I was talking to some guys today at school how chess is about 90% tactics. They agrued this saying that this is completly wrong because tactics and strategys are the same... He further placed a bet of $50 on about if tactics and strategys are the same thing. They said to me that a thesaures says they are the same.. Can someone give me sufficent evidents so I can prove them wrong??? Cheers

They are not the same.

Strategy is concerned with things like pawn structures; bishop colours;open and closed games.

Tactics are sequences of moves maybe as little as two or as many as five or six, with the aim of deliovering mate; winning a piece; disturbing a pawn structure etc.

As you can see tactics can be part of a strategy...ie can assist you in your strategy, or disturb your opponent in his. But a strategy cannot be part of a tactic.

Google "tactical weapons" and "strategic weapons" to see the distinction does not just apply to chess.

Definitely NOT the same.

Furthermore, if you only study tacticsvand neglect other parts of your game, your improvement will slow considerably or stall out, and not at a high level.

I have explain all these things with backup referiences but still the 'guy' won't execpt any of it. He says it a synounmy in a thresaurce on the internet but that site also states it can be confused with a tactic. He doesn't play chess so how can I prove my point in a normal persons (LOL jks) view. [With evidence if possible] Cheers

You are better at chess than 'them' (meaning you would know more), that is all the fact you need but if you really want suffiecient evidence go to any chess site and look up that topic.

For example:

http://www.chessfornovices.com/chessstrategyvstactics.html

You can even use this forum as proof to say that tactics and strategy are not the same in chess (but they are related). Just please don't mention the critism 'they' will give to me when they realise that I am against them.

I showed them this site but I guess they are just stubburn.. Thanks anyways

Strategy is one's overall plan; for example, to control the centre, to place rooks on the seventh rank, etc. Tactics is how one would go about this; for example, by sacrificing a piece, by attempting to control a key square, etc. If the chap is in any doubt, then refer him to the Oxford English Dictionary. You can't get a more definitive source than that!

Wow... Just wow...

Anyway, these aren't definitions but they might help:

Strategise is what you do when there is nothing to do, play out tactics is what you do when there is.

A strategy is a plan, a tactic is a specific detail of a plan.

Chess has nothing to do with this. The words have different definitions. Dictionaries define words (admittedly, very poorly), not thesauruses. Why are you using a thesaures to make your point? By doing so you're only playing into their hands.

No there using a thesaures to prove there point. I know and have done all the research but still have not found how to make these kids know. Anyways cheers :)

Tactics

A tactic is a short sequence of moves, usually involving an attack or capture, that attempts to make an immediate tangible gain. Tactics are the first thing you look for when considering any move. The common tactics have been given names to distinguish them. Some of the most common ones are:

• Forks
• Pins
• Skewers
• Discovered Attacks
• Removing the Guard

 

Strategy

When you aren't able to take advantage of a tactic, you turn to strategy. A strategy is a long term plan or idea. It is usually based on positional considerations, rather than attacks and captures. Some of the common positional elements that form the basis for strategy are:

• Piece Mobility
• Piece Safety
• King Safety
• Pawn Structure

Tactics and strategy are intertwined with one another. Strategic moves often have the objective of setting up future tactical maneuvers, and vise versa.

For the novice player, tactics is by far the more important consideration. Almost all games below the master level are won and lost through tactical mistakes. This thought should guide the study of the improving player. If you want to improve fast, study tactics!

Great comment Diakonia! Strategy is a plan not a tactic at all. At the beginning of the game, we have ideas of what we would like to see happen in the game. This is where positional moves are made to create the foundation to see our plans to fruition. During the game there may be opportunities to gain a material advantage due to innacuracies made by either side. Then to capitalize on the mistake you must see the forcing moves to improve your position. The word tactic should be understood to mean a series of forcing moves to increase your advantage. There is nothing immediate or forcing about a strategy, but that it creates the foundation for future tactical possibilities.

Strategy is the plan you use to explain why you win, after the battle.

Tactics are the moves you use when you have no strategy,99% of cases.

And generally strategy is used by soldiers to justify a posteriori big mistakes, true. When something seems doubtful, no one understands why these decisions, it is because "it is strategic" (look serious and important to say that sentence). 

Then use what they consider their stregnth against them. Look up a few everyday words in the exact thesaurus that they're using and show them just how ridiculous half of the suggestions are. The internet is suggesting to me that if you search for example the word "house" a thesaurus may come up with "synonyms" such as "kennel", "cave", "pigsty", "box" etc.. Any search will be similar. Even ask them to come up with some words and show them.

Tell them that those words are just as as synonymous as "tactic" and "strategy".

?

In real life rather than mere games of strategy, like chess, go, Othello, etc.. . . first comes studying and planning and training! Later on, one encounters strategy and tactics. Strategy is to tactics in Chess and War . . .as automobile engineering, logistics, pit crew preparation and training; and race plan are to individual racing maneuvers, chosen speed, gas mi!eage adjustments, drafting etc.in driving the Indianapolis 500.

Strategy then is the big picture decisions and actions that can change as time and circumstance change. For example, the general strategy in the Chess openings (moves 1 -12) is to move both center pawns; develop the minor pieces; control and/or occupy the center quadrant and sweet-center; 98% of the time to castle the King to relative safety; and ultimately connect the rooks. Thus you arrive at a palatable/playable middlegame. However IF a chance to win a piece or even a pawn arises --or God be praised to checkmate . . .we'd all take it. By the same token, IF a trade or threat or even a stronger more violent move can help you augment your opening position or weaken your opponent''s set-up --that's a piece of tactical wizardry we'd also jump at.

The key to tactics is to think of all the moves involved in the "combination" as one big single move regardless of how long. How does this happen?? It's because of forcing moves: violent attacking forays involving checks, captures, threats, double- attacks, multiple-attacks (via queen- or knight-forks) uncovered attacks, double checks, threats to promote a pawn or checkmate . . . or even threats to threaten to do these things.

For example in the famous movie about high-caliber kids' chess (Searching for Bobby Fischer), the climax of the movie occurs when the protagonist Joshua Waitzkin stops in the middle of a 12-13 move combination (TACTIC) to offer his hand to a close friend Morgan offering a draw and for them both to share the elementary national championship with 6 1/2 - 6 1/2 scores in the seven round tournament. Morgan is more brilliant but not the more experienced endgame player and he declines the draw seeing that he will queen a PAWN earliest (typically the result of better strategy -- and endgames are most often about strategy) but at the end of the strategy in this case lies a little drop of poison as Waitzkin queens his PAWN with utter violence giving check with an X-ray attack (in this case the "skewer" drives directly through Morgan's King into his newly promoted queen winning it on the next move so Morgan resigns (great DVD)! Josh later puts his arm around Morgan's shoulders as they leave the tournament hall, saying, "You're a much stronger player than I was at your age, Morgan!". One of those common situations where a great strategic game apparently highlighted by brilliant tactics to win, was instead lost to a more clever TRAP (desperation TACTIC) just a bit further down the line.

If you want to improve your tactics . . . get good at strategics: creating positional advantages. When I had scholastic chess teams, my favorite book for coaching beginners on how positional advantages create tactical opportunities was Bruce Pandolfini's Weapons of Chess. Pandolfini was Josh's chess coach for a long while.

So . . . use strong strategy to create versatile and potent positions. Then make moves that render your position and your Pieces and Pawns as strong as possible; while leaving your opponent's men as impotent as you can!

Good luck!!