How do you switch from being tactical to being positional/intuitive? Please help.

This is what I'm trying to do. My chess strength is at least 1600, probably closer to 1800 (new account), yet I struggle beating computers rated at even 1500. Why is that? It's because my style of chess lacks intuition. I calculate and play for tactics. That's literally all I do. Calculate. Tactics. And computers eat me for lunch.

I often get into a lot of trouble against lower rated players - yet I still always win because weak players, 1500 rated and lower, will always either hang something or weaken themselves. It's inevitable. Though against players rated 1800 and higher, I struggle positionally and only ever win when I can do so tactically.

Computers are the bane of my existence.

Am I going to have to unlearn everything and start again fresh in order to become an intuitive, positional player?

"I don't really know what to do when there are no tactics involved in the position."      when you have the time, minimally you must always examine the position for all its salient features breaking things up into what advantages and disadvantages you and your opponent have, ie; Center Control, good bishops / bad bishops,   pawn structure,  mobility of all pieces, etc.    This examination of the position can be done on your time  and  also on your opponent's time.    how true is it that many of us save our brain energy by not doing anything on our opponent's time !  -- even walking away from the position talking to others, etc.    Get in the habit of using all time to think about your game !

Intuition is gained by experience. So study and practice. A lot. Get a coach. Get experience. 

My coach has helped me with specific openings. I rarely lose when I play those lines. At some level, chess knowledge has to get concrete.

intuition is experience, like martin said. and if being tactical is your style, don't go against it, go with it. again, with experience, you can learn to be both

Just keep playing! Tactical, positional, or otherwise, it will all fall into place, like how kingside and queenside together form the chessboard. Simple as that. It is wrong to think that those two entities are separate, no need to worry about needing to switch between tactical and positional at all. Tactics to force positional concessions, or pressing a positional advantage with tactics. That is the beauty of it all, each aspect of the game will eventually fall into place, like a jigsaw.

Usually what I end up doing is forcing things. I will get into a middle game position, and I won't see any tactical opportunities, so I'll just start making moves that I know are sub-optimal in an effort to generate some kind of attack, because I don't know what else to do.

Once I was playing someone rated around 2100 - and I felt that I had the better position, but because I didn't know what to do I threw all of my pieces toward his kingside, heavily weakening my central position and hanging pawns in the process - and do you know what he did? Just simply sidestepped my attack and let me blow myself out. And I was forced to resign. Just like that. Stronger players always let me blow myself out. And I can't help but to do it.

#4

if you're playing a higher rated opponent there is absolutely nothing you can do, just move your pieces to better squares all the time, so once the position opens you can attack. once they are on perfect squares, and you still can't do anything, shuffle around, you want a draw if they're stronger

From my own experience, the two chess skills that offer the most immediate improvement to beginning chess players are seeing threats (ie, not blundering) and basic attacking motifs.  Your opponent makes a move, you see his idea and react accordingly.  When it's your move, you try to use a basic attacking motif (against f7, say), and if that doesn't work, you do something so it might work next move. 

By themselves, these two are very powerful tools, but they have a limit.  Of course they do.   As we get better and face better opponents, we need a more complete picture of chess: we need endgames, pawn structures, combinations, positional nuances, good pieces and bad pieces and so much more.  What we tend to do, though, is just try the same things: we keep looking for attacking ideas and tactical shots, whether the position demands it or not.  If we have the right position, it might work, but if not, we usually lose and don't know why.

Personally, I improved the most when I went through several annotated games, done with verbal explanations rather than long variations.  Going through several games gave me a different look at the board, so to speak: I wasn't just thinking about attacking.  For instance, the idea of attacking weak pawns to win easy endgames appealed to me, and I researched this further, and soon it became part of my chess outlook.

I would suggest finding a good collection of annotated games, look through them, find something new or interesting and go from there.  As a general rule, reviewing master games is the answer to almost every 'how do I improve at chess' question.  I recommend the classics, such as Tarrasch, as a good starting point.

Yes...if you want to learn computer chess style, your rating will tank, and then hopefully go back up.

One of the priorities that changes is incentive/disincentive. If the brain is simulated by tactics, then thats how your play goes. You feel great on a nice attack, and lousy if you get thunderstruck by a positional game.If you are motivated by position, the final motions on an isolated pawn can be that motivating. If you dont care  that you dont win at all then you can be positional. If it has to be a win, preferably by queen&rook sacrifice combo, then its not for you.

Here is an example....what move do you look at first as black?

As black? My very first instinct was to play e5 with tempo against his knight, making his bishop on g2 garbage. That was the move that immediately popped into my mind. Then I might think about playing Nf6, further attacking that pawn and then maybe b4 - eventually forcing f3, which would weaken his kingside and make the bishop even more of a bad piece.

That was my first instinct. I do not know whether or not it was any good.

Edit: after looking at it more than two seconds, I do not like that e5 weakens important central squares in black's position. In rapid or classical that is not a move I would make. I think Nf6 looks good. That's the move I'd play.

Check it out....

Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

Play humans only.   more than enough of these guys are going to be using engine so you'll be playing engines while you're playing humans anyway

Wait till they release AlphaZero to public use...

Possibly of interest:

The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Seirawan stuff
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner

http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm

50 Essential Chess Lessons by Steve Giddins
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708100833/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review534.pdf
Simple Chess by Michael Stean
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104258/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review400.pdf
Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094419/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ammind.pdf
Chess Secrets: The Giants of Chess Strategy by Neil McDonald
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092313/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review620.pdf
Chess Strategy for Club Players by Herman Grooten
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708101926/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review696.pdf
Chess Training for Post-beginners by Yaroslav Srokovski
https://web.archive.org/web/20140712013538/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review945.pdf
Chess Strategy: Move by Move by Adam Hunt
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093249/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review890.pdf
How to Reassess Your Chess (4th ed.) by Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708095832/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review769.pdf
Winning Pawn Structures by GM Alexander Baburin (1998)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140718055446/http://chesscafe.com/text/wps.txt
Understanding Pawn Play in Chess by GM Drazen Marovic (2000)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708110136/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review249.pdf
Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess by GM Drazen Marovic (2001)
http://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/books-of-many-flavours
Winning Chess Middlegames, An Essential Guide to Pawn Structures by GM Ivan Sokolov (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708091955/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review676.pdf
Pawn Structure Chess by GM Andrew Soltis (2013)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708101523/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review908.pdf
Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide by GM Mauricio Flores Rios (2015)
"There is also masses of stuff in the book that made me go 'Oooh!' and 'Aaah!' so I think it will have the same effect on you! In particular, I loved Rios' exposition of White's plan of exerting queenside pressure against Hedgehog systems. I'd seen one of the games he quotes in his chapter but I'd never remotely made any link to a structured way of fighting the Hedgehog structure, so this chapter was a real eye-opener for me ...
In conclusion, warmly recommended. Lots to learn!" - GM Matthew Sadler
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7495.pdf
The Power of Pawns by GM Jörg Hickl (2016)
"The didactic concept of the book is admirable. Each chapter defines the structures, explains the typical characteristics and shows the plans for both White and Black. The reader participates by assessing positions and invariably receives useful tips for practical play." - FM Harry Schaack
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/the-power-of-pawns/
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9034.pdf
Zurich 1953 by Bronstein
http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/review-zurich-1953-bronstein
Python Strategy by Tigran Petrosian
http://sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com/2015/09/python-strategy-book-review.html
Petrosian’s Legacy by Tigran Petrosian (1990)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708103409/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review309.pdf
Petrosian: Move by Move by Thomas Engqvist
"Engqvist gives us a rare treat and a genuine, sympathetic understanding of one of chess' greats who nowadays tends to gets lost in the shuffle!" - Michael Ciamarra (2014)
Grandmaster Chess Strategy by Jürgen Kaufeld & Guido Kern
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093410/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review812.pdf

 the less you say the more they remember

Thanks, Kindaspongey,

Thanks everyone.