In Chess, What Is Strategy?
Chess strategy is the intentional effort to outmaneuver your opponent. Chess strategy, in contrast to tactics, focuses on long-term goals, typically about king safety, pawn structure, space, piece activity, etc.
1984 saw GMs Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov face off. In this position, Karpov is winning strategically, and Kasparov finally accepts his resignation.
Why Does Strategy Matter?
As the saying goes, “Chess is 99% tactics.” Why is studying strategy so crucial if that is the case?
While tactics do have the power to decide a game’s outcome, effective strategic play is what makes tactical shots possible in the first place. One way to think of strategy is as the home of tactics.
The famous Chinese general Sun Tzu once said, “The slowest path to success is strategy without tactics.” Without a strategy, tactics are just noise before defeat.” It’s true that for novice players, depending just on their opponent missing a tactical shot may be effective, but for more experienced players, this is a losing strategy.
“The slowest path to success is a strategy empty of tactics. Without a strategy, tactics are just noise before a loss.
— Sun Tzu”
Chess Strategy was a strong suit for world champions such as GM Tigran Petrosian, GM Anatoly Karpov, and Jose Raul Capablanca. Few players like to take on the challenge of playing against someone who is well-positioned strategically.
Karpov was one of the greatest strategic players in history.
Basic Concepts in Strategy
Chess Strategy is a difficult subject that takes years of study and commitment to become competent at. Nonetheless, you can play better and win more games if you understand a few basic concepts. These are the quantity of materials, movement and activity of pieces, pawn structure, space, and safety of the king.
Number of Materials
Since the material count is the most physical, it is also the easiest strategic notion to understand. A player can additionally determine who has a material advantage if they know how to calculate each player’s overall piece value.
White is the better position.
By moving pieces to simplify the position and reach a successful endgame, the player with the material advantage can typically win the game. Using a material edge to overwhelm the opposition’s defenses and checkmate the king is an additional strategy for victory.
Piece Activity
Piece activity is a more complex term than material count. A player may own fewer pieces than another yet more active pieces overall, giving them a clear advantage.
White has fewer material pieces overall, but they are far more active.
The picture up above is from the well-known Opera Game that Paul Morphy played against Duke Karl and Count Isouard. Though practically all of White’s pieces are active, he is down material. On the other hand, Black’s Kingside is out of the game. It took Morphy only a couple more moves to win this game:
Pawn Scheme
The arrangement of pawns in a particular setup, independent of the positions of other pieces, is referred to as pawn structure. Any professional chess player must understand pawn structures since they have an impact on many other strategic ideas. Pawn organization influences several important strategic concepts, including as attacking strategy, piece activity, and holes.
In the game between GM Victor Korchnoi and Karpov, the position below comes from the latter’s forced creation of an exposed queen’s pawn on d4.
Karpov exposed a gap in Korchnoi’s pawn plan.
Karpov’s strategy revolved around exploiting this basic fault in White’s pawn structure. By limiting the white army to the defense of the lone pawn and exposing additional cracks in Korchnoi’s position, he eventually won the game.
Space
The amount of space a player has behind their pawns on which they can move their pieces is known as space. On the queenside, kingside, center, or in any combination of those areas of the board, a player may have extra room.
Black has less area than White. White currently has more control over more squares and more freedom in moving their pieces.
Having an advantage in space allows a player to move their pieces more freely and control more squares. On the other hand, players with limited space may find it difficult to move their pieces to attack or defend.
King Security
One of the most important chess strategic ideas is king safety. An unsafe king can put you at risk of being checkmated, which can be a losing strategy.
Players often give up resources to show the opposing king.
The earlier instance shows the famous “Greek gift,” in which a player sacrifices a bishop to reveal the king of the opposition. The attack results in a checkmate, hence the material disadvantage is small.
Conclusion
Now that you understand what Chess Strategy is, you may use it to improve your game and win more matches. Visit our Guide page to learn even more important strategic ideas.