7Q Method: Your Roadmap to Formulating Chess Plans in Any Position

Are you familiar with this feeling?
You look at the board. At your pieces. At your opponent.
And you find yourself asking, “Okay. What’s next? What should I do? What should be my plan?”

Or at the end of the game, your friend, coach, or a chess engine shows you a plan, and you’re like, “Ah…How could I miss that resource?”

If you have never experienced this situation and always know what to do, feel free to close this article.

But if you know the pain of being stuck in your thinking process and being unable to find a plan, you’re not alone.

For many years, I tried to come up with a universal method for finding a plan. But it was always complicated and different for every level.

And then, one day, a magic happened.

The power of questions
I spent a few hours talking with Badre (our first investor, who later became my Godfather) about ChessMood and its future.

At the end of the call, I knew what I would do and what my next steps would be.

But it was not until I lay in my bed, before sleeping, that I realized what he had done.
He didn’t tell me what to do or advise me on what to do. He only did one thing. He asked questions!

Then I recalled, that this is what he has done with me from the very beginning of our relationship. He has never told me what to do. Almost never advised. He always asked questions.

I jumped from the bed, took a pen and paper, and drafted the method you’re about to learn.

Initially, there were five questions. Then, I added two more. Then, I tested the method on hundreds of examples. Then, I taught it to my students.

It worked!
It solved the problem of formulating a plan in any position!

They never got stuck and dramatically reduced missing resources in their positions.

Their results improved. Their rating increased. They became happy. I became happy.

Naturally, my next step was to record a detailed course on this method, which I did. And if you’re a ChessMood student, you have free access to it.

And if not, in this article, I’m going to share with you my invention – the 7 Questions Method – everything that you should know for practicing it in your games. Later, you can check out the course if you want.

Let’s go!

Question #1: What problems does the opponent have?
Possible answers can include: Their King is weak, they have a weak pawn or a weak square, etc…

Once we know about the opponent's weaknesses, we can think about how we can target and exploit them.

By asking this question, you’ll notice all the resources and not focus only on one.

Here is an example.

Black’s King is weakened because of the f6 and g6 pawns. White played 1.h4 with the idea of attacking it with h5. A possible plan.

But if White asked this question, “What problems does the opponent have?”, they would notice that Black’s d4 pawn is very weak! And if they get the pawn, White’s Bishop will bombard the King across the long diagonal. Not only would their attack be stronger, but they would also be a pawn-up.

What do you think? What are Black’s problems?

If you said the e6 backward pawn and the central e5 weak square, you’re absolutely correct. If you have also noticed that Black’s Bishop on c8 is very sad, that's even better!

So, the best plan is to solve our problems!

Question #3: Where am I strong?
The next question is on which side of the board am I strongest? Or shortened, “Where am I strong?”

Based on pawn structures, you might have a pawn majority on one side of the board, and want to play there by pushing your pawns.

Your strength can be in the kingside, queenside, or the center.

Or maybe you don’t have a pawn majority, but you have a piece majority on one side of the board?

Knowing where you’re strongest will very often give you an idea of what plan to choose.

We have a pawn majority on the kingside — we have four pawns versus White’s three.

Also, our Bishop stares at White’s King. The Rooks are also ready if we push our pawns. Knowing these factors, our plan becomes very logical.

Question #4: Which of my pieces can be happier?
The 4th question is a very, very important one and 99% of the time, it’ll have an answer.
It is, “Which of my pieces can be happier?”
Or, in other words, “Which of my pieces could be placed better?”

You don’t win the game. Your pieces win it😊
So, you want to bring them to good places, where they’re happy and effective. And when they’re happy, you’ll also be happy with your positions😊

I’ll show you an example.

Let’s talk to our pieces and see where they would be happier.

- “Queen, where would you be happier?”
- Not sure yet.

-”Rooks?”
- On “d” open file.

- “Bishop?”
- “Are you kidding me? Of course, on the long diagonal a1-h8.
I’ll bombard Black’s King.”

Here we go!

Question #5: Which pieces do I want to trade?
One of the most common actions that will happen on the board are trades.
Both you and your opponent should always try to trade your worst pieces and the other side's best pieces.
Or, ideally, your worst pieces with their best.

Asking this 5th question, “Which pieces do I want to trade?”, will often give you an idea of what to do.

With the help of this question, you’ll learn that you want to trade Queens, Bishops, Knights, Rooks, and even pawns!

Let’s look at the board.

Black’s Knight on b4 is very good. Not only does it block our Queen and Rook on b1, but very effectively defends the b7 and the d5 pawns.

Can we trade it?
Why not?😊 We have a Knight too.

Question #6: What’s the opponent’s next move/plan?
Most of our questions were focused on us.
But we mustn't forget that we have an opponent, and like us, they also want to win the game.

So the 6th question is, “What’s the opponent's next move or plan?”

Once you know the answer, often our best plan will be to prevent the opponent’s plan. Or just their next move.

Black has a great position. They have a Bishop pair advantage and many more active pieces than White.
But when we ask this question, “What’s the opponent's next move/plan”, we’ll see something that we should address.

White wants to play 1.Bc3, trade their bad Bishop with our good one, and take from our hands our Bishop pair advantage.

How can we stop White’s plan?

If you said 1…b4 – good job!

Black stopped White’s Bc3 move and limited the possible activity of White pieces and any trades. Only after this will Black continue developing their position.

Possible plans are:

a5, a4, and create a passed pawn on the queenside.
h5, h4 and attack White’s King with pawns.
Rb5 and transfer it to the kingside.
Question #7: How can I advance?
In 99% of the situations, if you ask those 6 questions, at least one of them will have a clear answer, and you’ll know what to do.

But very rarely, there will be situations when none of the questions have an answer.

Here is an example.

Let’s go through our questions.

Q1 - What problems does the opponent have?

Their pieces are passive. And White dominates the open “c” file.

Q2 - What problems do I have?

No problems, all is good.

Q3 - Where am I strong?

On the queenside, because of the open “c” file.

Q4 - Which of my pieces can be happier?

All of them seem pretty happy.

Q5 - Which pieces do I want to trade?

None.

Q6 - What’s the opponent’s next move/plan?

They can’t do much. They can't even play f6, because they’ll lose the e6 pawn.

Okay…
We learned that we have the open “c” file. But what do we do with it?

We can’t enter the 7th rank, because Black’s Knight defends the c7 square. And if we play 1.Rc8, we’ll allow Black’s f6 move.

So, here comes the 7th question.

“How can I advance?”

Most of the time, we’ll do it by pushing the pawns.

I was playing with White pieces, and here is what happened in the game:

Now, before I show you how to use this 7Q Method during a game, let me remind you about something important.

Tactics are everywhere
Tactics and strategy always go together, hand in hand.
Tactics help the strategy, and strategy helps the tactics.

Often you’ll achieve what you wanted, or prevent the opponent’s plans with the help of tactics.

Here is an example.

If you go through our questions, you’ll learn:

1. White’s only issue is their weak c4 square.
2. Black has a problem with the “c” file. It belongs to White.
3. Black’s b7 Knight is very unhappy.
How should we continue?

We call on tactics for help!😊

1…Na5!

We use a pin, and transfer our worst piece, the b7 Knight to a dream square on c4. Not only do we exploit White’s weakness, but the Knight on c4 will close the “c” file, our only problem.

7Q Method in practice
Now that you know the 7 questions and are aware of tactics being everywhere, we’ll go through examples and I’ll show you how to use the 7Q method in practice.

The steps will be the following:

Step 1: You ask the 7 questions and see the whole picture of the position.
Step 2: Some questions will have answers, some will not. You filter the questions that have answers and address them.

(Suggestion: To get the most value, after you see the position, I recommend you stop scrolling further. Think about the position, ask the 7 questions, dive into the position, come up with a plan, and only then scroll further and see the solution.)

Let’s go!

Example 1

Let’s ask our questions, see the whole picture of the position, and find which of them has answers.

Q1 - What problems does the opponent have?

Black’s King would love to have a Bishop on g7 so that the dark squares could be covered.

Because there is no Black dark square Bishop, Black’s King is not very safe.

At the same time, we can’t say it’s very weak, because our pieces are very far from it.

Black has an issue with their d6 backward pawn. We might pressure it with our Rooks placing them on the “d” file.

Q2 - What problems do I have?

Our King is fine. We don’t have weak pawns, but we have a weak central square on d4. If Black’s Knight comes to d4, we won’t like it.

Not only will Black have a strong outpost for their Knight, but we’ll no longer be able to pressure their weak d6 pawn because the Knight will limit our Rooks on the “d” file.

Q3 - Where am I strong?

This question doesn’t have an answer. We’re not stronger on any side of the board.

Q4 - Which of my pieces can be happier?

We know that our Rooks are not doing much, and they would love to be on the “d” file and work on the d6 pawn.

But our unhappiest piece is our light-squared Bishop, which is limited with c4 and e4 pawns and stays in the way of our plan to exploit the opponent’s d6 weakness.

Q5 - Which pieces do I want to trade?

We know that we have a bad Bishop. And Black’s Knight on e7 can become a monster on d4 after two moves. This means that it would be a dream if we could trade our Bishop with Black’s Knight.

We would then easily pressure the d6 pawn and might combine it with an attack on the Black King by using the weak dark squares on f6 and h6.

Q6 - What’s the opponent’s next move/plan?

Black is going to play Nc6 followed by Nd4.

Q7 - How can I advance?

This question only needs to be asked if none of the first six questions have an answer.
But as we’ve learned, many of the first questions have answers that need to be addressed.

We’ve seen that:

1. We want to play around Black’s d6 pawn.
2. We have a problem with the d4 square, and we should prevent Black’s Knight from getting there.
3. Our light-squared Bishop is misplaced.
4. We would be happy to trade it with the opponent’s Knight.

Based on this information, here is a great plan we have!

Example 2

Let’s go through our questions to see the whole picture of the position.

Q1 - What problems does the opponent have?

Black doesn’t have any serious issues. Their King is safe, and they don’t have any weak pawns or squares. The only issue they have is that they’re behind in development.

Q2 - What problems do I have?

White doesn’t have any issues either. The King is safe with no weak pawns or weak squares.

Q3 - Where am I strong?

White is stronger on the queenside. They have a pawn majority of 4 vs. 3.
And Black is stronger on the kingside where they have a pawn majority.

Q4 - Which of my pieces can be happier?

White’s Bishop on b3 stays in the way of the “b” pawn and stops us from pushing our pawns. Ra1 is sad.

Q5 - Which pieces do I want to trade?

This question doesn’t have an answer. Nothing specific can be gained by trading any of the pieces.

Q6 - What’s the opponent’s next move/plan?

Black is stronger on the kingside, so they’ll probably develop their Bishop, bring it to c6, and try to push the kingside pawns.

Q7 - How can I advance?

This question will be needed only if none of the first six questions had an answer.

Now that we’ve seen the whole picture of the position in detail, we have learned:

We should play on the queenside and push our pawns.
The Bishop on b3 is misplaced.
Here is our plan!

Example 3

Let’s see the whole picture of the position.

Q1 - What problems does the opponent have?

Black has weakened their King by pushing their kingside pawns. But their King is okay because they have a Queen and a Knight next to him providing defense. Additionally, White’s Queen and Bishop are far from the Black King.

Regarding the pawn structure, their f6 pawn is backward, and the a6 pawn can be attacked.

Q2 - What problems do I have?

We have a weak pawn on e3, and a weak central square on e4, where Black’s Knight can land. We’ll not like it.

Also, our King isn’t very safe. Black’s Queen is nearby, and the Black pawn on g4 could present some problems.

Additional challenges will also occur if the Black Knight is able to join in and exert pressure on our King. All of these threats could result in some very unpleasant consequences.

Q3 - Where am I strong?

This question doesn’t have an answer.

Q4 - Which of my pieces can be happier?

The Rook on f1 is fine. But our Queen and the Bishop aren’t doing much on the queenside.

Q5 - Which pieces do I want to trade?

We wouldn’t mind trading our useless Bishop on b6 with Black’s potentially strong Knight. We might also want to trade the Queens to secure the safety of our King.

Q6 - What’s the opponent’s next move/plan?

Black has very dangerous threats.

1. If they play 1…g3 2.Kg1 Qe4, attacking the e3 and h4 pawns, with an intention to mate us from h2, we’ll be in trouble.

2. Black can also play Rb8, creating a very unpleasant pin.

3. Black has the significant strategic threat of 1…Nd6 followed by getting a monster Knight on e4.

Q7 - How can I advance?

This question will only be needed if none of the first six questions have an answer.
But as we have seen, there are serious issues we’re facing that we must immediately address.

We’ve learned that:

1. Our pieces on the queenside are misplaced.
2. Our King isn’t safe.
3. Black has three dangerous threats.

Here we go!
We call +1302766599

- “Hello Tactic, is that you?”
- “Yeah, it’s me.”
- “This is your brother Strategy calling. We need your help. We would love to get our Bishop to f4. Then we would stop Black’s g3 move, Nd6-Ne4 maneuver, and Rb8 move. Our King would be safe, and we’ll enter into the opponent’s camp with Qb7.”

“I got it! No worries. I have your back covered! Just do this!” - we hear the Tactic’s answer.

Ohhh, really?!

Ohhh, right!!!

We can do that!

1.Bc7!

Black can’t take the Bishop because of the 2.Qb8 check followed by taking the Rook.
On our next move, we transfer the Bishop to f4 getting our dream position.

“Hey, Tactic, thank you very much!”
“No worries. Always happy to cover your back,” - Tactic replies.

Congratulations!
Dear chess friend, now you know the 7Q method, and my invention is in your hands.

You can download this and keep it with you.

Apply this method in your games. You’ll see that you won’t miss the resources of your positions, you will see the whole picture of what is occurring, and you will never get stuck in your thinking process.

With best wishes and love,
For your growth and fun journey,
GM Avetik (or Avo, as my friends call me)

P.S.
The article was originally published on https://chessmood.com/blog, where you’ll find over 100 other articles written by Grandmasters, who share tips from their professional journeys and how to adopt the right mindset for this beautiful game, in order to have fun and grow at the same time. 

If you’re not a ChessMood student yet, I have three gifts for you:

1. Opening Principles- The fundamentals and beyond in detail

2. My 10 best games

3. GM Gabuzyan’s 10 best games

You can watch all three courses for free, by creating a basic account here. (Takes a few seconds)