SC Week 1/5: Positional chess can be tactical chess

 "The moral behind this trilogy of games should be clear: Look after your pawns and your pieces will look after themselves."

Michael Stean

Positional chess doesn’t mean you can forget calculation.

In his recent interview on Perpetual Chess* Keith Arkell said he calculated an awful lot just to make sure his apparently 'simple' positional plans worked.

We can use Simple Chess to get in some tactics practice along with the positional lessons. You can pick any position that appeals to you but from the Introduction chapter I would suggest

18 Bg5 from Botvinnik - Szilyagi

12 b4 from Petrosian - Portisch

and

20 f4 from Adorjan - Mukhin

as great options.

Spend today's 15 minutes having a good look at one of those and comparing your analysis with Stean's notes.

* There’s a good reason why I’m constantly referencing this excellent podcast