Player Types - The Pragmatic

by Arne Kaehler
2/13/2022 – The Grandmasters Dr. Karsten Mueller and Luis Engel have set a ball rolling in Germany with their latest Fritztrainer. GM Lars Bo Hansen designed the four-player model in 2005, and was perhaps ahead of his time. In the 5-part interview with Dr. Karsten Mueller, all four player types are discussed in detail. Today - The Pragmatic.

The 4 Player Types standard model - Find your strengths and weaknesses and those of your opponent The 4 Player Types standard model - Find your strengths and weaknesses and those of your opponent

Playing styles in chess are an important and thus often discussed topic. GM Dr. Karsten Müller and GM Luis Engel take up a model by GM Lars Bo Hansen based on 4 player types - namely ‘activists’, ‘pragmatics’, ‘theoreticians’ and so-called ‘reflectors’.

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The 4 Player Types standard model

by Dr. Karsten Mueller and Luis Engel

Some chess players love to attack, others prefer a solid defence. Some know all the opening theory and others play purely by intuition/recognition. But can we all agree that there is no perfect way to play chess yet?

Every type of player has their strengths and weaknesses.

Namely:

  • The activist (Aronian, Kasparov, Polgar, Tal)
  • The reflector (Carlsen, Capablanca, Karpov, Keymer)
  • The pragmatic (Caruana, Fischer, Euwe, Korchnoi)
  • The theorist (Giri, Steinitz, Botvinnik, Kramnik)

GM Karsten Müller and GM Luis Engel spent a lot of time defining the model of the four player types, wrote a book and developed the Fritztrainer, which is very popular in Germany. 

In this five-part interview series with one of the authors, Dr Karsten Mueller, we take a more in-depth look at all four player types and summarize some open questions in the last part.

The Pragmatic

 
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24...Rbe4 25.Bb5 Qc5 26.Bxf6 Re1+ 27.Kh2 Rxd1 28.Bxe8 Rxd5 29.Be5 Rxe5 30.Qxf7+ Kh8 31.Bd7 Qe7 32.Qf4 Qf6 33.Qd2 b5 34.Bg4 h5 35.Bd1 h4 36.Bg4 Re8 37.gxh4 Qxh4 38.Kg2 Qe7 39.Bf3 Rd8 40.Qf4 Qf6 41.Qg4 g6 42.Qe4 Qg5+ 43.Kf1 a5 44.h4 Qf5 45.Qc6 Rf8 46.Qc3+ Kh7 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ponomariov,R2751Caruana,F27790–12013B40Kings Tournament 7th8
 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.Re1 e6 7.c3 b5 8.a4 c4 9.Bf1 Bb7 10.axb5 axb5 11.Rxa8 Bxa8 12.d3 Be7 13.Na3 0-0 14.b4 Qb8 15.dxc4 bxc4 16.Nd2 d5 17.exd5 Nxd5 18.Qc2 Bf6 19.Bb2 Ne5 20.Naxc4 Rc8 21.h3 Nf4 22.Ne3 Rd8 23.Be2 Qb7 24.Nf3 Nxg2 25.Nxg2 Nxf3+ 26.Bxf3 Qxf3 27.Kf1 Qxg2+ 28.Ke2 Bf3+ 29.Ke3 Bg5# 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Svane,F2342Engel,L25120–12019B51GER-ch 37th2

The 4 Player Types standard model - Find your strengths and weaknesses and those of your opponent

Playing styles in chess are an important and thus often discussed topic. GM Dr. Karsten Müller and GM Luis Engel take up a model by GM Lars Bo Hansen based on 4 player types - namely ‘activists’, ‘pragmatics’, ‘theoreticians’ and so-called ‘reflectors’.

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Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.

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