The Importance of Strategic Decisions (vs. the "Raise Your Rating with Tactics" formula)

I cannot help but notice the trend.....beginners want to know how to raise their ratings in blitz and bullet...and the answer, of course, is....concentrate on tactics! Because if your game is filled with tactical blunders, you will lose games and your "rating" won't go up.

Fair enough! But how far will that take you? Not very far....

Strategy is the plan, the goal, or goals on the way...tactics is the problem-solving tool as you face obstacles.

And even this "definition" is not completely satisfactory, because there are some "positional-tactical" devices and methods. which are well known in different positions. 

The interaction between pawns and pieces is critical; it is what defines a "good bishop" (one with nice diagonals) vs. a "bad bishop" (one who is blocked by one's own pawns).

And here is the problem with concentrating only on tactics, or only on openings. When the big decision moments come in the game, the correctness of your decision will be based on your knowledge of certain positions, whether they are middlegame or endgame positions. If you have a lack of knowledge, you will probably make the wrong decisions.

Now, even among grandmasters, they themselves evolve, and there are many different level of grandmasters, depending on the depth of their knowledge. For example, most elite grandmasters are really good in endgame technique, but even at that level, some are better than others; Carlsen is famous for his excellent endgame technique.

The first game, Aronin-Bronstein, is taken from the book "200 Open Games", by Bronstein. It is a collection of many of his games that start with 1.e4 e5.

I highly recommend this book...Bronstein's comments are NOT heavy variations, but rather insightful and even humorous revelations into his thought process during a game. Let us enjoy the gam with Bronstein's comments:

The next game, Nezhmetdinov-Bronstein, is also found in the book "200 Open Games".

It is a significant game between two of my favorite players, real Artists of the game, and pure chess lovers. 

Various factors make this game significant; one of them is that Bronstein lost the game, and yet published it in this book. And that is one factor that distinguishes the great Teachers, like Tartakower, Tal  and Bronstein: they are not afraid to publish their losses! They feel obligated to share their wisdom and knowledge, and thus teach players like you and me their process, their creative process, their human process and experience.

Going back to this next game, Bronstein is the one who makes the mistake of NOT exchanging Queens. Well, let us see his own comments to the game:

The next game I found in the book "Bronstein on the King's Indian". I highly recommend this book. It is a masterpiece!

Finally, in the following game Bronstein gently dominates....his opponent was desperately trying to avoid theoretical lines in the King's Indian Defense, and Bronstein played normal, strong moves....until he devised a cunning plan to further confuse the opponent, and in doing so was able to uncover the inherent disharmony in the opponent's position. When White resigned, he had run out of useful moves with a board full of pieces!