Re: What's the difference between tactics, strategy, position, etc.?

On Aug 16, 2:36 am, help bot <nomorech...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Aug 15, 10:20 am, taylor.kings...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:





  John, it's difficult to explain the meaning of "positional play" in
a few words -- there are too many aspects to it. To understand it more
fully, you should read at least some of the books I recommended. But
let me at least present a few classic examples of positional play, to
give you some idea.

  This game is an example of advantage in space:

Tarrasch-Showalter, Vienna 1898:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. d4 d6

  With his last two moves Black has already accepted a more cramped
position. His KB is less activelty deployed than White's, and is
hemmed in by its own pawn. Black banks on gaining counterplay later by
striking back in the center.

  In reality, Black never does "strike back" in this
game; not in the center, nor anywhere else.

5. d5 Nb8 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. c4 O-O 8. h3 c6 9. Nc3 Na6 10. Be3 Nc7 11. O-O
Nfe8 12. Qc2 cxd5 13. cxd5 g6 14. Bh6 Ng7 15. g4!

  This inhibits Black from freeing himself by 15...f5. From here on
Black's cramp becomes more severe.

  White appears to make no real headway from
here until we reach move twenty-two, whereupon
his opponent blunders.

 15...Nce8 16. Kh2 Kh8 17. Rg1 Bd7 18. Rg2

  It may look odd to double rooks on a closed file, but the point is
to further inhibit f7-f5.
If Black were foolish enough to play that
now, White's rooks would swoop down on his king like the Mongol
hordes.

  Hoping for a blunder does not constitute a
real strategy (although it often suffices in my
games).

18...Rc8 19. Rag1 b6 20. Qd2!

  White wants to play Nf3-e1 and f2-f4-f5, to gain more space on the
kingside. But if he did that immediately, Black would play 20...Be7-
g4,

  Quite a feat, that move.  It reminds me of
the time the Germans crossed into France
by running tanks through supposedly
impassable forest.

Correction: should have ben 20...Be7-g5.

trading off his worst piece and gaining a little elbow room. By
playing 20.Qd2 first, White prevents this and is able to continue with
his plan.

20...Nf6 21. Ne1 Ng8 22. Be3 g5

  Black prevents 23.f4, but at a high price. The square f5 is badly
weakened (because now it can never be covered by a pawn), and the
scope of the KB is cut even further. Also, it allows White the
opportunity to open the h-file by h3-h4 and hxg5, after which White
can invade with his rooks, an incursion difficult or impossible for
Black to prevent due to his cramped and uncoordinated position.

  Indeed, this cramped and uncoordinated
position seems to warrant some queries
like so: "?" for the moves that led up to it,
yet all we seem to get here is praise for
the ultimate winner's every whim, good or
bad.

23. Nf3 f6 24. h4 h6 25. Rh1 Kh7 26. Kg1 Kg6 27. Nh2 Rc7 28. Nf1 Qc8
29. Qe2 Kf7 30. Ba6 Qb8 31. Nb5!

  An excellent move. The knight attacks the rook, which has no safe
flight square. Therefore Black must exchange his QB for the knight.
Why is this significant?

  Because Black blundered earlier!  But we
don't know quite where, since his errors are
not clearly pointed out in the annotations.

It was never my intention to annotate this game in any depth, nor to
assign ?/! punctuation to every move where it might apply. The point
was to give Mr. Salerno examples of positional weaknesses and the way
a master takes advantage of them. If you wish to annotate the game in
full, feel free.

Notice that all Black's pawns are on dark
squares. This means that his light squares are weak, especially c6

 Hint!  Maybe the careless advance ...b6 was
a serious error, warranting a query?

and f5. The QB travels on the light squares. With it gone, those squares
are even weaker. White will be able to invade them with his minor
pieces without fear of the bishop's surveillance.
  In contrast, White has no comparable weakness, and Black's minor
pieces have little scope. His remaining bishop is hemmed in by its own
pawns, and his knights can hardly go anywhere. Though material is
perfectly even, White has a great advantage because of his greater
space and mobility.

  And the creation of weak squares inside
the enemy camp (with considerable help).

31...Bxb5 32. Bxb5 Rfc8 33. hxg5 hxg5 34. Bc6!

  Again, what's with the ridiculous exclams
for White's routine moves?  And where are
the yin-yang counter notations for Black's
numerous errors?

  The c-file is the only line open to Black, so White closes it.

 34...Bf8 35. Qf3 Rxc6

  The positional pressure is so great that Black must sacrifice
material in a desperate attempt to break out. Almost any other move
would allow 36.Bxg5, while if Black tries to defend his g-pawn by
moving his king to e7 or g6, White plays 36.Rh8, probably followed by
Rgh2, invading on the h-file as mentioned previously.

36. dxc6 Ne6 37. Rh7+ Bg7 38. Ng3 Rxc6 39. Nf5

  Finally invading the weak square.

But blocking his own Queen.

A fatuous comment. 39.Nf5 is the best move on the board.

39...Qc8 40. Rgh2 Ne7 41. Nxg7 Nxg7 42. Bxg5 Qe6

  Showalter made this move and then resigned without waiting for a
reply. After 43.Bh6, his situation would have been hopeless.

  This game is a good example of how to
attack the enemy King with an advantage
in space, yet it is flawed in the sense that
Mr. Tarrasch's slow build up lacked energy.

  He had a much quicker build up available
on the Queenside, where he had a huge
advantage in space very early on.

  Not once did Black even try for counter-
play (such as by 29. ...Rxc3, for instance).
And of course he made quite a few do-
nothing moves, in addition to weakening
moves like ...b6.  Conclusion?  Mono-
chromy bites.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Self-Ousting -- AGAIN
    ... what LSJ is getting at that the less chance you have of getting VPs, ... you have 1 pool and one Tupdog in play. ... might increase your score for that game, ...   opponents choose to self-oust before you, ...
    (rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad)
  • Re: Magdalenian experiment (continuation)
    ... Leontes, king of Sicily --- playwright, Edward de Vere, ... actor reveals elements and layers in a play the author ... Hamlet    1585-86 ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: RGPL: So nobody has a Cyclone?
    ... Not to mention I fairly suck at high scores on any game ...   OK Cliffy, you opened a can of worms now. ... I don't think you have to be in the league to submit a qualifying ... You don't have time to play ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: How To Listen To Music (Opera)
    ... wasn't the same level of drama", drama having, of course, a very ... integer' of opera. ... Madame Nevada will play the mediator between him and our stiff-necked ...
    (rec.music.opera)
  • Re: Advantages of Dischoops
    ... I think it looks like it would be fun. ... I am totally lacking in all skills (after all, I play Ultimate). ... intellectual element to the game that can be very stimulating. ...   Usually, where ever we play, we tend to have passers by stop and watch. ...
    (rec.sport.disc)