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Normal Topic Technical, strategical or tactical? (Read 2891 times)
Stigma
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Re: Technical, strategical or tactical?
Reply #2 - 10/29/18 at 15:34:21
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I think it's a good idea to mix it up here: Study some endgame tactics, then some theory (these often blend into each other anyway), then some strategy, tactics again, etc., and repeat the material now and then.

If I had to choose one though, I agree with dfan and say endgame tactics. That's a seriously underrated chess skill in general, and many points are won and lost there in otherwise close games.

The mistake many people make is they automatically think endgame study = techincal endgames, study a bit of that from some large endgame bible, get bored with it and then stop. Most players would do well to memorize only the technical endgames up to their own rating level in Silman's endgame manual and otherwise concentrating on tactics and strategy instead, especially if they find that more fun anyway.
  

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dfan
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Re: Technical, strategical or tactical?
Reply #1 - 10/29/18 at 14:25:36
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I guess it depends what your current rating and set of strengths are, but for an intermediate player I would say endgame tactics. I don't think the "90% of chess is tactics" slogan becomes much less true in the endgame. (To make a concrete recommendation, Van Perlo's Endgame Tactics is a very entertaining survey of a whole slew of endgame tactics.)

Lots of people don't have much conception of endgame strategy until they reach 2000 or something, and although you absolutely need some technique, like knowing when and how K+P beat K, you can play a lot of games sub-2000 without the Lucena or Philidor positions coming up. But endgame tactics come up every time you play an endgame.
  
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buddho
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Technical, strategical or tactical?
10/29/18 at 13:35:18
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If you wanted to choose one area of study to improve your playing strength asap, which would it be - Endgame Strategy, Endgame tactics or technical endgames?
  
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