Q+A for beginners(and everyone else)

I have screwed up in R+P endgames with 1 or 2 extra pawns.

Magnets wouldn't you say the lessons here are a waste for higher players, but maybe not for ?  I found the most advanced (picking right move) a waste as they were combinations.  Puzzles.  But the opening theories helped me.

I would like to ask a Question regarding Playing style of a Child who is 5.5 years old and has been playing Chess for 6 months. 

I have seen a trend that the Child likes to Play mostly defensive Chess. I mean mostly keeping Pieces within 3rd-4th rank (for White) and not willing to take much risk. Although the child is very good at tactics (for beginner level), this kind of Playing tendency has been created on its own. 

I would like to have suggestions for overcoming such defensive approach. Also may Please suggest how this kind of Playing STYLE can be Designed/Customized so that the Child won't be forced to change the STYLE. 

ahhhhhhhh .......... you fully contradicted yourself there:

"... how this kind of Playing STYLE can be Designed/Customized so that the Child won't be forced to change the STYLE. "

you're just playing with semantics there, trying to justify what you are trying to do here; (whether it's right or wrong) as redesigning / customizing mean exactly the same things as CHANGING.

I'd feel bad trying to redesign a child-that-young's game, I have an 8 year old and even now we just make sure she loves the game. I wish she was more defensive tbh! But I know that that is MY crap not hers so I keep it to myself and just put her around really good players / chesskid.com

You know, i see Indian parents who seem really crazy competitive at chess through their kids, perhaps parents there are so poor or desperate for glory that they don't mind using their kids? I hope not but that is my observation since coming here, that these kids childhoods are getting a bit ruined because of their parents ambitions for their chess

Maybe show the child some of Morphy's games.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1233404

Maybe consider the King's Indian Attack?

https://www.chess.com/article/view/has-the-king-s-indian-attack-been-forgotten

Yes I believe I would like a coach.  Any suggestions? 

Thanks to ryanchesskindasponge and magnets for the guidance and good stewardship 

I have one. I'm 2200 otb and I have terrible ratings on chess.com. My friends who are around the same level as me are 2300-2400. How do I improve my online chess?

Still too slow, the app is faster for me.

Hello @rychessmaster1 and all who know chess better than I do (i.e. almost all the others reading this thread ... ;-))

How do I overcome passive play? In comparatively good games I do not blunder but I fail to put pressure on my opponents. So my games end in dull draws at best after heavy exchanges of material. Or I find myself defending against threats by my opponents without being able to put pressure on my opponents. There may not be a short answer but maybe I can improve my training which consists of 90 % tactics.

Possibly of interest:

Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm

Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094419/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ammind.pdf
https://www.silmanjamespress.com/shop/chess/amateurs-mind-the-2nd-edition/

A First Book of Morphy by Frisco Del Rosario

https://www.chess.com/blog/Chessmo/review-a-first-book-of-morphy

Simple Chess by Stean

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104258/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review400.pdf

http://store.doverpublications.com/0486424200.html

Chess for Hawks

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9041.pdf

I agree that tactics training does help here. However, I'd also like to add the possibility of simply learning common middlegame motifs and how to discover an objective yourself. An objective can be as simple as developing your worst piece, or as complicated as ganging up on a weak square in the opponent's camp. The more that you are exposed to similar themes, then the more likely you are to look (and find) that potential in your own games. With that said, perhaps study of middlegame ideas and pawn structure would benefit your chess. 

True that a better position is good for you, but as you noted: you need to find a way of transforming this into something else, or the position will fizzle and the opponent may get equality or better. Of course, a chess game might transform its play into nearly any advantage, but I'll give some common examples to look for. One example might be you recognizing a weak square/piece/pawn that the opponent can't easily hold and then exploiting this. Another example might be transforming your key strength in the position into something greater in value: such as a passed pawn; sometimes pushing it it further (while protecting it well) can be very hard for an opponent to deal with. Another example might be turning one advantage into another, like the style of Karpov. It might go something like this: you have a slight edge in something like having the Bishop pair, but it doesn't mean enough to necessarily win. From there you open up the position (as Bishops like open positions), but in doing so, your opponent is decoyed from defending some part of the board. When this happens, you may even be able to give up your advantage (the Bishop pair) to pursue exploiting this less defended sector for an even larger edge (kind of like investing one advantage in the opportunity to gain a stronger advantage). This may not make complete sense right away (although I hope it does), but what I am attempting to illustrate is how there are many thematic ways to proceed, but you must know what to look for in a game: it seldom appears to you like magic, if you are not looking for it. That is why I recommend exposing these ideas to yourself. You can do this by middlegame study, tactics trainer, and even watching chesstv streamers talk about certain positions.

p.s. I like the humble attitude, but I don't know if most reading this forum are indeed better chess players than you; 1300-ish is not too shabby at all. I think the chess.com average is around 1000 or so. What is the case is that stronger players (who have a better idea what they are talking about and therefore more sure of themselves in posting chess responses) are more likely to participate in chess forums. There are probably many readers of this forum who are lower rated than 1300, but they seldom have the confidence to post anything on the matter themselves: luckily for them, simply reading these responses can greatly help their chess. Most everyone can recall a time when they were "beginners to chess."

What are some chess play styles? By that I mean a certain way to play that centres around a specific tactic. Also, could a 13 year old boy ever become a professional at chess? I've got dreams but I don't know if they're realistic.

Can he, sure. Will he, probably not.

he should wait til he turns 16 as having your parents there would really suck all of the fun out of it.

I've got a lot of questions:

1. What are things/tips all novice players should know about the game?

2. At the moment I'm playing somewhat casually, so if I'm aiming to become good at chess but not a professional player, how long should I practice per week/day?

3. How much does a lack of sleep affect your games?

4. Does anyone know any prominent chess players/tournaments in the Middle East?

Thank you in advance.

1. do all the lessons here.

2. as long as it takes to do all the lessons here and put them into practice alot

3. the same as it affects your IRL life.

4. yep @GMgoogle knows everything, just ask.

PS in chess, Tactics have a different meaning from how you are using it. It means the patterns that you need to recognize / figure out to be able to capitalize in specific situations on a chess board. Once you are a platinum member here you can have a lot of access to practice practice practice all of that.

Possibly of interest:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/help-support-how-can-i-be-a-grand-master