Adopting a Style of Play
The Basic Common Chess Styles of Play
Attacking Style
Attacking. . Anand's style was resourceful, often finding ways to draw or even win in inferior positions. Noted for attacking skill, deep calculation and tactical ability.
Andersen's style is the epitome of attacking chess. While he can play positionally, he prefers to go after the enemy king, and will generally surprise you with a lively style of play and inventive ideas.
Attacking. Fischer's style is grounded on extensive opening analysis and backed up by superb endgame technique. Fischer is direct, vigorous and relentlessly aggressive. He disdains draws and has an intense will to win. He will almost always open 1. e4 as White, and favors the Najdorf Sicilian or King's Indian as Black.
Attacking. Larsen's style is an unabashed original who vacillates between strikeouts and home runs. He is fond of many old and forgotten opening variations, but far from being reckless, is quite capable of solid positional play.
Attacking. Marshall's style had a penchant for the attack. He employed gambits and took risks, even against the strongest of players. He had a keen eye for the purely combinative side of chess, and could amaze the competition by some incredible ingenuity in the most sterile positions.
Attacking. Morphy's style was most concerned with mobility, determined to place pieces on open lines and boldly sacrificing material to gain the initiative. He excelled in open games, using keen positional judgment to lay the groundwork for stunning combinations.
Short's style true to his natural attacking roots usually opens with 1. e4, playing for open positions and attacking lines. Though he will achieve brilliant wins against some of the best, he is also prone to horrible defeats to lesser players, because of an inability to compromise his style.
Attacking. Tal's style loves mayhem. All he needed was a chance to attack and the position would explode in fireworks.
Summary for the Attacking Style.
Defensive Style
Summary for the Defensive Style
Conservative Style
Conservative. Fine's style has a preference for the open game. He will seek the initiative right from the first move. Fine is tough to beat because of his encyclopedic grasp of the openings, where he is equally comfortable with 1.d4 or 1. e4. Fine is also renowned for his craftiness in the endgame.
Conservative. Kramnik's style is quite well-rounded, he is equally at home with 1.e4 or 1.d4 or 1.c4, all of which can cause problems for opponents not as well-versed in the intricacies of those openings. As Black, he is fond of the Queen's Gambit Accepted, is skilled at the Berlin Defense, and is prepared to patiently defend long endgames in order to blunt the opponent's opening initiative.
Conservative. Rubinstein's style. Was accuracy in endgames Although strong in openings, he preferred simplifications and quiet lines without complications.
Conservative. Spassky's style had a flair for lively tactics. As Black, he plays the Tarrasch Defense and as White the Leningrad Variation of the Nimzo-Indian.
Conservative. Tarrasch's style was a apostle of the attack. He would patiently accumulate small advantages until they add up to a big bang. He was champion of the Open Defense to the Ruy Lopez and the Tarrasch Defense, where the mobility of Black's pieces balance the isolated queen pawn.
Summary for the Conservative Style
Being a Conservative is a tough job because of all the things you must try to become an expert in. You must have an encyclopedic grasp of the openings. Be well versed with lively tactics ability. Study all the endgame theory piece play as laid out in our The Curriculum and then he must have infinite patience's to defend in long endgames, for maybe to queen a passed pawn.
The conservative's strategy and style of play is to use his vast knowledge of the openings to gain an advantage for a playable middlegame where again he makes use of his middlegame knowledge as a platform to lay out his plans to gain a passed pawn and then use his superior knowledge in defensive play and endgame play to protect it Queen it and win the game with it, or simply to out wit his opponents with his greater knowledge and ability in endgame play.
He must also be somewhat of an expert in having the ability and patience to slowly grind down his opponents by taking away all their space, tie up all their pieces, use a barricaded pawn structure, build small yet persistent advantages without incurring any unnecessary risks and then build on these tiny advantages to use his accuracy in the endgame. Now that really takes a patient person to do all of that, something that only a handful of people may have.
The biggest difference between this type of style of the conservative and most other players is that most average players are hell bent on attack and forcing positions to quickly win the game and simply do not have the patience to plan out such a superior strategy of play with such long ranged planning. This is also the best way to determine the difference between a patzer and a more advanced player in that patzers always try to force positions and use very little planning if any at all and have the patience of a small child, or having ADD. (Attention Deficient Deficiency)
Attacking. Alekhine's style of play had a razor-sharp tactical sense, combining stormy attacks with superb endgame technique.
Sharp Tactics, deep calculation ability. Knows many castled king mates as shown in our page Mating the King. Extensive opening analysis technique, Superb endgame technique, Employs gambits, Not afraid to take risks, Combinative play, Concerned with mobility, determined to place pieces on open lines, A sacrifice expert and will boldly sacrifice material to gain the initiative, May induce mayhem to gain a tactical advantage. Plays for open positions and attacking lines.
Seirawan's style is basically defensive, with a highly refined positional style that shines in the endgame. He is fond of the Caro-Kann Defense and is very tough with Black. Plays for closed positions with defensive lines, like the closed Sicilian.
Knows how to build a very solid almost impenetrable fortress Knows the best ways to play a purely defensive game with such defenses as the. Blockade, The Dutch Stonewall Defense, The Hedgehog Defense against the English. The Boleslavsky Wall.
Knows the most solid defensive openings such as, The Caro-Kann, The Mongredien Defense, The Pirc Defense, The King's Indian Defense, The Queen's Indian Defense.
Conservative. Euwe's style is an opening expert, familiar with the entire range of opening variations. Although hypermodern ideas are often seen in his games as White, he will stick with classical lines as Black, and particularly enjoys the Slav Defense.
You must strive to become a opening expert, familiar with the entire range of opening variations, know how to play well in open game play and be an expert in endgame theory and also know how to play positional chess well.
The Positional Playing Style will take a whole new page in order to summarize, understand and go through all of its intricacies.
Positional Playing Style