Main Entry: 1taut
Pronunciation: \ˈtȯt\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English tought, perhaps from tought, toughth fierce, tough, alteration of tough tough
Date: 14th century
1 a : having no give or slack : tightly drawn <a taut rope> b : high-strung, tense <taut nerves>
2 a : kept in proper order or condition <a taut ship> b (1) : not loose or flabby <taut muscles> (2) : marked by economy of structure and detail <a taut story>
— taut·ly adverb
— taut·ness noun
Though the word taut can mean there might be some tension that is not necessarily the case.
This would all be more interesting if you could actually adjust the chains to have no slack without tenstion. Over the ten years I've had my 170 I'll bet I've rerigged the tailwheel 20 times. New main spring arch, new tension springs, new chain, with shackes, without shackes at the rudder horn, using eye bolts i.e. the Scott diagram, using shackes with the eye bolts. I have even messaged the chain links to lengthen them or shorten them in an attempt to get the illusive NO SLACK but NO TENSION but it is virtually impossible to achieve.
And so for most of the ten years my chains were just a pinch loose. Which of course is not one of the options given on any instructions. I've found it to work as well as the few times I'd adjusted the chains with a pinch of tension and I feel better about having them loose with the thought of avoiding wear.
Currently my chains are adjusted with a bit of tension. I won't admit that over the last 10 years George might have warn me down. Instead I like to think I'm just testing the adjustment as he interperates the instructions to be and I'll report back in about 10 years.

In the mean time you are on you own to figure out what works best for you. A pinch loose I've proven won't hurt on my airplane and I'll bet a pinch of tension won't hurt or make any difference either.