# Definite difference between "tactics" and "strategy"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2003, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definite-difference-between-tactics-and-strategy/158741 "2003-03-03T10:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definite-difference-between-tactics-and-strategy/158741/21 "2003-03-04T02:50:53Z")
Lots of good explanations here, tackling the question from various points of view, but **micco** ’s wins the prize for all-around best explanation. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definite-difference-between-tactics-and-strategy/158741/22 "2003-03-04T05:34:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \* > So this author states in one breath that development (necessary for piece mobility), center control, and pawn structure are tactical, but in the next breath states that those are strategic elements. I don’t see that it is stated those are specifically tactical. Actually I thought the development was quite honest, though it is biased towards go. Chess is primarily tactics. Strong tactics dominate a chess game, very little strategy is needed. But it is needed. No one will deny that. > [@](#): > > Don’t wish to contradict the great masters who have opined otherwise, but without a strategy you are not going to win many chess games. Absolutely. > [@](#): > > For example, Black’s strategy in the Sicilian Defence is to acquire the half-open c-file. How he or she accomplishes this involves tactics. Indeed. ---
**Author:** ![djbdjb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definite-difference-between-tactics-and-strategy/158741/23 "2003-03-04T08:22:39Z")
This thread reminded me of a long-running debate I have had with some friends about strategy in various [sports](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=167129). The way I have used “strategy” in that article is like this: Strategy is the set of conditional plans you have based on the actions of an opponent who seeks to thwart you. Tactics would be the normal practices you take to accomplish your goal. Thus, in golf, hitting with the head of the club, and not the shaft would be a tactic, a thunderingly obvious one. An only slightly less obvious one would be to use a 9 iron when 120 yds away from the hole instead of a driver. I contend (surprisingly?) that there are no strategic actions you take in a golf game. Backgammon is a strategic game, until the runners are no longer in contact. After that, the moves you would make with a given roll to bear off all men in a minimum number of rolls would be a tactic. A plan or a goal is not a strategy. A conditional plan is not enough to be a strategy: Saying “if it is raining tomorrow I will wear X and take my umbrella to work whereas if it is sunny I will wear shorts” is not a strategy, because Nature is not chosing what the weather will be based on what actions you take. In this sense, I think the things that in chess are usually called tactics are “short-term strategems”. What we call these in chess are not nearly as important to me as defining the notion of strategy, of which I claim Marathon racing has none! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definite-difference-between-tactics-and-strategy/158741/24 "2003-03-04T12:38:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by erislover \* > I don’t see that it is stated those are specifically tactical. Actually I thought the development was quite honest, though it is biased towards go. Chess is primarily tactics. Strong tactics dominate a chess game, very little strategy is needed. But it is needed. No one will deny that. I don’t agree that chess is primarily tactics. I have seen (and played) winning games where no tactic was ever used. One side just built up an overwhelming attack, or dominated the white squares, or reached an ending of knight v bad bishop etc. I accept that the definitions of ‘strategy’ and ‘tactics’ may be slightly different in chess from war and from marketing. P.S. There’s a lot more to the Sicilan defence than acquiring the half-open c-file. Consider the last game in Deep Junior - Kasparov, where Garry sacrifices a rook on the c-file for a knight. How would he contest any file with one rook v two? He wanted central control, which (if any one thing is) is the point of the Sicilian. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definite-difference-between-tactics-and-strategy/158741/25 "2003-03-04T12:42:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by djbdjb \* > The way I have used “strategy” in that article is like this: > Strategy is the set of conditional plans you have based on the actions of an opponent who seeks to thwart you. > > Tactics would be the normal practices you take to accomplish your goal. Why do you need an opponent? Coping with the weather involves a strategy. And why can’t a tactic be unusual? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by djbdjb \* > Thus, in golf, hitting with the head of the club, and not the shaft would be a tactic, a thunderingly obvious one. An only slightly less obvious one would be to use a 9 iron when 120 yds away from the hole instead of a driver. I contend (surprisingly?) that there are no strategic actions you take in a golf game. Isn’t laying up rather than trying to cross an obstacle an example of strategy in golf? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definite-difference-between-tactics-and-strategy/158741/26 "2003-03-04T17:22:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enola Straight \* > \*\*Strategies are plans. > Tactics are reactions to someone else’s plans. \*\* Can’t agree with that at all. There’s nothing inherently reactionary about tactics. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/definite-difference-between-tactics-and-strategy/158741.md?page=1)