First Lesson After The Rules?

Please let me know what do you think is the most important first lecture for BEGINNER one should get if new, after you mastered the rules, including a n peasant 😊

Thanks!

I think it should be your tactics. The tactics are most important. They help you find ways to beat the game.

Endgames, mate in 1 etc.

First lecture for a beginner? Pawns are just baby queens.

The opposition and how to queen a pawn needing the help of the king where the conditions for success with the correct tecnique are there.

the best lessons would be all the basic mating patterns (ladder mate, QK mate, RK mate, backrank mate, scholar mate, fools mate, and so on. over time these patterns can build into more complicated stuff until they are ~800 where i would then start intoducing middlegame planning (while continuing the tactics training)

All the advice about tactics training causes me to laugh. It is too broad. You need to break it down into tactical themes one by one.

I use to think this too. After seeing how beginners learn and think I would say 1001 winning chess tactics for beginners is a must first book. It starts with mate in 1 then mate in 2 and so on. There are problems for more advanced players and even troubles of my own at 1967 at my peak rating. This isn't to say memorizing mating patterns aren't essential but that there are more fundamental things that cab come first.

First learn basic checkmates:

Q+R vs. lone king
R+R vs. lone king
Mating with a single piece against a lone king
Then some basic pawn endings
Basic tactics
Opening principles.
I could go one, but I'm simply offering the outline of J. R. Capablanca, Chess Fundamentals (1921). See http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2021/01/advice-for-beginners.html

Capa was a good writer, and very good for anyone who knew little more than the rules.

Mate with2 rooks or queen

checkmates, hanging pieces, and opening principles

i think a lesson about controlling the center, whatever opening you play you must control the center... some players like fianchetto, some players like controlling with pawns, the first 6 moves are so are to control the center and the next 4-6 moves are for developing and castling... if you just taught them to be very defensive in nature for these first ten moves instead of going for gambits or weird attacks... control the center develop and protect your pieces, castle and finish development. then for every turn after they must look for weakness in opponent and your own pieces and decide whats better fix your weakness or come up with a game plan to attack theirs... this will make them think with every move!

1) Always check for all checks, captures and threats for you and your opponent before each move. To do this, you first have to learn to see all possible captures in a position. That is the first.

2) Opening principles and castling your King to safety fast to make it harder for your opponent to checkmate you. Once castled, don’t ruin the castle by moving the pawns in front of your King without a very good reason to do so.

3) Develop all your pieces before you attack. Premature attacks often lead to trouble.

4) Basic endgames

5) Tactics

6) Some classical master games from the late 1800s to early 1900s. The time period is chosen because the games of that era are easier to understand than the modern ones and in the 1800s games it is demonstrated well, why development, King safety etc are crucial. And there are also lots of flashy tactics. Games by Paul Morphy are a good place to start. Then maybe games by Steinitz, Capablanca, Euwe and so forth.

7) The last but not the least. Remember that it will take patience to get good. Chess is tough, so do not get discouraged when improvement does not happen instanteniously (although in the very beginning it probably will).

a couple more

8) Avoiding stalemates

9) Never resign

10) Converting a material advantage

to add to the earlier post

That is one long lesson.

Yeah, basically #1 was the first lesson.

The other ones are follow up lessons to be taken one at a time.

I know the question was only about the first lesson, but after that first lesson, there should probably be a second one and a third one and so on.

By the way it is "en passant" not "n peasant".

It's French not English. There are no agricultural labourers involved.

Just thought I'd point that out.

Nicely spotted Habana. I wrote it purposefully 'funny' like so 🙃

Lots of very good answers!

My very first lesson was coordinates, then rules including captures, checks, checkmates and e.p. but I somehow think that the very first lesson should be: analysis.

Trying to learn from your own games, in your own pace, from the very beginning is a crucial skill for improvement. It basically encapsulates all the other skills as you will be learning chess the right way.

Any thoughts on this?

Without learning the basic principles of chess, analysing your own games will probably be rather pointless.

After learning to spot all the checks, captures and threats and so on on the board I would start from the basic principles of chess.

Like the importance of fast development and King safety. The relative values of the pieces. Why the center of the board is important. Why Knights on the rim are dim and Bishops belong on open diagonals...

If you just start playing and analysing your own games without learning these basics, I really don't know if anything good will come out of it.

Analysing games is important though, but it will take a long time to figure out those basic principles of chess, just by playing and analysing, because the games will be of very poor quality.