Fact check: Can you tell me how to make a plan in chess?

Executive Summary

Making a plan in chess requires a repeatable process: assess the position, identify concrete targets, formulate short- and long-term plans tied to piece activity and pawn structure, and convert small advantages through careful play. Contemporary guides and reviews from 2022–2025 converge on these steps, while emphasizing different stages—openings, middlegame strategy, and endgame roadmaps—as focal points for planning and training ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}.

1. Why the position-first approach dominates modern guides and what that means for your planning

All recent sources prioritize a position-first assessment as the foundation for planning: evaluate king safety, pawn structure, piece activity, and imbalances before drafting a sequence of moves. This theme appears consistently across comprehensive strategy pieces that stress understanding the “why” behind moves as essential to creating repeatable plans and converting advantages into wins ^{[1] [2]}. The emphasis on assessment reframes planning as diagnosis rather than rote memorization, steering players to base plans on concrete positional features—an approach reflected in both general strategy guides and specialized middlegame methodologies published in 2025 ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Openings set the stage: the tactical and strategic implications you must absorb early

Authors covering openings argue that a sound opening creates the conditions for later plans by securing development, center control, and future tactical opportunities; a weak opening can cripple plan options and lead to passive play ^[3]. Sources published in mid-2025 reiterate that opening choice should align with a player’s preferred middlegame plans—whether you seek closed maneuvering or open tactical play—because the opening determines pawn structures and piece placements that dictate realistic targets. The message is practical: choose openings that produce familiar structures you can plan around ^{[3] [5]}.

3. The Colle System case: a niche plan that shows the power of focused repertoire building

Reviews of the Colle System present it as a manageable, plan-driven opening that exemplifies how a simple, repeatable setup can generate consistent middlegame plans ^[5]. The Colle’s d4–Nf3–e3–Bd3 formation aims for coordinated piece play and a kingside buildup, demonstrating that learning one structure deeply can shorten decision-making and improve plan execution. The October 2025 review frames the Colle as both underrated and practical for players who prefer structured plans over vast opening theory, hinting at an agenda to popularize underexplored systems as efficient learning pathways ^[5].

4. Middlegame strategy: turning small advantages into concrete plans and wins

Comprehensive strategy texts stress converting small advantages—space, better minor piece, target on an isolated pawn—into winning plans through prophylaxis, piece exchanges, and creating multiple threats ^{[1] [2]}. The 2025 materials present practical decision-making methods: identify the main weakness, allocate pieces to the theme, create a plan with incremental goals, and remain flexible to tactics. These guides converge on a principle: successful middlegame planning mixes long-term strategic aims with short tactical moves, and training should emphasize move “why” over move “what” ^{[1] [2]}.

5. Endgame planning: specialized roadmaps and the unique rules that govern late play

Endgame-focused resources provide distinct planning rules—activate the king, create passed pawns, and simplify into winning minor-piece endings—that differ from middlegame benchmarks ^{[6] [4]}. Books and GM roadmaps from 2022–2023 underscore targeted strategies like creating a queen or breakthrough pawn advances, offering exercises and studies to internalize endgame plans ^{[6] [4]}. The materials imply that effective overall planning requires shifting mental models between game phases: plans must become more concrete and calculation-driven as material diminishes ^{[6] [4]}.

6. Conflicting emphases and potential agendas across sources

While all sources endorse assessment-led planning, they emphasize different levers: some push broad positional mastery and study of classics to build intuition ^[2], while others foreground practical opening systems or ranked first-move heuristics to shorten learning curves ^{[3] [7]}. The Colle review’s promotional tone suggests an agenda to rebrand underused systems as efficient learning tools ^[5]. Strategy guides published in 2025 seek to sell comprehensive methodologies, which may bias them toward portraying structured programs as superior; readers should cross-reference classical endgame texts and specific opening reviews to avoid single-source prescriptions ^{[1] [2] [5]}.

7. Practical takeaways you can apply now to build reliable chess plans

Synthesize these sources into a step-by-step habit: assess key features, set a primary goal (target or pawn break), define piece routes, choose short-term forcing moves, and plan conversion paths for the endgame. The literature from 2022–2025 supports training that mixes themed opening study, positional exercises, tactical drills, and endgame studies to internalize planning patterns ^{[1] [3] [4]}. Adopting a focused repertoire like the Colle can accelerate pattern recognition, but balancing that with classical positional and endgame study yields the most durable planning skills ^{[5] [2] [6]}.