planning

I have no idea when trying to form plans.

How would I learn to analyse the board and then form a plan.  What is a good book/dvd:

Amateurs mind

Winning chess sstrategy

Dan Heisman

Any of the roman/susan polgar dvds

Analysing gm games

Look at the pawn center and where you have advantages.  Use your advantages and the opponent's weaknesses.  If you don't know what they are then read up on basic positional elements such as weak squares, pawns, color complexes, advantages of bishop vs. knight and vice versa, control of certain files, etc.

what is a good book to learn imbalances.  I am assuming amateurs mind.  How do I turn these imbalances into a plan, is kotov think like a gm good in this respect.

It's a good book to get your feet in the door with calculation, positional imbalances, planning, and strategic endgames but is by no means comprehensive.  Techniques of Positional Play I hear is a good book on the subject.  Silman's Reassess Your Chess I have no experience with but some swear by it.  I personally looked at Hansen's "Improve Your Positional Chess" and Aagard's "Basic Positional Ideas" which were alright.

Although i've only taken some small cracks at it. Techniques of Positional Play (if we're referring to Bronznik and Terekhin) I would say is definitely more higher level then what the player is currently looking for at the moment.

I wouldn't suggest Kotov's either simply based on ear and age. It's also been regarded as less than stellar by some very capable authors lately while reading their books (not just one).

Fortunately while it sits around mostly unturned at this point "Amateur's Mind" seems quite appropriate, but while fuzzy about it, I believe "Reassess your Chess" was a slightly higher level "Amateurs Mind", and quite more in depth. (Personally I find Reassess a bit hokey, but it's quite good).

A much higher level book, but a very good one for understanding play nuances beyond tactics is Herman Grootens "Chess Strategy for Club Players", and while I find "Pump Up Your Rating" is excellent as well I would give Grooten the edge for clarity, but they're both high quality.

In a different vein, and while I faintly remember it, you might also consider looking at "Studying Chess Made Easy" by Andrew Soltis (just leafing through it real fast here), but it seems to have some good pointers for formulating understanding, and seems to be on a similar (or easier) level than Amateur's Mind. Although I feel Amateur's Mind probably contains more, but at a higher difficulty.

How would I practise evaluating and planning (as well as practising my thinking system)

Watch some good videos on youtube

what are some good videos

i'm no expert but i think for all those rated under 1600 should practice tactics more than anything else. what's the point of reading about minority attack when one still hangs pieces left and right. and the first thing to study would be endgames. still i'm clearly a weak player to give advices

But to pout tactics in my favour I need to attack and therfore need a plan.

 How do I learn how to analyse and make a plan

Once again going to stress the value for the OP from a previous thread of possibly investing in Chess Tempo's gold tactics trainer specfically. It's very important to see the same problem repeatedly, and also it has other useful features like rating limited sets, and tactical motif organized sets.

And of course, as Estragon says spotting during a game is critical and far different from knowing there's the potential.

It's useful to maintain a database of your games as well, and while I have chessbase I also have a membership for 365chess which also functions as a great online storage and database.

Databases can be extremely useful when they only contain your own games (serious ones preferably) as they can tell which opening lines you're weak at, and also if you have a critically high losing chance in a line might point that there's a tactic you keep missing.

Can you just tell me a book/dvd/exersise to learn how to plan and analyse.  Thank you

I recommend picking up a copy of Studying Chess Made Easy by Andrew Soltis, and once you're finished picking up a copy of either Amateurs Mind by Silman or How to Reassess Your Chess.

In addition for Tactics I recommend the Gold Membership on Chess Tempo due to being able to create spaced repetition sets which will help both space the problems advantageously for practice and memory, and also will in addition cover the same problems repeateadly until you have them down instantly.

Finally I recommend you take some looks at Dan Heismans "Novice Nook" on the ChessCafe Archives. It's free and you won't have to wait.

http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/archives.htm

I have learned the basics thx to chessmaster, it's less boring than a dvd or a book

One thing I looked over until just recently is "vision" Dan Hiesman has a nice video that I think really changed my game. This one video made a big impact on me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdwMRS-_Bd0

He also narrarates how your mental checklist should go in different positions and situations. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkI5zsVX6i4

and this whole series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk47zfq788M

@validior thats perfect.  Thank you.

What does everyone else think of his guess the move practise.

I have heard many strong players suggest it as the best way to improve. There are many specific, concrete things to learn (tactics, mating patterns, endings, openings, etc). Outside of those, you have to study master games, and since most of us cannot afford to work with a master for 20 hours per week, the next best thing is studying their games, thinking seriously about what move we would make, then figuring out why the master played something different. This makes annotated games very valuable!

And it could mean that if you review a master game half-heartedly while you're tired (i.e. you can't do your best), you may be wasting that game, since you can't test yourself. Better to take a nap and try again later. It's also why it's hard for people with a job and family to improve at chess. It's hard to find a block of time when you won't be bothered, and also when you're not tired.

would it help improve my think system also.