Early middle-game cipher

I've been playing chess for a while now-- even been instructing some-- but have finally found my most pressing difficulty.  I think I'm not really a novice any more, but probably just a beginning-intermediate.  I have a pretty good philosophy for opening game, but then seem to get lazy, & cease my development when I should be marching on.  A common error seems to be that I am too willing to exchange pieces when there is really little to be accomplished by the trade.  I'm stuck on the idea of just taking a piece when I can, rather than planning my direction for the future.  I think I get throught the opening ok, but have trouble maintaining a superior board position in the early middle game.  Can someone help me in regard to how I can continue my middle-game development beyond the first few moves, and tempt my opponent to capture my pieces when to do so only weakens his position?  I guess it's forming an overall game plan that presents me with a bugaboo.  Ideas?

WillBassett

Your symptoms clearly indicate the "There, I've developed my pieces....Now what?" syndrome :)

Recently put up a forum post to address "what NOT to do" in this kind of a situation (http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/what-are-the-common-quotnon-blunderquot-mistakes-non-beginners-make)

A solution for "plan creation"?  If only chess were that simple :)

Usually, one of the three things worth doing in the "Now what" stage =>

a. Look for enemy weaknesses (pieces or squares) and apply force to those areas. 

b. Likewise, look for weaknesses in your own camp and try to get rid of them.

c. Talk to your pieces and ask them where they want to be. Once you hear their whines clearly, develop the worst piece / the one that whines the most.   

Most strong vs. weak player games at the intermediate level usually have the stronger player performing a), b) and c) CONSISTENTLY until the weaker player does something really bad and then the win becomes decisive.

There are tons of ideas and patterns you need to absorb from going over Master games and books, but a) , b) and c) are pretty much the bread-and-butter of short-term planning.

My two cents ... hope it helps. Good luck!

"The Amateur's Mind" by Jeremy Silman sounds like it would be right up your street.

Well I saw one of your opening moves today. You came right out with a B took a pawn by my K and put me in check. I had to move my king and take the B thus I could not castle. I suppose that is just a way of playing the game...trade a B for a pawn......fix opponent were they can't castle. But take a look at the game and I did pretty good right down to the end at 42 moves. You just ended up one move ahead of me as we both got new Q's. You did not break any rules so I am just beating a dead house here. But it got to me somewhat, just did not like having it happen.

I've played a pretty good number of games now on chess.com, and I have located some problems that I have: Two serious problems have shown themselves.  First, as many of us I have a difficulty in avoiding blunders.  As a matter of fact,  I have considered changing my game name to "Blunderbus".  In view of this myopic problem, before I start a game I'll recite to myself,"Don't blunder; don't blunder!"  Unfortunately it doesn't always work.  I still goof.

The other bugaboo is that I have a hard time making myself continuously tally the point standing as I move beyond the opening moves. As with the blunder problem, I must keep telling myself to count points!  When I make myself do this, my chances of winning increase dramatically. 

I wish I could cover these areas naturally, but maybe I'm asking too much of myself.  Although I've played many games with this group now, but I can't seem to improve my rating score.  Perhaps it's just a matter of putting my wheels on the pavement more.  We all learn from experience. Gotta play a lot!