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How to Improve Your Chess - 1st Revision

How to Improve Your Chess - 1st Revision

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AJ109932
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Here I would like to provide some tips and resources to improve your chess! I wrote this post in collaboration with kindaspongey. Please read through the whole post their is a lot to learn.

Here's a link to the older version of this post: https://www.chess.com/blog/AJ109932/how-to-improve-your-chess

Tips:

Resources:

Openings

The main ideas for openings are:

  • Control the center.
  • Develop your pieces and leave room for development.
  • Protect your king.

kindaspongey helped with the opening section. Here's a link to his profile: https://www.chess.com/member/kindaspongey

### Anything from this point until indicated was sent to me by kindaspongey.

For many, a good starting point (for openings) would be:

"... For beginning players, [the book, Discovering Chess Openings by GM Emms,] will offer an opportunity to start out on the right foot and really get a feel for what is happening on the board. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2006)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/https://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Chess-Openings-Building-Principles/dp/1857444191?asin=1857444191&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

"... As Black, I think that [players with very limited experience] would do well … playing 1...e5 versus 1 e4 and 1...d5 versus 1 d4. … [After 1 d4 d5, if] White plays the most important move, 2 c4, inexperienced players might want to begin classically with 2...e6 followed by ...Nf6 and ...Be7 …" - IM John Watson (2010)

Some of us think that it can be useful to use books like First Steps: 1 e4 e5, Logical Chess, and First Steps: Queen's Gambit as sources of games with explanations intended for those just starting to learn about an opening.

“... [First Steps: 1 e4 e5] is a fun and informative book. ...” (2018)

https://chesscafe.com/book-reviews/first-steps-1-e4-e5-by-john-emms/

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf

https://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/assorted-recent-books

https://www.amazon.com/Logical-Chess-Every-Explained-Algebraic/dp/0713484640?asin=0713484640&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7652.pdf

"... For players with very limited experience, I recommend using openings in which the play can be clarified at an early stage, often with a degree of simplification. To accomplish this safely will take a little study, because you will have to get used to playing with open lines for both sides' pieces, but you can't eliminate risk entirely in the opening anyway. ... teachers all over the world suggest that inexperienced players begin with 1 e4. ... You will undoubtedly see the reply 1 ... e5 most often when playing at or near a beginner's level, ... After 2 Nf3, 2 ... Nc6 will occur in the bulk of your games. ... I recommend taking up the classical and instructive move 3 Bc4 at an early stage. Then, against 3 ... Bc5, it's thematic to try to establish the ideal centre by 4 c3 and 5 d4; after that, things can get complicated enough that you need to take a look at some theory and learn the basics; ... Of course, you can also play 1 d4 ... A solid and more-or-less universal set-up is 2 Nf3 and 3 Bf4, followed in most cases by 4 e3, 5 Be2 and 6 0-0. I'd rather see my students fight their way through open positions instead; however, if you're not getting out of the opening alive after 1 e4, this method of playing 1 d4 deserves consideration. ... a commonly suggested 'easy' repertoire for White with 1 Nf3 and the King's Indian Attack ... doesn't lead to an open game or one with a clear plan for White. Furthermore, it encourages mechanical play. Similarly, teachers sometimes recommend the Colle System ..., which can also be played too automatically, and usually doesn't lead to an open position. For true beginners, the King's Indian Attack and Colle System have the benefit of offering a safe position that nearly guarantees passage to some kind of playable middlegame; they may be a reasonable alternative if other openings are too intimidating. But having gained even a small amount of experience, you really should switch to more open and less automatic play. ..." - IM John Watson in a section of his 2010 book, Mastering the Chess Openings, Volume 4

Here are some books that set out to help the reader with sample games illustrating how White can play after 1 e4:

My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/vincent-moret/

Opening Repertoire 1 e4

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7819.pdf

London and Colle books that are possibly of interest:

First Steps: The Colle and London System

https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings

The Colle: Move by Move by Cyrus Lakdawala (2013)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627110453/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen169.pdf

Most of the time, one faces a position with no knowledge of a specific move indicated in a book. One has to accept that as part of chess and think of opening knowledge as a sometimes helpful aid. After a game, it makes sense to try to look up the moves in a book and see if it has some indication of how one might have played better in the opening. Many opening books are part explanation and part reference material. The reference material is included in the text with the idea that one mostly skips it on first reading, and looks at an individual item when it applies to a game that one has just played. I think that these quotes indicate how one can gradually increase one's opening knowledge:

"... The way I suggest you study this book is to play through the main games once, relatively quickly, and then start playing the variation in actual games. Playing an opening in real games is of vital importance - without this kind of live practice it is impossible to get a 'feel' for the kind of game it leads to. There is time enough later for involvement with the details, after playing your games it is good to look up the line. ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2005)

"... Review each of your games, identifying opening (and other) mistakes with the goal of not repeatedly making the same mistake. ... It is especially critical not to continually fall into opening traps – or even lines that result in difficult positions ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2007)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627062646/https://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman81.pdf

"... Overall, I would advise most players to stick to a fairly limited range of openings, and not to worry about learning too much by heart. ... the average player only needs to know a limited amount about the openings he plays. Providing he understands the main aims of the opening, a few typical plans and a handful of basic variations, that is enough. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)

"... If [your opening] book contains illustrative games, it is worth playing these over first ... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)

I think that appropriate improvement activity depends greatly on one's current state.

"... If it’s instruction, you look for an author that addresses players at your level (buying something that’s too advanced won’t help you at all). This means that a classic book that is revered by many people might not be useful for you. ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (2015)

https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-best-chess-books-ever

Here is my standard message about Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess:

IM Pfren wrote: "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" is not authored by RJF, and the content is elementary: Back rank mates consist the largest part of the book.

 

LawTonz wrote: ... Personally, I can say there are better books out there for beginners. ... the instructional content was way too one-sided for me. There are better books out there about checkmating patterns.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/for-beginners/best-books-to-improve-as-amateur-player

 

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is very basic material that you may very well have already learned, just from experience. Even if you haven't, there are books (such as Winning Chess) that cover more and do a better job.

"... Certainly for players who do not fully grasp the meaning of terms such as skewer, pin, fork, discovered attack, and the like, Winning Chess [(Batsford edition by Chernev and Reinfeld)] is a wonderful resource to bring the budding player to a much greater appreciation of the game. But also for intermediate players who all too often fall victim to these tactical maneuvers, or who realize in postmortems the many attacking threats they overlooked, this should be a book to consider. ..."

For those who are particularly intimidated by the prospect of learning chess, BFTC might well be just the thing to build the reader's confidence. On the other hand, many beginners may reasonably skip such a limited book and be ready for a much more extensive introduction to the many facets of chess study.

### No longer kindaspongey.

I also recommend creating a study plan for yourself. In order to do that first read this article of mine: https://www.chess.com/blog/AJ109932/how-to-analyze-games-improve-your-mistakes

It will help you know what you need to improve on and ways to fix those problems.

Also, look at Chess.com Study Plan: https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

Don't forget to be patient it takes time to improve.