More current examples of Tactical and Positional players.
Positional: Anand, Aronian, Carlsen
Tactical: Rapport, Topalov, Jobava, Nakamura
Go check out their games in a database and you will get an idea.
Or watch some videos on YT about their most brilliant games, usually provided with annotations by very strong, contemporary players. You might get more out of that. :)
e4 e5 open games,
Forget about the positional vs tactical style and focus on the non blunder style, if You are a beginner which I think You are since You ve been playing only one year then u ll have plenty of holes in ur game as most of us, so experiment and play all type of positions and play whats comfortable to you, switch and do not worry too much.
This is a standart question on chess forums, which opening to play and they always say that until you reach a high level it almost does not matter, push pawns, play gambits, fianchetto, whatever u like, just play the game.
If you review, analyze your games It is quite unlikely that the opening was the decisive part of the game, probably it is the middlegame and the endgame when you reach it.
Because I have asked myself the same, whether I am tactical or positional and no, I am neither, to have a style you have to be good first.
But maybe you are right, maybe you have a temperament even if you blunder because it is not the same to blunder because you are too passive, get cramped etc than if you are overagressive and get your queen trapped.
Unfortunately nobody can tell your style, its only you who can find it, unless you get a coach to review your games.
For example I like now messy chess thats why I play 960
and It works for me, when Im tired I might play slav or something solid, more stable without too much calculation.
I agree with motion.
Don't worry about openings yet. The study time you're trying to focus should be spent on finding the mistakes you make, and taking steps to remove them.
Play games, go over them with an engine or stronger player, understand why you made the mistakes, and depending on why you played the mistake, figure out a way to prevent it from happening again.
The only real consideration as far as style and openings go is what sort of position you enjoy. If you enjoy playing a certain sort of position, then by all means, pick openings that result in that sort of position.
In that respect, choosing an opening is a lot like choosing a diet. Most of them work, the question is just what you'll stick with. If you hate a diet or opening, no matter how biologically/chessically sound it is, you'll probably just give up chess or stagnate. Play some lines you enjoy, and ruthlessly eliminate the mistakes you make.
It's that simple, and that hard :)
Eat tactics heartily while sprinkling hot sauce throughout your A-game. Drop hammers of awesomeness into your preparation by studying the likes of Tal and Shirov. Cement yourself with crushing examples of beef sirloin by roasting up the anvils of Karpov and Petrosian. Study the greats and you'll learn why they played the moves they did. You'll get a feel for the openings they played. Mayhap you'll pick one or two up along the way. Always remember... Louisana makes some kicking .99 cent hot sauce and Sweet Baby Ray's is downright delightful!
Study openings to gain insight about opening systems so that you are comfortable in any opening, then if and only if you want to get into competitive play, start studying those silly theoretical preparations.
Why do I say this? Well because having deep theoretical preparation in a few lines of a few openings doesn't help you at all when your opponent veers off from the 'right' continuation. In fact, it becomes detrimental to you, especially if you start pushing pieces down your memorized plan not understanding the reason as to why they are played in that opening.
The best plan for opening study at any beginning or intermediate level is to study opening systems. Learn the basic character of popular openings. Every opening has its own sort of personality. Learn why certain moves are played when they are played. Learn the bigger picture...what is White's plan in this opening? What is Black's plan? From there, play the opening in depth with people. Let them play all their weird side lines. Try to figure out what the best plan is. Make mistakes, lose games, and build experience.
I don't know what to think about quiz results mentioned earlier but seems that there could be some truth :)
I checked your games and my fast evaluation / feeling from those is that you tend to like active action! You are going for the center and developing pieces actively and aggressively. You are not playing your pieces back. Forward only :)
No matter if you win or lose it is mainly because that activity seeking. Almost every blunder you make is because you overlook something and just try to make your pieces active.
Your blunders are pretty easy one-two move tactics.
So my plan for you would be :
1. Do easy tactical training, something 1000-1300 rated problems, even if you think those are easy and you are solving those in 10sec I think there will be huge progress in your game very fast. With this you are starting to see easy tactics / two-three moves ahead in not time. Your eyes are getting used to it. Also your active style tends to create a lot of chances for two-three tactics so this training supports your style and playing strength.
2. About openings I think you should keep going active rather than manouvering pieces with strategic intentions. Go for the center, open position, active play and pieces.
For white : e4 is for sure a good choice. With 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 I think you could try Scotch 3. d4. Open up, develop and be active - you would probably do good.
For black you have to hold your aggression a little bit since you are move down but plan remains the same. Sicilian is a good choice and it is useful for rest of your chess playing career.
for 1. d4 if I would go something like grunfeld repertoire. 1. ...Nf6 2. ...g6 3. ...d5
After that just bishop to g7 0-0 and strike the pressure in the center with c5, Nc6, e5 etc. Active play!
I have to add that in the stage your gaming lvl is gaining ability to see two-three moves ahead fast / immediately is going to affect most - whatever opening you play.
It is good thing to try things out and play many different kind of openings however I really think that active play is your natural way to go.
Main reason you are losing games right now is not because of your opening selection.
Have fun training and playing !
I know I am bumping the post, but I wanted to thank all of you for helping me out. I was surprised with the detail and accuracy of your answers. Combining all of your advice, I will focus more on removing the errors in my hand and experiment. However, I will pursue an active play style and learn to see 2-3 moves ahead. Thanks again for the help! :]
The personality test referred to me as a grinder, akin to Karpov (I wish) and that my favoured openings should be Queen's Gambit as white and Caro-Kann as black. That's news to me!
I wonder how that test actually works, since everyone seems to think it's flawed. I wonder how they designed it. I haven't taken it yet.