Anaconda Strategy

In "The Art of Learning," Josh Waitzkin discusses using his "Anaconda" strategy during a Tai Chi competition.  This strategy of taking your opponent's space and slowly strangling their movement has always appealed to me as a chess strategy.

While it is not hard to apply to certain situations that arise in chess games, I'd be interested in specific openings, tactics, and strategies that set up this kind of style from the beginning and throughout the game.  Obviously, this strategy calls for a positional-style game.  Specifics appreciated.

I'd recommend studying Karpov's openings and games.  He's probably the greatest ever with that style.  As Black he's very famous, of course, for the Caro-Kann and Queen's Indian.  Both of these defenses are very solid and positional and allow the "strangling" playing style to prosper.

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Seconded. Karpov may not be an anaconda but I've seen him called "the Python" in several places.

This seems like a really boring strategy that would be played by someone petrified of sharp positions and tactics.  That said, I've been playing completely positional chess lately so I might adopt this idea temporarily, until I inevitably go back to firing wild off-balance attacks at my opponents.

 I would suggest stuying the games of Karpov, and Alekhine. 

Or Petrosian, as he had a constrictor nickname. The problem is that his chess can be hard to understand and so may be hard to study. I guess Karpov has a more lucid style.

BTW, the lifetime record between Karpov and Petrosian  favors Karpov by just the odd game. Gotta give Tigran his props.

How uneducated...  Different players have different styles.  Positional players are not "petrified" of sharp play and tactics, they just prefer their style of play.  Kasparov vs. Karpov is a supreme example of these two styles clashing and it made for some great chess.

Another excellent GM to study.  I didn't think of Petrosian, but I agree.  He was so good at making sure his position was solid withouth weaknesses.  Many times he allowed his opponent to hang himself.

Going for positional solidity is the easy way out.  Anyone with a moderate understanding of chess can do that.  However being comfortable in sharp tactical positions is another story.  Thankfully I'm fluent in both situations.

I've recently changed to strictly playing positional chess and it's super easy.  It feels lazy to be honest, and I've only lost 2 games in my last 130 games.  One of these due to a back rank mate in a game I was winning.  A lot of the high rated players here play strictly positional because its safe, conservative, and they are afraid of tactics.  I just want to see how high I can get my rating playing in this fashion (I'm assuming pretty high), and then I will go back to playing my pure tactical game, because that actually takes skill.

study the d4 openings....check out the London system for that type of development.......plus you will find you have no rush to castle and you can constrict black on the flanks........just thinking outloud here..........

Thanks all.  The reason I want to investigate this as a chess strategy is that I like to control as  many factors in my home and work life as possible.  This way, I'm rarely surprised and I have checks and balance so I can respond effeciently and effectively to said surprises.  It works, but can be kind of boring at times.  Of course, the idea of slowly shutting down your opponent sounds kind of fun too.

The "Anaconda" style is not just positional: it involves a subtle form of tactical play. The tactic involved is this: not to just see how you can attack, but more importantly to see what the opponent's counterplay can be and to systematically take away and deny his opportunity for that counterplay. This involves tactical computation as it is necessary to anticipate the opponent's tactics and never let them appear. In games where there is no clear plan available for attack, this is often the best strategy.

Thanks, Saidh and RM-insightful