Please help me (~1400 player) find a plan in this position

Hi, I'm the "improving" player :-) ... I've been working hard on my game and my blitz rating has gone from 1250 to 1400 in about a month. One thing I have a hard time doing is finding a plan when there is no pawn break, no tactic, and all my pieces are active. Here is a game where I had that problem; I'm black.

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Can you please help me analyze this position and find a plan. Black to move at move 15....

I can see
- I have the two bishops
- I have a space advantage
- I have a queen side pawn majority

Thanks.

Well idk how it will benefit you since in your level, you probably wont get that position again in a long time. You could have played better in the previous moves but in that particular position i'll be thinking:
-What are my advantages and weaknesses?
=As you said: space advantage, queenside majority and the bishop pair. Weaknesses? The b7 pawn is, but your pawn structure makes it hard for him to attack it.

-What are his then?
=The only one is also the b-pawn, but there are no pawns blocking it so you may target it.

-How do I makes use of my advantages and his weaknesses?
=As you said, you have a queenside majority so pushing pawns is a plan. h5 comes to mind as it threatens to win the Bishop so he will waste time defending it. Let's say he plays something like h4 or h3 to defend it, then the b-pawn becomes weaker! Other than that,the center is already doing a good job limiting White's pieces so no need to do anything about that. The bishop pair still isn't of use because of your pawn structure BUT let's say the position later on becomes opened up and pieces are traded off, then you will have a decisive advantage. Keep that in mind.

-What can he do next move then?
=This will take some calculating. He can play e4 pinning your d5 pawn cuz he has his rooks doubled on the same file as your queen, but after e4 something like Qe5 probably solves that. Nf5 seems like a good move too gaining the Bishop pair so maybe playing Qe5 right now or g6 might come to mind.

-Now picking what you will do from your choices is needed, there's a simple way to do that. "If I go for this plan, does he have to react immediately?"
=This will take some calculation and analysing but for example; if you go for h5 the he definitely needs to react immediately! Then as we talked about, you will gain something from that.

From all that said, ill definitely go for the h5 plan since it's faster and White has to react to it immediately. Of course there is much more to how I make plans but that is simple and very effective. Now you may be overwhelmed by how much you need to take into account, especially you're playing blitz. There's an easy solution to that; play longer time controls. Get yourself used to this kind of thinking in Classical or Rapid before going into Blitz!

Thank you so much for your reply!

Yes - I know that I won't see this position again. I am interested in thoughts to help me with my planning. Right now, my plans are like:
1) do I have to respond to an immediate threat? If so, take care of that.
2) is there a tactic I can play? If so, do it!
3) do I have any undefended pieces? if so, try to make them more safe and coordinated
3) find least active piece and make it more active
4) if I have a development lead, try to open up the position

So I am looking to add to this "simple" planning strategy. From what you say above, I would add:

5) look at my weak points (pieces, pawns, squares) and try to improve them
6) look at my opponent weak points (pieces, pawns, squares) and try to attack them

I suppose though that I do kind of have a tactic in that the white bishop has very little mobility; so trapped piece/no retreat motif. I didn't consider that and should have. That would have led more obviously to pawn storm the queenside.

When you say ...h5, do you mean ....a5? Pushing the queenside pawns to try to trap the bishop?

By simply looking at the tactics in the position I'm going to say a good first move for black would be a queen move. I am nervous about either c4 or e4 as pawn breaks for white.

Those rooks sharing the file with my queen feels like I'm standing on the train tracks just waiting for the train.

Qe5 is the most aggressive threatening to snap off that b2 pawn, but white can respond with c3. From here perhaps start a push with f4? unclear.

Alternatively, I like Qb8. it adds a lot of strength to that back row and guards the pawns temporarily and a good spot for the queen if I am to start launching queenside pawns.

If I'm in a faster time control game or playing for tricks and I want to do a "quick tactical attack" I'm going to go with Qb4 if nothing is done about it then you can slam Bg4 in there to win an exchange.

@swiperthefox yes a5 sorry haha i have troubles with coordinates

Thanks @lurarose . Very helpful. Indeed there are more tactical opportunities than I appreciated. tbh, I didn't see that white's Q and R were on the same diagonal. I appreciate better now whites threats with the Q on the same file as the doubled rooks.

@lurarose yea in fact Qb4 might not be bad even if White does something. Let's say c3 then Qg5 and White has to take and activate Black's bishop unless he wants doubled pawns. But e4 seems better, well Black still seems equal

- I have the two bishops +++ Yes that is right
- I have a space advantage +++ This is debatable and space is not that valuable by itself
- I have a queen side pawn majority +++ No, you do not. It were a majority if either pawns c2 and d5 or e3 and f7 were traded.

So yes, you have a small advantage due to your bishops' pair.
First thing to do is get your Qd6 out of the vis a vis with his Rd2, thus 18...Qe5 to prevent him from freeing himself with 19 e4.

I don't think analyzing blitz is very useful to your overall growth as a chess player. Better is to just play more blitz games or analyze a REAL game like in a classical time control.

@Nikkoi "Well idk how it will benefit you since in your level, you probably wont get that position again in a long time."
True, but we can discuss general principles here, which should come in handy in any game.

@YouGetNoRest "I don't think analyzing blitz is very useful to your overall growth as a chess player."
Agreed, but we are not analyzing a blitz game, but a single position which could easily have appeared in a long time control game, as it is quite typical.

My two cents: As already mentioned, White's threats are 1) Nf5 halving your bishop pair and 2) c4/e4 breaking open the position resulting in an awkward situation for you (after all, d5 is attacked 4 times). To meet both positional threats, Qe5 suggests itself. I'm 100% certain that this the best move for Black in the position, without checking the engine evaluation. It nicely centralises the Q on a square where it cannot be attacked easily. Nimzowitsch was right: When in doubt, centralise!

Now for the long-term plan. You are completely right, you have the bishop pair and this can become an eternal positional advantage if you manage to open the position in your favour. Therefore I would think about the move order 15....Qe5 c3 (looks logical, gives the white B new life) and then f5, intending an immediate f4. This would force open the f-file, which improves the potential for both of your rooks, and they work together nicely with a B from c5 attacking f2.

If White meets this with Ne2, I would seriously consider g5, gaining more space on the K-side and preparing f4 and g4 pawn pushes. White's pieces are not aimed at your king, so he cannot exploit this weakening for now. Note also that your center is currently stable, so pawn breaks are not yet possible.

This might all be nonsense, since I didn't check with the engine, but at least that's how I would approach the position.