The Positional Playing Style

The Summery of:

Of all the chess playing styles there are to choose from, the Positional Playing Style may be the most important, because it takes in so much of all the chess basics and uses them so effectively.

Here is most of the important points to know about in how to be a positional player, but to be a good positional player you must read and study our two training pages on Positional Playing.

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The positional player arranges his pieces so that enemy freeing moves may be prevented.

The prevention of freeing Pawn moves, is necessary, feasible, and is of great importance in positional play.

The strategical proposition is that one must over-protect his own strategically important points, that is, provide defense in excess of attack and lay up a store of defenses.

Weak points, strong points, in short every thing that we can include in the collective conception of strategically important points, ought to be over-protected.

All pieces should be well posted in every respect and that means creating and taking advantage of outposts as well.

The positional player pays attention most particularly to strong points, to important squares in the center, which are likely to come under heavy fire, to strong blockading squares, or to strong passed Pawns which can be particularly important in the endgame.

A pawn-chains and outposts should be well over-protected.

Rooks protect the weak base of a Pawn-chain, every such base is in a certain sense is to be classed as weak since the one sure defense, by a weak unprotected pawn can be the key to its demise and should be over protected or else the pawn chain will collapse.

The positional player is particularly concerned with the center he therefore fights for control of the center and over protects key points.

After the Pawns are gone key points are occupied by pieces.

Each advantage no matter how small is important because a few small advantages added together can mean a winning position. Steintz called this the accumulation theory. If you play to accumulate small advantages you're playing "Positional Chess"

One definition is that playing positional chess is moving or maneuvering in a style of play that is based on the exploitation of many small advantages, however that is not the most important goal for a positional player.

A positional player may choose as his style to use a purely logical approach to chess, breaking each game down and analyzing it with the rigor of a scientist. But the skilled positional player would rather rely on delicate maneuvers and subtle positional understanding imbuing their games with clarity and depth and rendering each game with the artistic flair of a classical musician.

Positional players are more concerned with restraint and centralization than with the forcing play of the attacker's style. The positional player may spend time in planning and slowing building up a solid defensive position, a knight outpost, and concentrate on the strategy of controlling the center.

Positional players are more concerned with adhering to the basic principles of chess especially with Chess Strategy, with such important principles as pawn structure and the many ideas it is concerned with.

The positional player uses restraint in using anti knight moves instead of attacking the knights with his bishops. He may slowly squeeze a opponent to death in restricting his space. He uses the principles of gaining an advantage in obtaining more space than his opponent has.

The positional player will make moves to strengthen his position and these moves may not be defensive or threatening in any way. Moves that give a position more security against attack and make a position more solid. This may be accomplished by over protecting important pieces, positions or squares.

What is important is in the prevention of your opponent in getting significant advantages against you, like him making a freeing pawn move. A protected passed pawn may easily decide the game. The positional player sees to it that he arranges his pieces in such a way as to prevent it from happening.

The importance of the center is and must be of great significance as then it can be a base for further operations. If we have built up our game in the center, we have from there the possibility of exercising influence on both wings at the same time,

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