Hi,
I feel my strategic/ positional understanding of the game lags behind the tactical.
Often I find myself in balanced positions with no obvious threats or opportunities and believe I should be able to assess things like: ah this looks like a good Queen side attack option or now that I have a strong centre blah blah...... (these terms don't mean much/nothing to me BTW). And generally things go wrong thereafter.
So can anyone recommend a book (or anything else) that focuses on getting a good strategic/ positional understanding?
Cheers, Dave
Originally posted by The Swine Down Hopei know a very cheap and effective way to improve your possitional chess.
Hi,
I feel my strategic/ positional understanding of the game lags behind the tactical.
Often I find myself in balanced positions with no obvious threats or opportunities and believe I should be able to assess things like: ah this looks like a good Queen side attack option or now that I have a strong centre blah blah...... (these terms don ...[text shortened]... ything else) that focuses on getting a good strategic/ positional understanding?
Cheers, Dave
just start playing possitional openings and you will quickly improve your possitional chess. it worked fine for me i did this for a couple of months.
you schoud consider openings like the queens gambit, the nimzo indian, and the french defence.
Originally posted by LordOfTheChessboardheh heh, the queens gambit is positional? *blushes* iv been playing it tacticfully lol!
i know a very cheap and effective way to improve your possitional chess.
just start playing possitional openings and you will quickly improve your possitional chess. it worked fine for me i did this for a couple of months.
you schoud consider openings like the queens gambit, the nimzo indian, and the french defence.
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the Jeremy Silman books, especially Reassess Your Chess, are excellent and deal with the "imbalances" concept which is quite useful when there are no tactical threats involved in a position. The Nimzovitch My System is good, but he gets carried away with his own nomenclature and the games are dated.
Originally posted by The Swine Down HopeJudgement & Planning in Chess by Euwe is an excellent place to start. I believe that it is within the reach of any player and reasonably priced.
Hi,
I feel my strategic/ positional understanding of the game lags behind the tactical.
Often I find myself in balanced positions with no obvious threats or opportunities and believe I should be able to assess things like: ah this looks like a good Queen side attack option or now that I have a strong centre blah blah...... (these terms don ...[text shortened]... ything else) that focuses on getting a good strategic/ positional understanding?
Cheers, Dave
How not to play chess by Znosko-Borovski is also a great book
Well, if you mastered the tactical, then mastering the practical should be easy. I recommend taking out every positional book you can find, and maybe take out one of Pandolfini's question books of "why is it good to do this and that" positionally as well as get some knowledge and appreciation of the game. Give yourself about 2 months studying position, but do 15 tactical problems each night to still get that strong facet of your game warmed up, and you will be 2000 rated in no time. When a player comes to me with a 1600 rating and doesn't know a thing about openings or position, I stare in jealously, because they obviously have the natural talent to one day become a great chess player, perhabs even a IM or GM, and if what you say is true, then you have the stuff if you really work at it.
Thanks for encouragement mateulose but slightly optimistic I think; I've yet to beat anyone over 1550 without them blundering, have a uchess rating of ~1300 and rely heavily on openings guides.
Yes the main goal here is to enjoy the game more by having a few more ideas in situations where no tactical options present themselves and get an insight into how players like ThePO and APB are able to slice my position up effortlessly.