...study and play positional chess?

I like studying tactics, checkmates, and simple endgames, as I believe that they are practical for my level of play. What I don't like to do is memorize chess openings, especially since players that I compete against know little opening theory, so that even the few lines I know are not used in my Live Chess games.

With that said, I do get bored when I only practice tactic, checkmate, and endgame puzzles. Would learning positional chess be of any practical value at my level, and what book(s) would you suggest that I read? Do I need to memorize opening lines to be able to play positional chess? Thank you. 

Of course studying positional chess will help you improve. The things is in middle game position, if we can't find a tactic, we will find ourselves often time clueless on what to do if we never study positional themes..Having grasp of strategy will give you an idea how to punish weak positional moves...

You don't need to study opening theory to learn positional themes in chess. Just buy a good strategy book. I suggest you try Chess Strategy for Club Players by Grooten..

For a change from what you've been doing, you might give some instructive anthologies a try. Here's an article by Dan Heisman that talks about them and gives some book recommendations.

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman121.pdf

That was helpful. Thank you.

Thanks for the suggestion. I read this review on Amazon.

"This work not only covers strategy for the club player (as title aptly indicates) but also covers how to formulate a plan based on positional factors with an overall strategy in a position. Proper strategic/positional thinking is also addressed."

Grooten is a respected chess trainer. He trained several GM like Loek Van Wely and GM Jan Werle (Grooten is instrumental to their development as a chess player). He also trained many club level players..

Here are other reviews

http://www.chessvibes.com/reviews/review-chess-strategy-for-club-players

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review696.pdf

Thanks for the post, and the book suggestion. A while back I purchased "Silman's Complete Endgame Course, from Beginner to Master". Having this book on the Endgame, I figured that it would be a good idea to get Silman's book on the Middlegame, "How to Reassess Your Chess".

I wonder if this book is appropriate for me, since Silman says he designed it for players in the 1400 to 2100 range.  My Online Chess rating is my highest rating here, at 1444, followed by my Live Chess Standard rating at a dismal 1039. I have played a few USCF 1400-1600 players at my chess club, and those guys blow me off the board, so I know I am not a 1400 player.  

Regarding pawn structures and opening theory, I own Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis, cracked it open recently, and was surprised that this time around, the book was making sense. Soltis basically says that the pawn structure dictates the plans for each side, and he goes on to explain the plans for various pawn structures. This is practical information that I can use in my games.

Looking at Chess.com's Study Plan Director, I clearly fall under the Beginner category.

Study Plans    

Target Skill Range: Beginner (Rated 1000-1399)

Plans for Intermediate Players (Ratings 1400-1799)

http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

Even though my Online Chess rating is 1444, my Live Chess Standard rating for 15 10 games is only 1039, so, I am guessing that my OTB rating, given more time to think, might be in the 1200's, which would still place me in the beginner category, which means that "Silman's How to Reassess Your Chess" is rated to high for me, with an intended audience in he 1400 to 2100 range.

What books on strategy and positional play would address the needs of the beginning chess player? I received a few suggestions in the posts above, but not sure how advanced the books are.

I found this Kindle book at Amazon for only $2.99, 150 pages long, and it has good reviews.

Introduction to Chess Strategy (Chess is Fun) [Kindle Edition]

I am on my lunch break, looking at book reviews and the "Click to Look Inside".

Reading some of the sample text, Understanding Chess Middlegames by John Nunn does not look like a primer/beginning book for positional chess/strategy. It goes over my head pretty fast, with tons of chess jargon.Here is some sample text.

Just do what you do now, don't buy chess books, and invest in one opening for white and one for black, you don't need to know it through and through, it's just practical to have knowledge about the opening you play. 

I disagree with this, buying a good strategy book will be helpfull. When I was a beginner, I never solve chess puzzle books, all I read are strategy books. I play few games for one year OTB then stop playing. Then when I returned to play many years ago, I reached 1600 in FICS(then I stop playing again and return playing here in chess.com)..

Thanks for the post. Your Live Standard rating is much higher than mine: 1640 to 1039, which means you could beat me in less than 20 moves without breaking a sweat.

WDo you pay attention to strategic/positional chess when you play your Live Chess games, or do you simply rely on  your experience, tactical/endgame skills, and the opening that you know to win?

Or, do you also take into account during your fast games (15 10) on things like having a queenside pawn majority, which I wouldn't even know what to do with...or seeing that you have the potential for a minority attack, which I have yet to practice? I have heard this kind of talk in chess.com videos when I was a Diamond member, but I didn't understand the jargon, so I stopped paying for a Diamond membership, because many of the videos are best suited for the intermediate to advanced player.

Although chess.com has made great strides in adding more beginning chess videos, there is not enough of them to pay for 12 months worth. What I will do is up my membership to Diamond from time to time to watch/save beginning chess videos, and then watch them over and over again, like the checkmate videos by Daniel Rensch. I can watch those videos over and over again while doing my cardio workout at the gym,  by plugging my iPod into one of the cardio machines that has a television and headphone input.

A player of your strength would just blow me off the board. I like this game of yours.

I'd like to know what your strategy was for playing 30.Nd6? When I can't see the plan, or threat in someone elses game, I push a rook pawn, and that seems to always reveal the hidden idea/threat/strategy.

I hope you enjoy my variation if Black were to play 16...a5??, with the idea of playing 17...a6??, attacking White's b3-bishop.

You read chess strategy books as a beginner. Cool.  Looking back, what strategy books helped you out the most as a beginning chess player? Thank you!

Thanks, allthough I think I didn't really play that well.

I really like all the material here at chess.com also at the beginner level, there are some awesome videos. David Pruess just made another vid called 'analyzing your own games' for beginners, also the 'patterns everyone must know' by Danny Rensch. Both guys have excellent beginner vids, positional strangulation by Elliot Liu and many more.

Can't tell you what I think about when I'm playing (keep in mind I usually play FAST games) but I can tell you it's not enough.

I've noticed it's a longish path from learning something and applying it in your games. I still hang pieces or do dumb stuff I just make slowly make less mistakes. You don't learn what a minority attack is and then just know how and when to do it. It's info that you store and try to remember and in some games it comes together.

Probably close to 90% of my games are decided by blunders, win or lose. And I'm really happy with my diamon membership for tactics trainer alone!

simple chess by michael stean is a great little book.

My knee-jerk reaction, is yes.

But then I realised there's a problem with that answer.

The problem is that I mean opening theory, but I think the OP may mean opening lines.

Opening theory is deeply connected to understanding positional chess. The new Move by Move series of books by Everyman highlights the study of specific openings by asking positional and tactical questions about the opening.

One cannot play good openings without either rote memorization or understanding the ideas behind the openings. Study the ideas behind the openings and you will begin to understand both the openings and the positions that arise from those openings.

Shereshevsky wrote a brilliant excursus on the endgame by focusing on the types of endgames likely to arise from specific openings. Take a look, some time, at Endgame Strategy by Shereshevsky for an idea of how important the openings really are.

Regarding opening theory and opening lines. I have Modern Chess Openings by Nick de Firmian. Now that I think about it, this book was a waste of money, since I can easily get opening lines from Game Explorer, along with the names and ECO codes.

My favorite book on opening theory in one volume is "Fundamental Chess Openings" by Paul Van Der Sterren. Paul covers the major openings, along with the ideas behind each move. He even covers some history on openings. It's just fun to read.

I like it just as much as a three volume set on opening theory,  "Mastering the Chess Openings" by John Watson. Watson covers a lot of positional chess, thinking about it now.

What discourages me from studying more than a few moves in any opening that I wish to play is the simple fact that opponents in the 1000's, like me, don't know much past a few moves in any opening, so most of my games go out of book after my 4th or 5th move. 

As a Diamond member don't forget you have unlimited access to TT, CHESS MENTOR (highly recommended), VIDEOS (many of which are good for beginners and intermediate players) and articles (so does everyone else) again many of which are written for beginners and intermediate level players.

I would suggest to anyone learning chess openings go to Thechesswebsite and you will find videos explaning the basics of various chess openings.

There is a lot on that website for anybody and especially players who want to know some basics about various openings.

No, if you don't already know Grunfeld theory 20 moves deep then you are hopeless.

Just kidding, knowing opening theory is totally unnecessary.

The strategy book that helped me improve is Winning Chess Strategy by Seirawan. I also read Planning by Mc Donald,Winning Chess Brilliancies by Seirawan and ABC of Chess by Pandolfini..These are my strategy books many years ago..