tactic: a sequence of moves, almost always short and usually forced with a clear outcome in the short term.
strategy: a sequence of unforced moves designed to create a non-material advantage with no immediately clear outcome.
A tactic is something like pinning a piece and quickly bringing additional pieces to attack that piece in an effort to win a material advantage. The material advantage is an immediate and clear outcome.
A strategy is something like using a pawn structure to gain space. There is no immediately obvious advantage to gaining space, but the added flexibility will often enable (unforseen) material gains later in the match.
Comments
Here's how I think about it in chess -
tactic: a sequence of moves, almost always short and usually forced with a clear outcome in the short term.
strategy: a sequence of unforced moves designed to create a non-material advantage with no immediately clear outcome.
A tactic is something like pinning a piece and quickly bringing additional pieces to attack that piece in an effort to win a material advantage. The material advantage is an immediate and clear outcome.
A strategy is something like using a pawn structure to gain space. There is no immediately obvious advantage to gaining space, but the added flexibility will often enable (unforseen) material gains later in the match.