Chess is all about tactics

That line was uttered to me by Nick who is in the small group that I play chess with on Sundays.  We were just wrapping up our games and heading home when I was telling another member of our group that lately all I was doing was playing black.  That I had been doing this was to get better at defense.  That is when good ole (not saint) Nick, who had been listening to the conversation, jumped in saying that line.  Tactics...tactics....tactics.  Its all I hear about lately.

I mean whats the point of learning all these fancy moves and lingo...whats the point of learning about opening gambits, or the old english (sounds like a bad mens cologne to me), en passe, alekhine defense, d4 openings, e4 openings...I mean what is the point to knowing all the fancy terms and stuff if chess is all about tactics?  Its enough to make me want to push my queen off a cliff!

Of course Nick is right, chess is about tactics, as I stood there with what I am sure was a deer in headlights stare I knew he was.  Layered deep in all these openings, all these theories, all these defenses are tactics.  Some are more obvious than others this is true, but they are there.  We all know this, but when you are just picking up the game or coming back to it from a long layoff it is hard to realize this.  Heck even ppl that have been playing for years probably don't even ahere to Nick's statement.  I am reminded though as I am trying to improve my game of two other statements I have learned recently.  They are....

When you find a good move stop and look for a better one.

Don't leave your stuff out hanging or it will get chopped off. (for stuff I use a certian male body part that I would hate to loose just to emphasize my point)

So now that I know that chess is all about tactics and these two other sayings chess should be a breeze right.  RIGHT?!?!?  Well it might be wishful thinking, but it does help clear the waters a bit.  Yeah knowing these cool openings and defeneses are great, but if  like me the better you become with at the tactics of the game the better off you are.