Curious.

A la the tactics trainer, could there be a trainer for positional play?  (I hesitate to call it the positions trainer....)

I'm chess naive.

Would a positional play trainer be feasable, useful, worthwhile, um, er, just plain good?

Or....is it an idea that needs to be taken out back and shot?

I think that is a great idea!

If it's not a forced sequence such as a tactic, it would be hard to determine how truly beneficial a move is to improving your position without a much deeper analysis that would not serve much as a quick teaching mechanism. Nonetheless, an interesting idea and maybe it would be better to implement something like positional puzzles daily or more appropriately, weekly?

Have you tried Chess Mentor?  I think you'll find that the strategic lessons by Jeremy Silman, for example, might be what you are looking for.

Yeah, something like they have done in some chess books...where the position is there and you have 3 or 4 plans presented to you to choose from, based on analysis of the position.  I agree, there are lessons on Chess Mentor that might have this covered.  And spot on, maybe some daily puzzles like this would be good.

Yeah, I think chess mentor is your best shot. With positional plays there are usually more than one moves that are good but one move is best and you definitely need explanation why that move is best. I think chess mentor does a good job of doing this.

Arg.  Could there be alternatives for us non-paying members (who cannot take advantage of Chess Mentor)?

There are some books by Chris Ward... that are in the format of a problem and then you chooose the plans offered.  There are 3 books in the series I believe.  "It's Your Move"

http://www.amazon.com/Its-Your-Move-Everyman-Chess/dp/1857442962/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227155087&sr=8-5

Also...2 of his books are offered as e-books on the publisher site..I have them and love the format.

http://www.everymanchess.com/display.php?id=74

You'll also find it helpful if you can get some games going with stronger players who will agree before the game to analyze it with you after the game is over.   A computer post-mortem will show you the tactical errors, but doesn't usually help much with strategic issues, and when you post the game you may get some valid comments but you'll also likely get some quick 'from the hip' observations that may or may not be correct.   Someone who has already put time and effort into the game will usually have deeper and more helpful insights, especially strategically.

Thanks.  That's a good idea.  I'm playing several currently who are more than adequately "teaching by example."  lol

Getting into the guts of the game sounds that much better........

Well, positional trainers are pretty valuable and something like chess mentor has courses that are exactly like what you're describing with explanations on any move you make.

So I doubt there is something like that for free, but for just learning positional stuff you could read Silman's books and if you have done that you can try annotating master games and trying to find the ideas behind their moves as much as you can (and typing out your thoughts in detail is helpful). It works great for me, but you have to have at least a decent amount of understanding of the game to annotate them without help so of course reading great books is the first step so that you have a positional foundation.

I have a book called the Karmasutra, I could lend it to you, but better yet, since I have it memorized, Im willing to give you presonal instruction for a nominal fee.

Sowing wild oats before honey bunny gets her green card?   ;)