What is the underlying essence of strategy in chess?.

What is the underlying essence of strategy in chess?.

Kill the other guy's king

Create a magical network of mystical influence on squares so that opponent feels uncomfortable, is paralyzed and can't move. 

Then come quietly and devour his king. 

Checkmate the other guy before he checkmates you it's quite obvious.

I believe that, although not quite the same question, another thread has already been made defining what "strategical position" means.  Sadly, we can't refer to its wisdom anymore as it was taken down, so I guess we're all out of luck on questions about strategy.

"Create a magical network of mystical influence on squares so that opponent feels uncomfortable, is paralyzed and can't move."

None of that part is necessary. Your opponent can be controlling and occupying more squares with his pieces than you and you can still devour his king.

Thanks for all your answers.

Baseball is a simple game: you throw the ball, catch the ball, and hit the ball. (paraphrase of a line in Bull Durham)

In chess, you seize the initiative and use judicious exchanges to reach an endgame where your king is in a better position than you opponent's.

<NewEngland7> but in your example white was not feeling uncomfortable. 

1. Piece activity

2. Vulnerable pawns and squares

3. Flexibility in choice of plans

solskytz:

If black to move:

<NewEngland7> but it wasn't black to move. 

The horror!

If baseball is catching and hitting, chess is influencing squares.

The trick is knowing which ones are important, and then in the end, influencing the ones around the enemy king.

Oh!, yeah, now I have to know what is the meaning of the words ''underlying essence''.  Do you know the meaning?.

There's a book, too. But the book and movie kinda run together for me. Congo. Vietnam. Polish-British writer. American producer/director. European colonialism, a river, an egotistical colonial lord who, "clearly has gone insane".

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/526 

Strategy encompasses all aspects of play so I am not sure we can speak of "the essence of strategy". Attacking the uncastled King via the e file,creating favorable positions for your Bishop pair,attacking the castled king,knowing when and what to exchange,playing with/against an isolated pawn,minority attack,weak squares,outposts,theory of two weaknesses,transition to endgame,etc.etc. you realize therefore that the essence of strategy...is to have done your homework with regard to each and every strategical theme...

The Friday night at the start of the weekend before my comprehensive exams for my Ph.D. in American Studies, I decided at about 8:30 pm that I needed to watch Apocalypse Now! and read Heart of Darkness. I did not have either in the house. I raced to the video store, which had a long line and closed at 10:00. I decided to come back and raced to the bookstore, which closed at 9:00. Five minutes before closing, Heart of Darkness in the hand, and a few cents shy of the purchase price (and only one check left in my checkbook--a check that would be needed for VHS rental fees), the cashier let me take the book with the handful of cash that I offered.

I think there was a fire in my eyes that grew out of a need to work through some idea concerning America and the wilderness that I anticipated as an exam question.

Then back to the video store for the videotape. Once I was back home, I watched Apocalypse Now! before bed. This was spring 1991 and I had not seen it since the third time I watched it in the theatres in 1979. For that third viewing, some friends and I smuggled a bota bag full of booze into the theatre. We also had a can of Copenhagen. When they chopped into that ox near the final scene, the room was spinning. For many years thereafter, I was a little confused about how the movie ended. I had lost my aesthetic distance.

In the morning, I awoke early and read Heart of Darkness before breakfast. 

This British novel is not a normal part of the curriculum in American Studies, but I was putting together some thoughts concerning Perry Miller's influence on discussions of the idea of the Wilderness (he wrote the first scholarly book on the subject). In the beginning of that book, he referenced a moment in his life when he decided to become a scholar of Puritan New England while standing on the banks of the Congo watching the loading of ships engaged in international commerce. Conrad's novel offered another entry into some global connections to this distinctive American twist on a universal theme (American exceptionalism had been an MA exam question), especially as this fiction from the Congo inspired another fiction set in Vietnam.

The ways that fiction tells the truth about history is another theme in American Studies.

I did not have the opportunity to write about Heart or Apocalypse in my exams.

lol, that's dedication.

Best seven years of my life! Working 60 hours per week for a degree that has no economic value.