How can I get better at playing chess?
crippen asked:
I just recently got interested in playing chess (which I hadn’t played since I was a child) while watching a friend play online. I got some books on openings, basic chess strategy, and I bought a couple of computerized programs of chess with different difficulty levels.
I’ve tried all these learning tools but my online success rate at the chess sites hasn’t gotten much better at all. The book on openings seemed way too complicated to follow, whille the chess programs seemed a better learning tool. But I still go online and some guy brings his queen early in the game and smashes me to pieces. What would be the best way to get better at this game, just keep playing and getting beaten until I see a pattern, or read more books, or concentrate on the computer programs with increased difficulty level?
I just recently got interested in playing chess (which I hadn’t played since I was a child) while watching a friend play online. I got some books on openings, basic chess strategy, and I bought a couple of computerized programs of chess with different difficulty levels.
I’ve tried all these learning tools but my online success rate at the chess sites hasn’t gotten much better at all. The book on openings seemed way too complicated to follow, whille the chess programs seemed a better learning tool. But I still go online and some guy brings his queen early in the game and smashes me to pieces. What would be the best way to get better at this game, just keep playing and getting beaten until I see a pattern, or read more books, or concentrate on the computer programs with increased difficulty level?
mspt98@yahoo.com
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October 2nd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Create a video blog
i’ll tell a 4moveK.O
move your first king side pawn i step forward( from 2e to 4e)
2. move your bishop the one on the white square 3 steps( f1 to c4
3. move your queen 4 steps ( d1 to h5)
4. move your queen for the kill (h5 to f7
October 3rd, 2009 at 4:32 am
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keep practicing and strategizing
October 6th, 2009 at 9:57 am
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Play chess.
The nice thing about it is that it changes and you can only get good by playing.
There are a ton of free-play sites on the web.
October 9th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
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Try a Welcome Game at
You can play standard Chess as well as some conspicuous variants, say, Chess960 and Alice Chess.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Create a video blog…instantly.
Practice practice practice and check out this site
October 9th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
chess pieces
Everything you bought is worthless to you as a begginer. Tactics should be number one on your list, “Chess tactics for Juniors” is a good book. Some basic principles you should follow are; develop your pieces, castle early, and control the center, but keep in mind these are not absolute.
And you should “check” (lol) out chessmagnetschool.com wich is cheap, easy, and convenient.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:09 am
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first u play with the programme in computer with your theory knowledge and keep the programme rating lesser and try to win it and after that you slowly increase the programme rating and play. I f u find difficulty at some rating do not go beyond that and with the aid of computer u try to learn where u went wrong and try to improve . u can do this in offline it self.After some time ie if you are able to beat computer in 1700 rating then you try to play online players.
Again with lesser rating players first and gradually increase the players strength .This way you defiantly improve your chess.
October 14th, 2009 at 2:13 am
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There are many things that you can do. I recommend doing puzzles; has a daily puzzle, you can also google chess puzzles. Don’t get too caught up on openings right now: beginners often look for opening traps when their focus should be on tactics and the endgame. As for the Queen thing: I think I know what you are talking about. It’s a novice move, really. If this isn’t it, here is something you should watch out for.
White Black
1. e4 e5
2. Qh5 g6
3. Qxe5+ (forking the King and the Rook)
The best thing to do against this, i’ve found, is to reply to Qh5 with 2……Qf6
Playing games will also increase your power.
October 15th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
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Yes, just keep playing and you´ll see patterns after a while. I am not an amazing player, but good enough to have fun at it, and for people to bother asking me to play. I couldn´t tell you any “great moves”, I just play.
Probably better than playing the computer is to find someone who will play with you and explain why they did this or that, or warn you if you do something dumb. That´s how everyone learned before computers, and I think it makes more sense. I learned from my dad, and now I´m teaching my kids. (and now I understand what my dad went through to teach me….).
I don´t think I could ever bother with books. But once in a while I play online. My daughter plays the chess on the ForBetter Or For Worse website – especially if I don´t have the time or nerves to help her that day. It´s pretty good for beginners, and she even figured out to switch back and forth with the computer as to which player has which colour (meaning, she plays white until she doesn´t know what to do, then she switches to black, or she plays both). On the one hand this is just screwing around, on the other, she is learning possible moves. That game is not too hard, I can usually beat the computer, now that I realised what kind of mistakes it usually makes, and which pieces it likes to give up and which not.
Oh sorry, this was supposed to be a short answer. Well, anyway, I basically wanted to say, don´t stress it – learn as you go and have fun! Good luck!