What to do after pieces are developed?

When opening the game with e4 I often reach a position similar to the one displayed below. The only problem is that I'm not entirely sure what to do next (I'm playing white). Should I move the queen? Should I push my pawns forward? Should I get my rooks into the game? Once I finish this opening I don't have much of a game plan. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

 NOTE: It's white's turn to move.

Hi Ken, that's allways difficult. Opening wise i would try not allow the pin on your knight on f3 after you have castled kingside. At least that's what i was taught.

Maybe white can try to make a break with d4 and prepare this with connecting your rooks(Q on the 2nd rank) and moving them to the center to support the pawns. After that all your pieces are developed and the middle game can start.

This plan will not be easy to execute once you've allowed the pin on your knight though.

I'm no expert but that's my 2cts.

Cheers!

As a new player I would suggest you simplify things. instead of following opening theory and getting into a position such as you posted, exchange some pieces to open the board and then look for some tactical moves to win a piece or a pawn. Do not get bogged down with opening theory at this stage.

Thanks for the tips everyone! H3 is the move I usually do. Black then goes Bxh5. I'd probably then move the queen to either d2 or e2.

Queen to d2 would remove the black's pin but it would leave the knight somewhat unprotected. The knight's only protection is the pawn. Using the pawn would screw up my king's defense and leave an open file for attack. 

Queen to e2 would keep the knight protected but would leave it pinned as a result.

So which queen move would be preferrable?

If you are going to play h3 and he plays Bh5 the you should go the whole hog with g4, but play Bxf6 first. Yes this will screw up your king's defence, but if you play passively he will get his f-knight to f4 and you will be in a right pickle.

..... yes an open file for YOUR attack !  Two sides to every coin. Kh1 folowed by Rg1 is ok for you. But exchange off that pesky f6 knight first.

Yeah there is no clear positional advantage to any side. I think exchange couple of pieces could be good idea

Assuming you're white peices,

At this point I would look for a weak square and attack it.

d4 is a square you can win right now.

Therefore, I'd push my pawn up to d4. Hopefully he bites with his e5 pawn. Then you take e4 with your Knight. He then takes with his Knight, and then you take with your Queen. (d4 e5xd4, Nxd4 Nxd4, Qxd4)

In this case you have gained ground in the center, you didn't lose out none material wise, and you've opened some space to move.

You'll also be pressuring the g7 square.

If he doesn't bite on your pawn to d4 move. then you just keep pressing pawn to d5 the next move. The outcome to that senario looks really promising.

But I'm a beginner myself so these might not be the best moves. lol

Although they seem like good moves.

Is my scenario a bad choice?

Backing up from analyzing this specific position, your middle-game plans should dictate the opening moves, not the other way around.

It is at this point that the OP KenBrace thinks....OMG why did I take up this game ?

Ken, don't be put off by the complexities. You have had some really good advice from some very good players (I don't mean me !), and I promise you in a years time if you come back to this thread it will make a hell of a lot more sense than it does now.

Take the advice and play lots of games and bit by bit more of the advice will stick. You may end up being as good as some of the posters in this thread but even if you end up just an average player like me you will hopefully enjoy the game, which after all is the whole point.

Good point @Fiveofswords and @bb_gum234 about black's Nd4 threat. That should definitey be dealt with.

wow, damn I just lost my queen!! very wise advice. thank you

In order to develop a feel for middle game plans, it's very helpful to play through master tournament games of the general opening system you're using. Once their pieces are developed, see what they're doing next. Maybe they go for an immediate `pawn break`. Btw, knowing what pawn breaks are typical for given openings and positions is super helpful. Maybe they're repositioning their pieces to set up a pawn break, or to get a piece to a more active position. Or a knight to an outpost. Be aware of rook placement in order to eventually control an open file once pieces are exchanged and pawns shifted or exchanged. Of course, like Five of Swords says, you have to always be aware of immediate tactics. Larry Christiansen, several times US Champion and a great attacking player, said that the first thing he does in assessing a position is he scans for the one or two mover tactical move, that way you'll sometimes be able to win a quick pawn or piece, or save one of your own. It takes time to absorb the many positions and maneuvers in order to improve so you can't be in a hurry, just practice as much as possible in your daily allotted time, and in time you will gain a larger view of things.

I'm going to say that first I'm not a particularly big fan of white's position (I'm sure objectively it's pretty equal, but I think I would  probably prefer to play black here).  Why?  1.  White's knight on f3 is in an annoying pin which restricts a lot of his options; eg.  at some point he may have wanted to play Ne7, but this will not be possible (at least for quite a while to come) in this position because of Bxf3.  2.  White's bishop on g5 is kind of redundant.  The knight is not in a pin and it's not applying very much pressure at all; infact white is the one who will have watch out for tactics where black moves his knight on f6.  This bishop would be better situated on e3; controlling the rather weak d4 square (this square is artificially weak, since usually it would be possible to move the c3 knight (almost definitely e7, in almost all cases everything else is too passive/slow or dubious) and then play c3 here to control d4, however as mentioned earlier this is not an option for some time to come, due to Bxf6.  Thirdly, the bishop on b5 is not where I'd usually want it to be.  The knight is not in a pin and dreams of coming to d4.  If it does do this white will not just have to create serious weaknesses trying to defend f3, but also his b5 bishop is horribly misplaced and can be harrassed.  Therefore Bxc6 bxc6 seems sort of neccessary to justify the placement of this bishop, but at the same time this isn't really the kind of move you want to make as it concedes the two bishops and despite the structural damage that black has he will gain compensation in the form of more central control and he may also choose to exploit his newly opened b file.

This is how I would evaluate the position and based on these factors I deduce the following:

There is a ton of analysis on only a few moves, don't worry if you don't understand all of it; in hindsight a lot of it is too complex to understand at your level, but see what you can figure out.  Just try and understand what your opponent wants to do and how to stop them as well as how you can improve your pieces and where you can find play, based on your advantages in the position.
 

Very informative reply @Play2Lose. Gives me some logical continuations to ponder over. Thanks!

theres some good advice been given here, I think the best was to back up a few moves and look for an improvement earlier. However at this point I don't like playing h3. As a general rule I like it when my opponet plays h3 to kick my bishop off the pin. See it gives me a target later to open up your king. I spent some time looking at this position and have to admit this may be an exeption. I can't see any sound way to attack whites king just yet. I'm just trying to say if possible it would usually be good idea to look for another way to break pins like this.

Every opening has its own plans which you should be doing.

They are long term plans which often happen in the middle game or near the beginning of endgame!

If you are having problems figuring out what to do.

It means your chess alarm bells are going off!

Something is wrong lol!

How did the opening start off?

What was the beginning moves?

You can not force a plan to work if the line you are playing does not go in sync with such a plan!

Maybe the reason you are struggling with a plan in this middle game position is because you ignored the opening plans of your line and now you are lost on what to do.

Getting advice on this position will not help you if your opening prior to this position was bad.

Good advice in the middle game can not help the bad opening.

I'm not saying this opening is bad because I don't know what you played. However, I believe you should give more information on how this position came about.

After you develop your pieces, the game becomes a lackluster waste of time.

Let me give you an anology. 

In real life, after you leave your house and find a job, there is nothing to do but be another's slave so that you can get a few measly scraps.

I went to search your games on chess.com KenBrace.

I went to see what the opening started as.

As it turns out all the games I found on you from chess.com were 1.d4 openings.

Yeah so I guess I don't know what the begining moves are.