2. Strategic Thinking
There are two concepts that all chess players must understand from the start; strategy and tactics. Beginners often confuse the two. Simply put, when we employ a strategy in chess, we are examining a game position in general terms and working out a plan to deal with the overall problem at hand. From a strategic problem comes a tactical solution. A tactic is the actual method we employ to bring our plan into being.
So a strategy can be thought as our plan of action while a tactic is the actual plan in action. Strategic thinking looks at the “big picture.” Once you see the “big picture,” it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get down to business, resolving the strategic problem with a fist full of tactics. Einstein was a strategic thinker, calculating the variable of a problem, while Clint Eastwood portraying Dirty Harry would be a tactician, blasting away at the problem.

4. Tactics are easy to learn because they employ pattern recognition
Tactics are easy to learn because they employ pattern recognition. Tactics are visual in nature. The chess player uses pattern recognition and is taught to look for specific piece/board patterns such as an opponent placing his or her Queen in front of their King on an open rank, file or diagonal. The opposition’s Queen can then become pinned to her King should the tactician notice this great tactical opportunity.
You can think of the difference between tactics and strategy as the difference between linear and non-linear mathematics, one plus one will always equal two. In non-linear math, one plus one doesn’t always equal two. Strategy requires a more abstract, big picture view of the situation at hand, in this case a chess game.

5. To help you differentiate between tactics and strategy, we’ll consider tactical thinking first:
If you’re looking at your own pawns and pieces, determining which are protected and which are not, you’re thinking tactically. Tactical thinking tends to require immediate action, such as having to protect an unprotected pawn or piece. If you’re looking for checks, mates, forks, pins or skewers, you’re thinking tactically. Again, if you see a great tactical play, you’re going to take action immediately. If you’re trying to calculate the end result of an exchange, you’re thinking tactically. Tactical thinking means taking action (not simply thinking about it).
On the other side of the coin, if you’re counting material to determine who has an advantage, you’re thinking strategically. If you’re thinking about attacking versus defending, you guessed it, you’re thinking strategically. Action will not be immediate as the case with tactical thinking.

6. There are three simple concepts that will help you understand strategic thinking or strategy, and those are material, safety and freedom. It should be noted that these three concepts or ideas are part of the “bigger picture” or positional overview. Think of the difference between strategic and tactical thinking as viewing a painting in a museum. With strategic thinking, you’re taking in the entire painting, examining it as a whole (seeing everything at once), where with tactical thinking, you’re examining the painting on e more detailed level, such as brush strokes or color relationships. Tactical thinking requires that you zero in on a specific issue and resolve it through action. Strategic thinking requires that you identify the overall problems before any action is taken. Let’s look at stategic thinking with an examination of material.

7. When we talk about material, we are talking about both player’s pawns and pieces. If we want to know which player has more material, we simply count each side’s captured pawns and pieces. Of course the pawns and pieces have been assigned a relative numeric value based on the pawn or piece’s power. The pawn, who is limited in power, is on the bottom rung of the value ladder and is worth one point. The Queen, the strongest piece in either side’s army is on the top rung of our ladder and is worth nine points. Knights and Bishops are worth approximately three points while Rooks are worth five points 5 3 3 9 3 3 5 = 31
8 x 1 = 8 31 +8 39

8. Being able to compare the relative strength of both side’s pawns and pieces allows a player to assess a position from a strategic viewpoint. If you know you’re down a substantial amount of material, you’ll plan accordingly, avoiding the execution of any attacks that might cost you what little material you have left. If your ahead in material, you might be apt to launch a more aggressive attack.
Safety is another important consideration. When I say safety, I’m speaking of your King’s safety. Castling is a critical factor in any game. Most beginners who don’t castle their king to safety end up losing their games. So how does castling you King to safety and the concept of strategy fit together?
Here’s how:

9. To castle your King you have to move two minor pieces on the King-side or two minor pieces and your Queen on the Queen-side.

10. In order to castle you must meet these requirements:
You also cannot have moved your King or the Rook (on the side you intend to castle on) prior to castling.
You can’t move through check with your King when castling.
In short, you have to meet specific condition in order to castle. Your opponent know this and will do his or her best to keep you from having a chance to castle. This means you have to be on lookout for possible attacks, checks, etc. Therefore, if you plan on castling, you have to use strategic thinking from the start. Following the opening principles, we know that we place a pawn in the center of the board (1. e4…e5). Moving the e pawn to e4 allows White to bring the King-side Bishop into the game. White might follow up with 2. Nf3 then 3. Bc4.
This is big picture thinking: White knows he or she needs to castle so a strategy is put into place to castle. Your plan to castle is strategic in nature.

11. Always think at least three moves ahead.
The concept of Freedom is really the concept of piece activity. Beginners often have a hard time with developing their pawns and pieces to active squares. They often think that a pawn is finished in its development after a single move. However, pieces can be further developed to move active squares. An actively developed piece finds itself on a square that controls a large number of other squares on the board, especially squares on the opponent’s side of the board. Therefore, you should always look to see if you can further develop a piece to an even more active square. Piece activity is strategic in nature rather than tactical because you’re looking at the piece in question and comparing it to the other pieces on the board. You’re looking at the big picture.
REMEMBER
Always think at least three moves ahead.