PART FIVE:
TACTICS vs. STRATEGY

By Grandmaster Rashid Ziatdinov, edited by Brad Ashlock

"A chess master should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk." -- Alexander Alekhine.

I teach practical tournament chess. When it comes to tactics, I believe only in clear 1-2 move combinations. These combinations occur in every game, even between strong players, but most people cannot wait for simple combinations. Developing combinational patience is a major problem for all practical players.

Chess is not a game that goes according to "The Plan" that has been prepared at home, nicely implemented during the game, won by an amazing combination, and the score sent to God for Judgment Day. A chess game is a gamble (when you play a strong opponent).  Pure gambling is based on tactics.

In chess, there is strategy and tactics. Strategy involves long-term concepts, while tactics are immediate. Strategy is academic and theoretical; tactics are practical and concrete. You can win without strategy. If you do not apply effective tactics on every move, you will not survive long. No amount of planning for the next few moves does any good if your forces are destroyed in the current position. This does not mean that long-term strategy is not important, particularly as a context for tactics, but the outcome of most games boils down to which person sees better tactically in the present situation.

Tactics are concerned with taking appropriate action at the appropriate time. "Appropriate," not "right." The word "right" implies that you can know what the outcome of your actions will be. Historians make generals into geniuses. In the midst of battle with all its unknowns, a general can only do his best based on the information he has at the moment.

"A good idea executed promptly today is worth a dozen perfect ideas executed next week. -- General Patton

This is the essential difference between strategic planning and tactical action. Strategy should not be a subject of inquiry for the non-master. No strategy! Absolutely none! Only amusing, paradoxical tactical tricks should be investigated. Chess is a funny tactical game of two-move combinations and unexpected endgames.

It is very easy to confuse having an advantage with having the initiative. Initiative seems like having an advantage, but this is a chimera, for the initiative can be neutralized. Having the advantage means that, in principle, you cannot lose (and that you can at least force a draw). Just because you have an advantage doesn't mean that you have a winning, tactical combination. Combination depends on the precise position of the pieces; a shift of a pawn can determine the correctness of a combination. Many players, even strong ones, believe there must be a combination if one side has the advantage, but this is often untrue. If a good tactical player does not find a clear win, there is no combination yet; he must patiently improve his position and wait for a chance to strike. Is he afraid that his advantage will disappear? No! Initiative can disappear, but not an advantage. If it does dissipate, he never had an advantage in the first place, and no right for a combination.

To study tactics, I recommend my timed tactical software program, or similar software programs. A good book of combinations is beneficial too, but less efficient and not as fun. Basically, set up a cycle of ten positions, go through them until you get a perfect score, then set a cycle from 10-20, get a 100% score, then go through problems 1-20, repeating this cycle until you can go through 1000 problems "by hand" (not mind) without any mistakes. If you try this method with my tactics program and complete it, you will have the tactical ability of a Grandmaster. I have had more than a hundred students and nobody had enough will power to finish this tactical training method. Is it my students or is it me? Well, take only thirty minutes a day and slowly memorize 1000 problems; take a year or two if you have to. It comes down to will power, and that I cannot provide.

Another effective method for improving your chess tactics is blitz chess. It is a great training tool, but you must play five-minute games as if they are one-minute games, otherwise it makes no sense. Pros don't consider five-minute games as blitz at all -- one, two, or three-minute games, yes, that is blitz! More than three minutes is only entertainment for retired people. Blitz is about developing tactical bravery and intuition. If you are able to play five-minute games as one-minute games, you are doing right, if not, it is only wasting time. If you lost a lot of training time in childhood for developing your tactical feelings, I think fast games would be helpful, but do not take your results too seriously. Practice this form of tactical training and then analyze your chess "instincts" after the game with a computer.

Computers have greatly influenced how chess is played, from mega databases of games, the Kasparov-Deep Blue match, Internet chess, to Grandmaster strength software you can purchase in convenience stores. Probably the best program you can buy is Fritz, which Kasparov uses to help him analyze. Chess programs like Fritz are helpful, but there is a danger in over-using them, a pitfall in computer analysis one should keep in mind. Fritz can change its evaluation of a position at any second (it depends on the position).  Even if you give it ten hours, you cannot be sure how it would evaluate the position after ten hours and one second. A move which it deems sound after ten hours might be bad after ten hours and one second! Only human chess intuition can help.

The question "What is chess?" is a very good question, and computers can help us answer it! Rules are theoretically correct in many cases, but knowing this will not help you play chess. If you have 300 chess rules, the first 150 will usually contradict the second 150. Don't base your game on impractical rules. Fritz's approach of concrete variations and evaluations is more practical (which does not necessarily mean more theoretically correct, but we are concerned with results, not theory!)

Recently, I played with odds (I gave one Knight) against a 2000 rated player. He did not make blunders, he understood strategy and the common general rules of chess, but I managed to defeat him (I had covered my pieces from exchange behind pawns, and he blundered). In America, I played several games with 1500-rated players with rook odds. You should find out how much of a material advantage you need to beat a strong master, or Fritz. This is a great way to use technology to gauge your strength.

The following are fifteen tips for playing good blitz games to improve your tactics and intuition:
1. Chess is not a house built of common sense and "logic."
2. You should go where you should go -- this is the best definition of blitz chess.
3. Examine the starting position, all the pieces on their initial squares. There is no hint of battle, and you will never come to believe that in three to four moves you would be compelled to say, "I cannot play at all! The secrets of chess strategy and tactics are a closed book for me." This should never happen! Chess is a very simple game. Remember, you will never set up a better position than the start position. Keep it this way: pawns first and pieces behind them, this is the right way to play blitz chess, and comes from Philidor with his maxim:  "Pawns are the soul of chess!"
4. There is no place for kindness in chess. Only show kindness to hide your real intentions.
5. The first rule of the opening in blitz chess is putting pieces into the center. However, if there is only one piece in the center, it will be quickly kicked out, so you must have a gang of pieces in the center. Centralize a pawn, Knights, Bishops, and after that, drive them further into the opponent's position.
6. The coordination of the pieces is a crucial component of blitz chess. Coordination means that your pieces work together to control more squares in the board, like in hedgehog-type positions.  After 1.e4 e5, keep the c1-Bishop but get rid of the Bishop on f1 because the pawn at e4 does White's light-squared Bishop's job (same with the d4-pawn and the dark-squared Bishop).
7. Now, after a few seconds, the opening is over and we enter the middle-game. There are a few tools to guide our play a) attack on the flanks b) attack the King c) maneuvering d) strategic plans, if you have an intellect, but it is not necessary for blitz-chess. D1) If you do not have an intellect you must have the will to win; this is even better then intellect e) look for an active pawn move toward the Queen, f) if you can't find anything, make a long, stupid move, like moving a line piece from one end of the board to the other.  There is a chance the opponent will spend time trying to find the reasons behind your move.
8. "Greedy," cowardly chess players will never win.
9. Remember, the move of your hand must be faster than your thoughts.
10. Never go where you look, and never look where you go.
11. If your opponent forgets to push the clock, make a contemplative expression and start to think as if it's your turn -- you'll gain time or maybe even win on time.
12. When you reach an ending, make any move that is closer to the clocks, but you must mix it with stupid long moves.
13. Chess players are only human; we're born to make blunders.  Exploit your opponent's mistakes.
14. Wishing to play perfect chess is a way to lose . . . perfectly.
15. Remember, any Knight can take any Bishop, but not the other way around. Knights are better than Bishops in blitz chess; they're more valuable because the Knight's move is so unpredictable and "unnatural." With so little time, they become monsters.