user109: In the following Wikipedia biography on Gary Kasparov, I read the following:

From age 7, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at 10 began training at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school under noted coach Vladimir Makogonov. Makogonov helped develop Kasparov's positional skills and taught him to play the Caro-Kann Defence and the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

This got me thinking: does the Caro-Kann or the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined help with positional skills or was this probably due more to the fact that Makogonov was familiar with it?

user8066: I think that playing slower, more 'positional' defenses like the Caro Kann and Tartakower System of the QGD absolutely do help develop positional skills, but of course those are two openings out of many.

user41: Based on the sentence syntax I don't believe that the author is intending to make a connection between the mentioned opening systems and positional skills. Every strong player must have good positional skills and must also be a good tactician. You could not become a world class player without both.
Both of these openings do have strong positional ideas and Makogonov (who would be classed as "positional") played them both. So it is likely that he taught them because he believed that they were instructive and because he was familiar with them. 

109: <p>In the following <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> biography on Gary Kasparov, I read the following:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>From age 7, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at 10 began training at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school under noted coach Vladimir Makogonov. Makogonov helped develop Kasparov's positional skills and taught him to play the Caro-Kann Defence and the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This got me thinking: does the Caro-Kann or the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined help with positional skills or was this probably due more to the fact that Makogonov was familiar with it?</p>
 8066: <p>I think that playing slower, more 'positional' defenses like the Caro Kann and Tartakower System of the QGD absolutely do help develop positional skills, but of course those are two openings out of many.</p>
 41: <p>Based on the sentence syntax I don't believe that the author is intending to make a connection between the mentioned opening systems and positional skills. Every strong player must have good positional skills and must also be a good tactician. You could not become a world class player without both.</p>

<p>Both of these openings do have strong positional ideas and Makogonov (who would be classed as "positional") played them both. So it is likely that he taught them because he believed that they were instructive and because he was familiar with them. </p>
