So, now I'm not really good at tactics but I, at least, see my opponent's tricks (if they are rated below 1200) and sometimes I even made combinations I was proud of (sort of, it's still beginner's game).
But my main weakness is positional. Often, I react after a move, and I make a bad decision ; and often, it costs me the game. My feeling is, I can do thousands tactics puzzles a day, if I don't understand how to KEEP a functional position along the game, I won't improve.
People said me that I should buy this book, and this book, and this book. So now if I listened to them, I would have dozens of chess books and would still be asking you ! When I see "F5" I'm like : "there. oh no, it was E. Oh, it was there. Crap, it was 6." (Really I'm a little bit better than that, but it was just for explaining that a chess book is really, really, tough for me, for now.)
I feel that without a better positional play, I miss the anchor of all I could learn ; I feel if I don't improve my positional understanding, I can't improve my chess. If I do, it will be the basis for everything else :)
And obviously, there is a lot of information on Internet. I mean, a lot, huge loads of information, everywhere. And I'm kinda lost, so this why I ask, thing I never do usually.
Control the center.
Make your pieces better; place them on the best squares.
Make your opponents pieces worse; restrict them
Trade your bad pieces off, and try to exchange your opponents good pieces.
Easy as that you have a better position, and you can pressure your opponent intil he cant stand it anymore.
Try to keep your pawns on adjacent files.
Try to avoid having two or more pawns on the same file.
Try to protect your pawns with other pawns.
Try to rock.
Try to have an empty back rank to connect your rooks.
Try to put your rooks on open or semi-open files (one or no pawn on the file).
Try to put your knight on a square where he won't be threatened : protected by a pawn, on a file between two files where you opponent hasn't got any pawn, and on the opposite color of your opponent's sole bishop, if only one bishop he has.
Try to put your bishops on open diagonals.
Try to protect your bishop with a pawn, it can be horrible to deal with without a knight or a bishop of the same color for the opponent.
Here's an idea: read some books on positional play, in particular My System. That alone has helped bolster my positional play a lot. It's late so I won't go into detail but I'd reccomend you check it out regardless: it's chess classic.
If you want exposure to how people think about concepts like the ones mentioned above I'd suggest watching some annotated games on YouTube. Good commentators mention all these things in passing and you'll get a sense for how to apply these principles. Kingscrusher and John Bartholomew have very nice channels. I'll include links below.
I also feel that I'm deriving a lot of insight from watching the St. Louis Chess Club's live commentary on the games being played in Norway. Alejandro Ramirez has very clear and insightful commentary to make.
www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hOVYvNn79Sl1Fc1vx2mYAwww.youtube.com/user/kingscrusherwww.youtube.com/user/STLChessClubAfter watching 2000 annotated games you will linking #3 with how to do it and what the exceptions are. How far can you reach depends on how young you start and much you hate to lose.
Agree wholeheartedly with #4. My System is the absolute backbone of positional chess.
Aron Nimzovich's principles of good positional play are still essentially at the heart of top level play (yes, even the most dynamic players utilize his strategies in order to generate positions that allow for their wizardly tactics!) and understanding his concepts will help you at all stages of the game from opening to endgame.
If you don't like books, there is a strong player that did a youtube series that will help you visualize the illustrated concepts without getting lost in the diagrams and (probably very outdated) algebraic notation.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLrNC9Rskww&list=PLW-ubDuosu7UKDXI6KF7XIMdzaStaVEILThank you. In fact I didn't notice that one thing that makes learning difficult for me is the virtual chessboard. I switched otb, and the annotated games I re played on Scid feel like a whole world instead of squares and diagrams. I think I have to find a good balance between online and otb, because online is very useful, but it mess with my head if I eat too much information.
I'll get My System, it seems it's a real basis that all chess player must have so let's go Nimzo. Do you know good annotated games of him (I mean, with good annotations, not endless lists of personal views and moves) ?
Also I could mention Jerry aka ChessNetwork, he explains basic strategical principles very discreetly. Lichess has some of his videos. Or you can go directly to his youtube channel:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCCDOQrpqLqKVcTCKzqarxLg