I think elementary tactics are a little more important to chess than a single random bit-twiddling hack is to programming. Not having a basic grasp of tactics a

I think elementary tactics are a little more important to chess than a single random bit-twiddling hack is to programming. Not having a basic grasp of tactics and missing simple forks, pins, etc. is really only going to give you a game that's slightly beyond "not hanging pieces". Anyone good enough to light you up tactically probably also knows at least the Cliff's Notes version of positional play and is not going to develop knights to a3, block their bishops behind an idiotic wall of pawns, or set up a nice doubled isolated pawns for you to murder. A balanced approach from the start is reasonable.