Master Positional Chess
Chess games between beginners are often decided via simple tactics. At some point, one player will make a blunder which allows their opponent to initiate a forcing sequence of moves that results in checkmate or a decisive gain of material. Positional chess is relatively unimportant at these lower levels of play.
However, major unprovoked mistakes happen less and less frequently among intermediate and advanced players. In order for the tactics to appear, it becomes necessary to outplay your opponent first.
But how do you “outplay” your opponent? By knowing and applying concepts from positional chess.
In this article, you will learn:
- What positional chess is (and how it differs from tactical chess).
- Some examples of positional play that all strong chess players can learn from.
- Where to go to take your understanding of positional chess to the next level.
What Is Positional Chess?
Positional chess (also known as “chess strategy”) is all about playing the middlegame according to sound principles. Knowledge of positional chess will help you understand what the position on the board requires and then form a plan which matches that.
This contrasts with tactical chess, which concerns short-term forcing sequences - the sort of thing you solve when doing chess puzzles.
Related: The Ultimate Guide To Chess Tactics.
Savielly Tartakower put the difference between tactics and strategy in the following terms: “Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.”
What Tartakower meant by this is:
- When there is a tactical opportunity, the goal is crystal clear: to accurately calculate the way to take advantage of it.
- However, when there are no tactics, you must still attempt to improve your position, or worsen your opponent’s position. This is positional chess.
Key Elements Of Positional Chess
Good Pieces vs. Bad Pieces
One of the most useful skills within positional chess is understanding which pieces are “good” and which are “bad” - both for you and for your opponent. Armed with this knowledge, you will know which trades to seek and which to avoid.
The following position arose in Khalifman vs. Adams, 1990 with Black to move. Ask yourself:
- Should Black capture White’s knight on d4?
- If so, would Black be better to capture with …Nxd4 or with …Bxd4?
Black chose 24. …Bxd4! This capture may be counterintuitive for some readers. It is often said that “bishops tend to be better than knights in open positions”. However, with this capture, Black is willingly trading off their bishop for White’s knight.
A large part of positional mastery is knowing when to play differently than what the rules of thumb may suggest.
After 25. Bxd4 f5, Black was able to gain significant space in the center - with tempo.
Additionally, in this case White’s bishop is actually inferior to Black’s knight. White’s own pawn on d5 means the White bishop lacks scope, whereas the Black knight stands beautifully on c5 (a dark square) and cannot be challenged by White’s light-squared bishop.
Weak Pawns
There are many types of pawn weaknesses, including:
- Doubled pawns.
- Isolated pawns.
- Backward pawns.
Identifying your opponent’s weakest pawn can be a great way to come up with the right strategic plan. By targeting your opponent’s weak pawn, you can often force them into passive defense. This may lead to other opportunities on other areas of the board.
The first game of the, 2024 World Chess Championship match saw this positional idea in action. White’s highlighted backward pawn on c3 is a clear target. Ding, with the Black pieces, looked to pile up pressure against it.
Gukesh, with the White pieces, was not able to hold on to his weak pawn for long. After some maneuvering, Ding was able to successfully play 25. …Rxc3, winning the pawn on his way to securing a memorable victory in this game.
Related: 2024 World Chess Championship Review: What A Finish!
Transformations In The Pawn Structure
Whenever pawns are in tension with one another, it is worth considering whether it is better to hold the tension or to release it. In the following game Andersson vs. Portisch, 1972 it was White to move. Note the pawn tension in the center.
What should White do? Here are some options:
- Capture dxc5.
- Capture dxe5.
- Advance the d-pawn via d5.
- Hold the central pawn tension and play something else.
Decisions like these - where there are no tactics - have far reaching consequences!
White had strong positional justification for playing 12. dxc5! The idea of this capture is that once Black recaptures 12. …dxc5, White can target the weak d6 square within Black’s territory via 13. Nc4!
This idea of invading with the knight would not be possible without first making the capture which opened the d-file. White soon landed his knight on d6, making life very difficult for Black. White went on to win.
Outposts
An “outpost” is a square that a piece can sit on without it being able to be challenged by enemy pawns. A common idea in the Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation, English Attack is for White to create an outpost on the queenside.
In this well-studied position from opening theory, the move 13. Nd5 provokes Black into capturing 13. …Bxd5.
White’s idea is to recapture 14. exd5, thus placing a pawn on the d5 square.
This creates support for an outpost on c6 for White’s remaining knight to maneuver to via the a5 square.
White’s knight is very bothersome on c6. It closes the c-file and thus thwarts Black’s main avenue of attack in this opposite-side castle position. It also controls many important squares within Black’s camp.
Identifying outposts and maneuvering your pieces into them can cause many headaches for your opponent.
Related: The Open Sicilian: An Ambitious White Repertoire for Club Players by Ivan Saric.
Sacrificing Material To Open Lines
One of the first things that those who are new to chess are taught is the relative value of the different pieces (i.e. a queen is worth “9”, a rook is worth “5”, etc…)
This is a useful starting point. However, more advanced players understand that there is more to the game than just material! It can be worthwhile sacrificing material in order to create a different type of advantage.
The next game illustrates this well: Magerramov vs. Kasparov, 1977. Kasparov, with the Black pieces, has a clear activity advantage - but how can he press this home before White gets the chance to consolidate and castle?
The pawn sacrifice 17. …d4! was correct.
When White accepted the pawn via 18. exd4, Kasparov followed up with 18. …Re8, lining up his rook against White’s king along the open e-file.
Although Black has no way to immediately win back the sacrificed pawn, White’s position is extremely uncomfortable. Black has a nasty discovered check threatened. Additionally, moving the bishop off its starting square (for example, 19. Be2) would allow 19. …Bxg2. However, without moving the bishop off f1, White cannot castle.
In the game, White played the ugly 19. f3, whereupon Kasparov sacrificed again with 19. …Bxf3+ followed by 20. …Qh4+. White soon collapsed.
Of course, material should not be sacrificed carelessly. Making such “positional sacrifices” which do not lead to checkmate or regaining the material is a matter of delicate judgement - a hallmark of a strong chess player.
Recommended Positional Chess Books
Advanced chess players look at positions differently to beginners. Whereas beginners are preoccupied with creating (and dealing with) basic threats, advanced players are able to see these automatically. This allows them to concentrate on other features of a position and thus operate at a higher level. This is what you should aim for when studying positional chess.
Although this article has provided a good foundation, positional chess mastery is a vast subject. There are many more concepts which strong chess players ought to know.
A multitude of excellent books have been written about how to improve at positional chess. Here are our top recommendations, depending on your current rating. Adding these books to your library will help bring your understanding of positional chess to the next level!
Related: How To Effectively Use Chess Books To Improve.
Beginner (under 1200 elo rating)
Logical Chess Move By Move is a wonderful guide to positional chess for ambitious beginners who are aspiring to reach the intermediate level. It contains 33 of the most instructive chess games ever played.
The unique thing about this book is that it explains literally every move of each game. This contrasts with more advanced texts which provide no commentary about many of the moves, assuming that they are “self-evident” to the reader. However, lower-rated players need additional commentary - which this book provides.
You will discover the rationale behind why the master players made the moves they did. In the process, you will learn valuable positional chess ideas that you can immediately implement in your own games!
Intermediate (between 1200 - 1800 elo rating)
How To Reassess Your Chess is regarded as a modern day classic among middlegame strategy books. It is the result of the author’s lifetime of chess coaching combined with his experience in competitive tournament play. It contains hundreds of examples designed to improve the reader’s positional chess understanding.
This book uses the concept of positional imbalances to evaluate any chess position and then come up with the right plan. These include:
- Superior minor piece.
- Pawn structure.
- Space.
- Material.
- Control of a key file.
- Control of a weak square.
- Lead in development.
- Initiative.
- King safety.
Astute readers will notice that some of these concepts are similar to those introduced in this article. Silman’s book will help solidify these ideas in your mind so that you will be able to draw upon them whenever you need them.
Advanced (over 1800 elo rating)
My System may have been published around a century ago, but its ideas are still relevant today. It is no exaggeration to say that Nimzowitsch’s book is one of the cornerstones of modern chess understanding. This makes it an essential part of an advanced player's education.
One thing that sets this book apart is the author’s colorful writing style. Many of the most widely known chess witticisms originated here. For example:
- “The threat is stronger than the execution.”
- “The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it.”
- “The passed pawn is a criminal which should be kept under lock and key.”
This book covers vital positional chess concepts, including the blockade, prophylaxis, fortresses, and many more. These are all supported with illustrative games and incisive commentary. Any advanced player will have their understanding of positional chess enhanced by going through Nimzowitsch’s landmark work.