I don't like holding down 2 keys when doing hotkeys. So I wrote this little ahk script to do middle mouse click opens link in new tab in foreground:

Code:

SendMode Input

#IfWinActive, ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_0
^LButton::
Send, ^+{LButton}
Return

The #IfWinActive line limits the hotkey's use to when Chrome is the active window.
Works well for me. You can also use it with Speed-dial to open a dial in a new tab instead of replacing the SD page.

edit: for those not familiar with ahk hotkey apps, you leave it run in system tray to make the hotkey active. Quit the program to get rid of the hotkey.
If you download AutoHotKey package you can also wrap it in the interpreter as a self-contained exe file and run it like any .exe.

edit2: I forgot middle mouse button is also used to drag scroll. I changed the hotkey line in the script to
^LButton so that at least you only have to hold down Control when left clicking a link to open in new tab
in foreground.

I included the Control-Left Click hotkey above with some other hotkeys. Shift-Left Click to open link in background tab.. Control-t to transpose 2 characters left of the caret in certain apps including chromium based browsers, notepad, EditPad Lite etc..

It's called Transpose and you can download from this link:

http://www.favessoft.com/hotkeys.html

It's free and comes with the AHK script source, icon and readme how to add programs to the groups for enabling hotkeys.

As of Chromium 10.0.602.0 the Open Link in Foreground Tab is working again.
At least it is for me.