Tactical and Positional Chess

In my last blog post I described the interaction between tactics and strategy as the How-to-do (tactics) What-to-do (strategy) of chess. Another way of comparing the two is to see strategy as the “Bird’s Eye View” or “Mile High view” while tactics is a “Zoomed-in View” or “Close-up View.”

 A strategic view is a panoramic “Big Picture” view while a tactical perspective looks at minute detail. Big picture changes happen slowly. On the other hand, things happen quickly under a microscope.

 Some players are labeled “Positional” while others are called “Tactical.” Positional (strategic) players prefer the slower, big picture view of the game while tactical players want lightning attacks.

 A typical positional champion was Tigran Petrosian while Mikhail Tal is the darling of tactical players. Other contrasting examples are Anatoly Karpov (positional) and Garry Kasparov (tactical).

 How about players like Bobby Fischer or Magnus Carlsen? These players fall between these two extremes and are known as “universal players.” Universal players take a big picture view yet will immediately swoop in when the buckles need swashing!