Chess Tip Of The Day

The side with the IQP has the following four plans available: A) kingside attack; B) opening the game by advancing the isolated pawn; C) advancing the isolated pawn in order to fix an enemy pawn on an adjacent file; D) developing activity on the queenside. Boris Zlotnik, Zlotnik's Middlegame Manual

Centralisation of the king in the endgame is hardly ever incorrect. Mikhail Shereshevsky, Endgame Strategy

It took me 20 years to realise that the best way to evaluate a position quickly is to look closely at the bishops. Roddy McKay, quoted in Chess For Zebras

Minor piece or three pawns? The closer a position is to an ending, the more likely it is that the pawns are better than the piece. Edmar Mednis, Practical Opening Tips

C8 is where the black queen's rook belongs in most Sicilians, on the semi-open file. Daniel King, Chess magazine

As an extremely rough guide I tend to think of IQP positions with four sets of minor pieces as favourable for White, ones with three sets of minor pieces as about level, and when it gets down to just two sets then things are starting to turn Black's way. This rule assumes that White has the IQP and that the major pieces are still on the board. Joe Gallagher, Starting Out: The Caro-Kann