Best Beginner Advice

Play games, do puzzles, do tactics and study openings and endgames

The Framework

1. Learn core principles.

2. Apply them in slow games.

3. Analyze your decisions afterward.

This is the framework I use with students I coach.

Here are the core principles:

• The Principle of Activity & Material: These are the two pillars of chess. You must constantly strive to increase the activity of your pieces while capturing material whenever it is freely given.

• The Principle of the Least Active Piece: When you aren't sure what to play, identify your "worst" piece and improve its position. This is the secret to consistent positional play.

• The Principle of Attack: Attacking moves are superior because they force the opponent to react. Prioritize calculating Forcing Moves (Checks, Captures, and Threats) before anything else.

• Maximum Activity: Place your pieces as forward as possible to restrict your opponent.

• Keeping the Tension: Do not release the tension (exchange pieces/pawns) unless it gives you a concrete advantage. Releasing tension often helps the opponent free their game.

• The Principle of the Center: Centralization is the most efficient way to dominate the board.

• Neutralization: If an opponent has an active piece on your territory, your immediate priority is to attack it, force it back, or exchange it.

• The 3 Opening Tasks: 1) Develop pieces, 2) Castle, 3) Connect rooks.

• Endgame Strategy: In the endgame, the logic changes: Activate your King, advance passed pawns, and attack opponent's weak pawns.

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The most important thing on a chessboard is to always keep the idea of ​​enjoyment in mind. If boredom or annoyance arises, it's better to take a break than to persist. Knowing how to play also means taking the time to learn while having fun. We only have one life to live happily.

Don't spend a lot of time "studying" openings. That is pretty much a waste of time for a beginner. Focus on basic opening principles and work on your middlegame skills. Middlegame is where the action is, where most games are won and lost. It's better in the long run to make your own moves and learn from your mistakes, than to just follow the recommended lines. Most amateurs, at least the ones that are complaining about lack of progress, study lines too deeply, without properly understanding the strategy of the lines, as a result the end up with an early middlegame they don't properly understand.

play a lot of tactis!! 2 hours per day during 6 months!! no bullets, just rapid games