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chess_pro5 asked for help on openings. From his games, his opening looked to improve the more games he played, but still messing it up, especially with hanging his pieces (Leaving pieces to be captured). I'm no opening expert, but I do often times follow the basic rules of the opening. 1. Only make about 2-3 pawn moves maximum. These will usually be your King and Queen pawns. The 3 pawn move would be could be used to fianchetto (moving the g pawn or b pawn forward one square with usually the bishop moving where the pawn was previously was.), c3-c5 (English Opening, Queen's Gambit), Sicilian Defense, etc. 2. Don't move a piece twice, until all pieces have been developed, unless necessary. This will usually include castling to get king to safety. 3. Don't be afraid to use gambits. For me this is either Queen's Gambit or King's Gambit. There are others that are posted in Chess openings/Book Openings you can look at. 4. Make the opponent's developed pieces move (breaking the 2nd rule). This will put their piece in a possibly worse spot, as well as you developing a new piece afterwards and putting you in the lead in developing. 5. Focus on a few openings at most. 6. Don't neglect other parts of the game (tactics, middle, end game), and check out my other topics in this group. You can also read this http://blog.chess.com/likesforests/my-system---join-the-adventure

Hi everyone. I am so glad I found this group. This is the kind of help I need and also the kind of support. I read books all the time, practice on Chessmaster, but in a tournament I am in I have not won a single game. My rating is a little over 1100 and slowly going down... I love chess and am reading Purdy's Guide to Good Chess. Never played much chess until I joined this site in September. It is good to be here. I am open to learning all I can. The board illustrations really help. stwils

Puzzles. Don't forget to check the moves list.

I would disagree about learning openings first, but suggest what others on chess.com forums say, and that is to learn tactics. Learn the basic mates, King + 2 Queens/2 Rooks/1 Queen/1 Rook/2 Bishops vs King, and find the most efficient way from different positions (skip King + Bishop + Knight vs King, it is not easy especially for beginners). Avoid stalemate! Sometimes it is very easy to fall into one when you don't think about it with something like King + Queen vs King. Chessvideos.tv provides an endgame simulation for you to practice them, and videos to show you how to mate with them. As for tactics, solve a lot of puzzles. Chess.com has tactics trainer, chessvideos.tv has puzzle of the day, chesstr.com, chesstempo.com, shredderchess.com has a total of 9 puzzles (Today, Yesterday, Day Before with Easy, Medium, Hard level; obviously if you visit everyday then you work with 3). You can also check out chessgames.com, on the home page they have a puzzle to solve, but only solve the easy ones (1/2 star max), as they can be really challenging going any higher. Avoid hanging pieces, that is you left a piece on the board that can be captured and isn't being protected by one of your pieces. Look for when your opponent does this. Tactics you need to know w/ Wikipedia definitions - Pin: A pin is a move which forces one of the opponent's pieces to stay put because moving it would expose a more valuable piece behind it. The bishop is pinning the knight, meaning it can't move without exposing the king. When you do this with the king the piece you are pinning can't move at all, but like the definition said, it can be any piece that is usually greater than the piece that is being pinned. Skewer: A skewer is a move which attacks two pieces in a line, similar to a pin, except that the enemy piece of greater value is in front of the piece of lesser value. Just reverse the pieces of the pin. Pawn moves: Moving the pawn to move a more valuable piece. Fork: A fork is a move that uses one piece to attack two or more of the opponent's pieces simultaneously, hoping to achieve material advantage, since the opponent can only counter one of the two threats. All of whites pieces forking two pieces. The knight fork is something you need to pay attention, as even very skilled players fall for it, and is quite effective. Discovered Attack: A discovered attack is a move which unmasks an attack by another piece. You can also create double checks which makes their king have to move. Sacrifice: Sacrifice is a move giving up a piece or pawn in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. This includes eliminating a piece in lower value to the sacrificed piece. This may include "Removing the defender" which may take away added protection from a piece, expose the king more, or something that will give you an advantage.

This is my first post in this group. And i would like to impart to you my brothers the importance of endgame technique. After escaping a tough opening, and grabbing a rook in the middlegame and simplyfying to preserve material advantage you ended up with the following position. You know you are winning but how do you do it?. Its a "Won" Game for white, but if you dont know how to checkmate in this endgame then it will only be a batlle of chess clock pressing and a chance for your opponent to draw (And a possible taunt from your oppo What do you Do? Look at the position....the first step is to drive the king to the edge of the board. Rook and King must work together.Second,If possible try to set the "Dream" position you prefer in your head for example: White: Kb3, Rh2 Black: Kb1 with white to move.Or you can rotate it else were like White: Kc5 , Rb8 Black; Ka5 with white to move. It can be in any side of the board as long as such position is possible.Good luck to you guys.

Welcome everyone to this site!! It was the brains of 2 worthy players here on chess.com that this site took place! Feel free to post any chess advice you may have to offer to help other people improve their games!! So have fun and lets see some posts!!!