How do you define ‘positional chess’?

I’m not sure what to make of this term ;). Any thoughts are welcome.

It's like chess played by positional players :)

#2 Very helpful hehe...

Check out this article, which addresses the issue, as well as illustrating using a game by Karpov:
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-play-positional-chess

Just watch a few games from Karpov. He usually thinks what is the best square for the pieces and then put the pieces in there.

@icarusrising9 Thnx for sharing!

@Shazyes I will :)

In positional chess the focus lies on slowly improving the pawn structure and the pieces. In tactical chess the time is a more relevant factor. Often material gets sacrificed. Usually tactical chess gets prepared by positional chess.

Positional goals can be reached using tactics. Whole setups can rely on it. For example Kings Indian or Ruy Lopez Closed rely on the tactic that white can not win the e5-pawn. Or Queen's Gambit relies on the tactic that black can not win the c-pawn.

In many games there are situations where play suddenly switches from positional to tactical play and then back. Detecting these situations is called "feeling the momentum". This is something which usually takes a while until a player develops it, except he is very talented.

This is a game I played, which would consider mainly positional chess. Before it got concrete with g5-g4 i first slowly improved all my pieces, including the king:

And this is a game which I would consider mainly tactical chess. There was no time to win back rooks, it was all about attacking the king as quickly as possible:

This is a game which starts positional but at the end also gets tactical. In that game I felt the momentum after his weak 33.Qg2? and opened the position with 33...g5, switching from positional to tactical play. I didn't calculate it, but I knew that my pieces are so well-placed (including my Bb8, into which I invested much love before), that this would decide the game, even if I lose my b-pawn:

@Tae7
Maybe this game Karpov - Spassky will give you an idea. ;)
I've read that GM Seirawan was very impressed by this game.
h ttps://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067812
Has user comments including Timman annotations quoted.

reductio ad absurdum, when the game is not tactical
You can still have problems knowing when the game
is tactical but its a much easier question, as usual It's
a rule of thumb.

A definition I found, positional play :
Play based on strategy, on gaining and exploiting small advantages, and on analyzing the larger position, rather than calculating the more immediate tactics.