I started to work with Monster Planning Vol1 a few days ago

and soon hopefully Vol2

Chapter one Pawn Concepts

Backward Pawns

Exercise 19 features a well known Botvinnik game

Botvinnik-Sorokin

Queens Gambit 

Moscow 1931

After 19..e5(Diagram)

First evaluate the position:

Mine was

“King safety-(I forgot to write something but this did not seem to be an issue)
Structure(weaknesses)-none really
Minor piece matchup-N/A
Lines(files/diagonals/ranks)-The d-file is key but White cannot immediately infiltrate
Squares-outposts,weak squares, weak color complexes-The central outpost d5 is key but is adequately defended. Consider a4-a5 to drive off Nb6 but for now this is not possible
Worst piece-N/A but the Qc5 is Black’s best piece
Enemy ideas/threats-nothing serious, only to complete development with ..Bd7-c6 or ..Bg4xNxf3 to relieve the pressure on e5
Activity-White is fully developed and is more active but for now cannot make immediate progress as there are no obvious weaknesses to attack
Development differential-Black is three tempii behind in development
Other-The Qc5 is quite active and controls key queenside dark squares and prevents the desirable a4-a5 space grab which whould drive back the Nb6 and fix the queenside pawns on light squares. The queen also has the uneconomic burden of defending the e5-pawn.”

I forgot to make a conclusion-White should act quickly otherwise Black will catch up in development and likely trade rooks to relieve the pressure

I prefer a more systematic way of evaluating a position before coming up with a plan. I had a mini-checklist in mind but then I forgot to complete my thoughts

Grivas presents his shorter evaluation in simple paragraph form with no clear checklist

After 19..e5

Second recommend a plan.

Grivas lets you choose from Plan A,B and C but before peeking, come up with your own plan and justification. The Monster method gives you 50 points for the best plan and less for the others

The solution suggests itself in about 2 seconds as the game is well known and repeated in many books, however, when I checked the game there were some details which I had not considered previously or when I thought of the plan

The Grivas Method covers the Botvinnik-Sorokin game on page 47. Oddly enough, The Grivas Method does not discuss pawn structure much except for Backward Pawns(p13)