GM Misa Pap - Strategic Planning in Chess - Vd9: Small Center

Opening: C41, C46, C77: Philidor Defence, Three Knights Game including Halloween Gambit, Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defence

Player(s): Pap, Bogosavljevic, Spassky, Larsen, Tarrasch, Cigorin

We can consider positions as "small center" different kinds of structures, where usually one side (typically white) has more space, and the other side has one pawn in the center. 
In this video, GM Misa discusses only positions with a black pawn in d6 and a white pawn in e4. But of course, Misa presents you with examples and plans for both sides! White (the side with more space), with his pawn on e4 and usually more active position, would be satisfied even if he can just hold the "status quo," which means unchanged. But that is very rarely seen. Sooner or later, you have to do something. And then, you need to prevent d6-d5 freeing breakthrough for black, and also, it would be good to refrain from a lot of exchanges of pieces - because then your advantage will diminish, and space advantage will dissipate.
 So, white needs to play carefully and actively and use his space advantage and more activity. You can see a fine example of that in the game Pap vs. Bogosavljevic, presented here.
 On the other hand, the plan for black should be relatively simple: the first thing is to try and exchange pieces and "just" equalize, or for more ambitious play, you need to skillfully put pressure on the white center - usually on the e4 pawn alone. That is nicely demonstrated in 2 other examples in this video.

Teacher's library (107) C41 C46 C77 Pap Bogosavljevic Spassky Larsen Tarrasch Cigorin game analysis