A Call for a Real Beginner Roadmap on Chess.com

No thought of an argument even came up. I have played 1 game of bullet in my life. Found out quickly I dont enjoy it. I cant get into a chess variant where you can be down 9 pieces and win by .01 of a second and call it a "victory". But to each their own.

All I play is OTB tournaments and online Correspondence chess. Ill play the occasional 3/2 game on another site, but thats just to pass time. And even as seldom as i play 3/2 games I still get the frequent message that my opponent cheated and points were restored. If I want to play an engine I can do that at home.

"One more thing". I know it's not your goal right now, but I expect you'd make a fine coach. Your advice is always helpful.

and I mostly understand and agree, which helps

I taught and coached for years until about 6 years ago. I got caught up in the rating and it ruined the fun for me. But now Im back and enjoying the game again. I also for the first time hooked up with a real, live chess coach that starts this Friday. I had a CM friend I worked with for awhile years ago, and then I worked with IM Valeri Lilov where he sent me lessons, but no real one on one interaction. Valeri is a real nice guy, and even when I stopped taking lessons from him he still kept in touch. I'm excited for this Friday and my first lesson!

I should say I've never played a rated game of Speed chess and only a very few unrated games... out of curiosity. I don't care for it, like, "Hold up... this is an interesting position. Can I please study it for a minute?" You hear people say longer time controls make it boring. Well, speak for yourself. Seriously.

Oh, very nice. Lucky you, for real.

delcai007 it seems you're not getting the point. Let me explain it to you clearly. what you're suggesting is simply not feasible, think of it more like a 15% at best. Als I can't be learning to play the guitar at the same time I'm studying chess. Unlike you and your weak arguments I do believe it's entirely moral

My "greatest speed chess achievement" was in a game 5 side event at a tournament. I was paired against an IM and we reached a position where he sacrificed a rook. I had no idea why and figured he knows more than me. We played on for something 6 more moves and I sacrificed a rook back figuring "Why not". He sat there...and sat there...and sat there. He finally shook my hand, said very well played and resigned. So I asked him why he resigned? He tells me that I had a mate in 6 which I didnt even see.

LOL. Agree. He's clever and charming, sure. And I used to get sucked into titles like "Smash all your opponents with this incredible new opening", etc. Smirnov is much more restrained and even when he teaches an opening, for example, he's careful to remind you that it can't just be about memorizing lines: understanding positions and what you're trying to do is much more important. If you reach the middle game then look at the board and can't tell what's going on, to whatever extent that's true, it won't help at all that you memorized such and such an opening x lines deep.

My memorized lines, for openings, don't go very deep, 7, 8 or 9 at the most, and that happens rarely since players at my level are not exactly predictable, generally. The exception is the Ponziani-Steinitz, which is just for fun, so to speak, since higher rated players will already know or be able to figure out the one move that refutes it. But I do have an 80%-win rate, last I checked, with it... it just needs an exact position, at 4. Ng5, or it doesn't work.

delcai007I’ve already spoken with them it seems you’re the one not understanding that it honestly seems like you still don’t understand even after being told repeatedly. This forum is about how and why the website itself needs improvement not about how beginners should improve themselves. Let me repeat that for you: this is not about how beginners need to improve. If you believe the website is already perfect for beginners fine we’ve heard that. But please stop spamming the thread with posts about how a beginner should learn because that’s not the topic here.

I greatly hope you understand this now.

I get that you think chess.com doesn't do enough for beginners, but it did tons for me.

You'll say, yes, the tools and content are there but I don't know how to use them.

I say, there is a learning curve. Be patient. Ask questions... many many are wanting to help. Explore.

You'll say you don't know where to start. You need a roadmap.

I say, you need to provide that yourself. It's too individual. You may like Play Against Coach. I hate it. You may like Game Review. Most do. I hate it. A lot of things you might try will have equal results. Those you don't find helpful, take them off your list. When you were first introduced to Windows, didn't it take a while to get used to, to be able to fully take advantage of what it provides? Chess.com is no different. It's confusing to total noobs only because it's unfamiliar. Again, be patient, ask questions, explore.

Is there more material available for intermediate players? I guess. And definitely what's available for beginners is repetitive. Everyone offers the same advice, more or less. I know it all by heart and can easily repeat it and use different words each time. Looking for more, like studying openings, is a waste of time. You just need to memorize and follow basic principles. Then play. A lot. Every chance you get... depending on how motivated you are, of course. Until you do those two things, a deeper understanding won't help.

Once you do, there will be a lot of choices to make about how to proceed, many very personal. What kind of player are you? Aggressive? A risk-taker? Or more conservative and defensive. What openings do you like. My new favorite is the Rousseau Gambit. It's a bit complicated and risky but it's also very interesting... it's non-intuitive. It's not common. Early on, your opponent might think you don't really know how to play.

I like that anyone wants to improve chess.com, but I'm an unabashed fan and frequent defender. I think it's very well run through and through... not least of all the moderation, despite being muted four times now. If there's an Achievement for that, I'm in great shape. ha ha... so hearing it called second rate and poorly designed strikes me as more than a little off. Perhaps it's a glass half full, glass half empty situation, I'm not sure.

I do think you should join Beta and bring this up there. Support has no say in the design of the platform. They solve individual problems only. I wish they were faster but that's just how it is. I am not in the loop, needless to say, so I am not going to question how they choose to allocate resources. I've never had them leave me hanging. Every issue I've asked help with had a good resolution. Then again, I've never asked them to change the software. : )

You said explicitly that chess.com does not do enough for beginners.

I disagree. So does everyone else. Could it be better? Sure. Most things in the world could.

And you need to look up 'spam'... it doesn't mean what you seem to think it means.

You dislike that I've disagreed with you.

This is not my problem.

I have some friends who like me for exactly the same reason some others do not.

I don't worry about it.

"Correct a wise man and he will be wiser still. Correct a fool and you will only arouse his anger."

Put very simply, you say the problem is with the platform. Beginners don't progress as quickly as they might because of something chess.com does or doesn't do.

I think that's incorrect. If you want to improve:

1 - learn basic chess principles

2 - play chess

chess.com can't do that for you

they help with both, however

first by providing a place to play

second by providing a wealth of content and study tools: you could never get to the end of it

yes, there is a learning curve with the software... how completely not surprising

ask questions, explore, be patient

"spam", by the way, means "something irrelevant or inappropriate shared indiscriminately with a large group", an email advertisement for example, not "a comment I disagree with" .