small advantage. Some sample lines:

1. Ba6 Bxa6 2. Qxa6 c5 3. Ne2 followed by Nc3 with good control over the central light squares and a backward d-pawn for Black

1. Ba6 c5? 2. Nb5 Bxa6 3. Nxc7 Bxe2 4. Rxe2 +-

1. Ba6 b5 2. Bxb7 Qxb7 3. f4 Ng6 4. g3 with what I believe to be a small advantage for White. The immediate ...c5 doesn't work because of Nxb5, and h3-h4-h5 is coming, probably followed by Nf5 and Qg4.

4th position: 1...a5 is extremely natural and should be the first move that comes to your mind. 2. Nd3 (there is no other way to defend the b2-pawn) a4 3. Nbc5 Qb5 sidesteps Nd7 and makes the annoying threat of ...b6

5th position: Normally, you'd want to think about doubling rooks on the h-file so that you could threaten hxg5, but hxg5 is never going to be a threat to Black here. Therefore, 1. h5 is called for. Just look at Black's kingside after that move.

1st position: I think that white's best piece at the moment is almost certainly the knight on g4. There is some threat to go Ne3-d5. For that reason Bh5 and then taking on g4 merits consideration. It would be quite risky though, because your kingside lightsquares could become weak.

Maybe you could also try some kind of Rh5-g5. The main question is what are you going to do about Ne3-d5.

2nd: I like the line 1... Rfc8 2.c3 a5!? With the plan of making some kind of manuever with your bishop to f8. The most logical plan from that position would probably be to double on the c-file with your rooks and then try to trade off the  bishops somehow. It might seem counterintuitive since his bishop is bad and yours is good, but once he plays c3 his bishop is very important in keeping his pawn structure together and yours is not really doing a whole lot. It is hard however to come up with a specific variation that accomplishes your plan

3rd: I think Rg3 and Qh5 are both fairly reasonable. Rg3 does get another piece out of the way from your queen and his rook, so you have to make sure he doesn't have any way to take advantage of that. I don't think that he would though, since Nf5 is an immediate threat. f4 would be a pretty bad move in my opinion, it doesn't really accomplish anything and weakens your pawn structure, tell me exactly how f4 would aid your kingside attack?

4th: The first move that comes to mind as you mention is a5, chasing the knight. However, we can see that white will be able to bring his knight to the nice square c5 in response to any a5-a4. When I think about that the next solution that comes to mind is Qb5, with the idea of following up with a5-a4, and if Nc5 to play b6 right away. It was difficult for me to find a way for white to take advantage of the strangely placed queen on b5 or to chase it away. It looks very strange, but I think that Qb5 is best.

5th: Close up the K-side with h5 and then try to attack the queenside with Nb5, c4 b4 c5 etc.