Looking to Learn

Greetings, I just decided to get into chess. I do not know anyone in real life that plays much and the few people I do are just as unskilled as I am. For example we didn't even know which spot the King and Queen were supposed to start on.

Could I possibly get a few suggestions on best ways to learn or put in the right direction of a good video series / book?  Are there classes hosted on this site?  How does mentoring work? I would like very much to be apart of such a thing.  

Thanks for any replies!

* If this is in the wrong place, please feel free to move or delete this post. Sorry - Nex *

White square in the lower right corner.

Queen on its own color.

Opening Principles:

1. Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5

2. Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key

3. Castle

4. Connect your rooks

Tactics...tactics...tactics...

Pre Move Checklist

1. Make sure all your pieces are safe. 

2. Look for forcing move: Checks, captures, threats. You want to look at ALL forcing moves (even the bad ones) this will force you look at, and see the entire board. 

3. If there are no forcing moves, you then want to remove any of your opponent’s pieces from your side of the board. 

4. If your opponent doesn’t have any of his pieces on your side of the board, then you want to improve the position of your least active piece. 

5. After each move by your opponent, ask yourself: "What is my opponnet trying to do?"

In a nutshell:

Check

Capture

Threat

Thank you so much for this.   At first it seems like an easy/basic 5 steps to follow but only in execution do I realize how mindful I must be during each turn. 

Much appreciated!!

Welcome to the great game of chess :-)

You should consider getting a coach. 

I am a National Master with 10+ Years of Teaching Experience, available for private and group lessons. To learn more about my chess services and general chess news, see www.premierchess.com or www.facebook.com/premierchess.

Email me at erabin66@gmail.com or call (917)776-1306 today to set up a free 30 minute consultation or ask any questions.

 Hey Nex,

as being a chess-coach myself, one thing I suggest you as I do to all my students (kids aged from 5 to 15 years old): While playing sit on your hands, so you need a bit more time to move the pieces (or the mouse when playing at the pc). It's a matter of fact that beginners and especially kids think they have seen all the threads and forcing moves and move their pieces just too quickly. But it takes a lot of experience and training to 'calculate' all these moves that fast.

As being a beginner, you don't need to get a coach. Most of the stuff you have to learn, you can get online here on chess.com. Just follow the study-plan: https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

When you have worked this out and feel stuck, than we can talk about getting a coach. The consideration of erabin is nothing else than an useless self-commerce.

Fish already made a good note what you have to look at. Try first to work on these first basic steps. If there are some points you don't understand, ask here in the forums, there will be more than enough help.

Greetings from Belgium.