Beginner Tip that helped me go from TERRIBLE to just “bad”

So I am not a good chess player. In fact, just take a look at my profile and you’ll see how truly horrendous I really am. HOWEVER, you’ll notice one thing: I’m winning more games than I was before.. and NOT by timeouts, by actual checkmates!

I just wanted to share something that changed my perspective of playing chess, which in turn allowed me from being like “what the hell is going on” during a game to “I have a fairly good idea what move to make next”, as well as limit a lot of blunders and start making “best moves”.

Now, before I continue, I want to say again that I SUCK AT CHESS. This is probably really, REALLY basic. Albeit basic, it actually astronomically changed my game. I went from losing to 100-200’s to feeling like 300-400’s are below my level now.

I would actually really like to get some advice from experienced, better players on whether or not this is actually a good tip for beginners like myself.

So, with that out of the way, let me explain:

I spent hundreds of hours studying openings, endgame, and positioning. I studied the board a lot and memorized it (which helped a lot!) but the fact of the matter was no matter how much I tried, I could never IMPLEMENT what I learned online or on YouTube or from books because my opponent would make a DIFFERENT move then I anticipated, and all was lost from there. It felt hopeless because I thought how could I retain enough information to play against all these possible moves?

Then, I came across a strategy called “Scholars Checkmate”

BEFORE YOU BAN ME, HEAR ME OUT! This is NOT the tip! I am not saying to play the scholars checkmate strategy, rather, I am saying what this easy to remember strategy did for me.

For the past 20 or so games, all I’ve done is the scholars checkmate. Most people see it coming and defend against it, but that’s where my learning and playing ability has taken off. NOW, instead of me playing a game I don’t know, I can start learning moves AGAINST their defense. This allowed me to analyze the board WAY quicker because I know exactly where all my pieces are. This also allowed helped me stop making such stupid blunders, like losing my queen to a knight, because I knew my strategy (even if it didn’t work) and that made me know where my pieces are.

So while the scholars mate is a cheeky, often called pathetic opening, it literally changed my entire perspective on playing chess. Rather than just randomly “attacking” pieces without any wherewithal, I find myself being able to make more strategic moves that are planned 2-3 sometimes even 4 moves down the line. Do they work always? No, often times they’re defended. But now when they’re defended, I’m still in a good position, unlike before where I had no idea what to do next.

So, what I learned and what I wanted to give to my fellow TERRIBLE CHESS PLAYERS (don’t worry, I’m right there with you) is pick an opening and strategy that is EASY TO REMEMBER and is FUN TO PLAY! I became so wrapped up in trying to implement a perfect Sicilian Defense (which I still don’t know how to play past 4 moves) or use “proper” grandmaster level moves that I forgot chess can actually be fun, even if you suck. And I think playing chess for FUN is what will make you better, not playing it to get better. I’ve deleted the chess app every night I’ve gone to bed, only to wake up after dreaming about chess, Redownload it, and get my ass handed to me by 100’s fifty times a day. So, if you’re in that boat too, consider my advice ... or dont! Because honestly, I still really suck! But it HAS really helped me go from absolutely TERRIBLE to just “bad”, which is improvement!

I saw in your other topic you said you started playing very recently.

So yeah, I think that's a reasonable approach. Have fun, try the same opening again and again so you're familiar with things, and it helps if the opening has a trap of checkmate

Experienced players tend to forget how chaotic and unfamiliar the starting position is when you're a new player. You said this approach helps you because you know where your pieces are, and you have a clear goal (checkmate) and I think that's very reasonable.

Sure people call it a meme opening, but objectively it's not that bad, even if the opponent plays all the right moves against it.

So yeah, like you said, it has some good points, and most importantly you're having fun with it!

When I was new I really liked the opening 1.e4 d5 as black because on move 1 I immediately set the tone. Other openings take 2 or 3 moves and both players have to agree, but with 1.e4 d5 I was able to get the same opening almost every time. White almost always captures the pawn, then I bring my queen out and make some threats if I want.

Most games start like this:

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And in general black will do this sort of pawn structure (below) which is very solid.

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So for example

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I actually agree with you.

Scholar's Mate only becomes a "bad" opening once you hit like 1500+ rating. Before that level, it's totally fine to play, because even if your opponent defends against it, your pieces aren't really that misplaced, and you can usually just continue development and have a normal game.

The great thing about Scholar's Mate is - like you say - it teaches you to have a plan. You're not just aimlessly developing your pieces. You're specifically targetting the weakness of the f7 pawn. And that's a great thing!

There's an old saying in chess that "a bad plan is better than no plan at all."

And with Scholar's Mate, you have a plan in mind, so that's a very good start.

Congrats on the progress you've made!

Nice! You'll have to change it eventually, but by then it should be easier to develop plans and pieces.

Yes

High rated players make a lot of educated guesses... the better you are, the more sophisticated your guesses are

In the beginning it's sort like this position below. White plays Rb1 not because of any special calculation or idea, but simply because the b file is open (meaning there are no pawns on that file) and so on b1 the rook influences many squares.

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And then an experienced player may do something like this (below) with his rooks

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The rooks go to c1 and d1 because from experience the player knows that whenever this sort of pawn structure happens, the c and d files are the most likely to become open or half open (half open meaning only one color of pawn is on that file).

You ask whether players stick with a strategy even if it's been defended. No, not really. And yes, sometimes you have to improvise, but again, the more experience and study you have, the less you improvise and the more you make educated guesses.

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As for what to do once all your pieces seem to be in a good position, generally you play what's called a pawn break (basically you force a pawn trade). When pawns are removed from the board it opens up paths for the other pieces. So for example in the first diagram after white played Rb1, he can infiltrate into black's position with a move like Rb7 which attacks one of black's pawns.

So first you try to influence many squares because you can't be sure which squares will be the most important, then later you open lines with a pawn break and infiltrate to the opponent's side of the board. Once you're there, you come into contact with weak pawns, or the enemy king... that's basically how a strategic game of chess plays out from a bird's eye view 

(in a tactical game, the bird's eye view is forcing sequences win pawns, win other pieces, and/or cause checkmate)

No worries!

Well it is important to have some flexibility with your plan. You can't just stubbornly stick to your own ideas and completely ignore what your opponent does.

A plan should guide you, but it shouldn't dictate exactly what you play and when. That's where flexibility and thinking on the spot comes into play.

For example: our plan is to Scholar's Mate our opponent, but our opponent plays this instead. How do we react?

(I know all the high rated players are going to rush in to tell me that black can play 3... Nxe4 anyway, but let's keep things simple for beginners)