How do I improve my planning? (I am a beginner)

I am rated 1300 rapid here on chess.com . I know my planning is not great, but I have no idea how to improve it. The thing is, I dont have a coach, and when I see a game where I dont know what should the plan be, and I dont have a way to know it, as well as I it is difficult to check my plans beyond the test of the game result.

For example, a game I played recently:

At move 18, I played Nh4. This is because I missed black's d5. The thing is, if I had found black's d5 I wouldnt have known what to do. Like, at all. Even after the game when I opened game review and saw it, I took a few minutes and still had no idea what should the plan be. Stockfish suggested the next best move and line, but it didnt help me understanding the plan.

What I would like to know is how can a weak player with no coach can improve their planning.

How can I get feedback on the plan itself, how good it was, even if I missed something specific that doesnt let it work I wanna no I was on the right way. Maybe I need to improve my evaluation - how do I do that?

The class teacher told me I need to study engames, so I have started reading "100 Endgames You Must Know" but it is gonna take me quite a while. Is it even relevant to try improving my planning before I finish the book?

I would really appreciate any and every reponse.

Grab a Chess Coach for three months he will fix your repertoire middle game and endgames then stick to your own personal growth I am Coach myself so if you need it you can message me

Ask yourself what your weakest piece is

Ask yourself what your opponents plan is

And ask yourself what the weaknesses in the position are

Make your plan based on those answers

Thank you guys for answering, but is there a method to improve/practice planning, or at least know if my plan was good and I just made a mistake/my opponent has made a mistake?

I mean, even strong players need to keep improving their planning, just like their tactics, in order to get better, don't they? Or I just need to learn this with a coach and I then I don't need to worry about it anymore?

You should get a membership and review your games

you have to think 4 moves ahed for you and oppenent

thats also right

To answer how to look at this concrete position, don't take it to be the end-all-be-all but just how a 1850 rapid player would look at it: In the position where you played Nh4 (which is a decent move, targeting the weak squares in the opponent's camp), you are not better after d5 by any means, so patience is important. Just look at which pieces you want to trade, which pieces to improve and respond to your opponent's threats. You have a material imbalance N vs B. The knight+queen can coordinate well and some squares have been weakened around the Black king, so you want to keep queens on the board, I'd consider Qe2 or Qf3 after ...d5, avoiding the trade, it also improves your rooks by connecting them. If they exchange pawns in the center they will have a bit of initiative and your plan should be to neutralize that first and then try to attack their weakened king with the N+Q combo

Edit: oh, yeah. I should mention, the mistake was earlier when you either misunderstood the importance of the light-squared bishop or miscalculated something. I would've played Bb3 instead of Bxb7 to keep the tension

You are not a beginner. 1600 bullet is not low

d5 is a very common idea to challenge whites strong pawn centre, it's not some engine move

In fact black played f5 likely with the same idea but just miscounted

d5 you should just ignore, play Qe2 or smth and if takes then you have an open d file for your rook

hello

Well I think black saw it, he just pushed the wrong pawn

Unless he was just hoping white would hang his knight which is also possible

@Praise-Hamon

@Ze_Shoopuf

@chessblackbelt

Thank you guys a lot, I usually don't have the opportunity to see the POV of stronger players about games I play and get tips about it ☺️