Basic Tips For Beginners

Hello!
Feel free to read through this post and hopefully learn something useful!

Tip 1.) Play longer time controls
As a beginner, you should mainly focus on playing 10, 20, and 30 minute games. (You could play even longer games if you want. Typically, the longer the better.) This gives you more time to think about your moves a compose a plan to checkmate your opponent. This also gives you time to double check whether or not you left any pieces hanging.
Tip 2.) What would I do?
Ask yourself what your plan would be in your opponent’s position. When playing on chess.com there is a little “flip board” button you can press. This is useful for keeping track of your opponent’s moves and making sure you don’t fall into any traps.
Tip 3.) Opening strategy
Stick to playing 1. e4. For those who aren’t familiar with chess notation, 1. e4 means that on the first move (when playing as white), move the pawn in front of your king up two spaces. This avoids messy or complex positions that could be hard to navigate as a beginner.

Please, do not hesitate to message me with any questions or thoughts! Thanks! :)

Good tips, but I disagree on Tip 3, if anything I would say e4 is more tactical and "messy" than d4 / c4 / Nf3 but even if it was more solid I would suggest you play whatever you're most comfortable with, even if it isn't optimal for others.

I’m new to chess and excited to learn and improve. Open to tips and always happy to connect!

Thanks for the insight, Breakfastsandwitch. I actually agree with you, but I was mostly thinking that a lot of beginners wouldn’t have a ton of knowledge around opening theory. e4 develops pieces quickly and allows for a castled king early in the game. Not to mention direct central control. These are things a beginner should focus on in the opening, which is why I mentioned it. Again, I totally agree with you, but some chess openings just simply ARE better than others for beginners, despite their familiarity with other openings. Thanks! :)