Hi! I posted something on the subject of improving chess skills, which for me is more than following a few tips. Instead you need to study and train. Folllow attached link: https://www.chess.com/blog/maafernan/chess-skills-development
Tips for Beginners
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Jun 25, 2023
0
#44
Flosse_45 wrote:
Gosh I need help
Post #24 in this thread (currently) was my response. It may help you. Additionally, feel free to message me and perhaps sometime we could setup one or two unrated live chess games for learning purposes. Getting started with chess can be tough on your own, so sometimes all you need is one or two people to give some good advice and help point you in the right direction. 
play a lot
hi
Jul 14, 2023
0
#48
You're not a total beginner, so you know the basics. What you want to work on will be your tactical vision, and picking up a few positional ideas to look for to improve your position (or how to prevent your opponent from improving theirs!).
I've seen lots of people point out opening themes (control the centre, knights before bishops, minimal pawn moves, minimal multiple moves of the same piece, castle early, etc). While it is tempting to spend a lot of time studying openings, there's not much need as most times your opponent will go off book anyway. So, most of the time you will probably end up having to make moves based upon sound opening principles, and that will do you find for some time. Just study a one or two openings as white and play those as much as possible, but if your opponent deviates don't get into the habit of sticking to the opening line - they haven't after all. I recommend focusing on an e4 opening as white, and something that gets you into an open game. Could the Italian, Spanish, Scotch, Scotch Gambit, King's Gambit, Evan's Gambit, doesn't matter. Personally I like the Italian as a starting point, as you can start to add others to it, like Evan's Gambit, and Scotch Gambit has a similar set up with the Bishop on c4. But pick something that leads to an open and tactical game - the reason is that is what you want to practice. Spotting those pins, forks, etc, in a real game situation, and e4 e5 games often hinge on being good at that, particularly some of the gambits.
For Black, pick something solid that you like to play. Again, early on (as in under 2000), it really doesn't matter as any decent opening or defence will be fine.
At the same time, start to think about some positional ideas. Things like "I just traded by light square bishop for their knight, so I better make sure I get my pawns on light squares as they will help make up for my missing bishop by controlling the light squares" or, "My oppnent has most of their pawns on dark squares, if I can capture their light squared Bishop, that is going to be bad for them."
And also, look at the position for outposts - those squares that are in front of your opponent's pawns but which can no longer be attacked by their neighbouring pawns because they have advanced past it. Those are great places to put a knight, especially if there are still lots of pawns on the board. This is because your knight blocks one pawn, hindering its movement (and it blocks rook/Queen attacks on the knight from that direction) and it can't be chased away by a mere pawn. Sometimes you can see such a square, but your knight can't just jump into it, so if there are no immediate tactical ideas, it might be worth working out how to get a knight there. And, if you see a square in your position that your opponent could use as an outpost, try and work out how to either get that backwards pawn moved forward, or how to prevent their knight from finding its way there.
The other main positional idea is one you've probably heard already, but get your rooks on the open files. Once pawns start coming off, make sure you can get a rook to control that highway to victory. And if you can't control that open file with your rooks, don't start the pawn trades! Don't open up a file just so that your opponent can grab it and get the goods.
Those 3 positional ideas will help a lot. First, they will help create opportunities for tactics (tactics are opportunities, positional play are the ideas - opportunities are the results of good ideas - they go hand in hand, it's not either/or). Second, thinking about those when you've come up empty when looking at checks/captures/threats, the tactical checklist. And, they make you look at the board from your opponents point of view as well, and doing that is a must to really improve. You need to recognize the weaknesses in your position and correct them, these help you spot them.
As for study, I would focus on end games mostly. Know the basic checkmating with K+Q, K+R, how to ensure that lone pawn gets promoted with the aid of only the king are the 3 most critical early on (you probably can do the first 2 already, and it doesn't take too long to learn the basics of how to use the opposition to force a pawn in, just practice to make it automatic). It is worth the time to learn how to mate with a king and two bishops, and then with a king, bishop and knight. Doesn't come up all that often, but does help learn how the pieces work together. Once you've got those, there are some basic rook end game sequences to look into (like "building a bridge"), which comes up when you have a king, rook, and pawn against a king and rook.
Anyway, that's plenty to think about. Personally, I think starting to think about some of the positional ideas will probably help the most, particularly when you play slower time controls and give yourself time to think through each move. By practicing the tactical checklist, and considering the positional ideas, you will get faster at spotting them, but initially it takes time to go through all those, so play slow and go through them. End games are not as exciting to study as openings, but you will benefit more at this stage from learning the endgames than more openings.
I
AngusByers wrote:
You're not a total beginner, so you know the basics. What you want to work on will be your tactical vision, and picking up a few positional ideas to look for to improve your position (or how to prevent your opponent from improving theirs!).
I've seen lots of people point out opening themes (control the centre, knights before bishops, minimal pawn moves, minimal multiple moves of the same piece, castle early, etc). While it is tempting to spend a lot of time studying openings, there's not much need as most times your opponent will go off book anyway. So, most of the time you will probably end up having to make moves based upon sound opening principles, and that will do you find for some time. Just study a one or two openings as white and play those as much as possible, but if your opponent deviates don't get into the habit of sticking to the opening line - they haven't after all. I recommend focusing on an e4 opening as white, and something that gets you into an open game. Could the Italian, Spanish, Scotch, Scotch Gambit, King's Gambit, Evan's Gambit, doesn't matter. Personally I like the Italian as a starting point, as you can start to add others to it, like Evan's Gambit, and Scotch Gambit has a similar set up with the Bishop on c4. But pick something that leads to an open and tactical game - the reason is that is what you want to practice. Spotting those pins, forks, etc, in a real game situation, and e4 e5 games often hinge on being good at that, particularly some of the gambits.
For Black, pick something solid that you like to play. Again, early on (as in under 2000), it really doesn't matter as any decent opening or defence will be fine.
At the same time, start to think about some positional ideas. Things like "I just traded by light square bishop for their knight, so I better make sure I get my pawns on light squares as they will help make up for my missing bishop by controlling the light squares" or, "My oppnent has most of their pawns on dark squares, if I can capture their light squared Bishop, that is going to be bad for them."
And also, look at the position for outposts - those squares that are in front of your opponent's pawns but which can no longer be attacked by their neighbouring pawns because they have advanced past it. Those are great places to put a knight, especially if there are still lots of pawns on the board. This is because your knight blocks one pawn, hindering its movement (and it blocks rook/Queen attacks on the knight from that direction) and it can't be chased away by a mere pawn. Sometimes you can see such a square, but your knight can't just jump into it, so if there are no immediate tactical ideas, it might be worth working out how to get a knight there. And, if you see a square in your position that your opponent could use as an outpost, try and work out how to either get that backwards pawn moved forward, or how to prevent their knight from finding its way there.
The other main positional idea is one you've probably heard already, but get your rooks on the open files. Once pawns start coming off, make sure you can get a rook to control that highway to victory. And if you can't control that open file with your rooks, don't start the pawn trades! Don't open up a file just so that your opponent can grab it and get the goods.
Those 3 positional ideas will help a lot. First, they will help create opportunities for tactics (tactics are opportunities, positional play are the ideas - opportunities are the results of good ideas - they go hand in hand, it's not either/or). Second, thinking about those when you've come up empty when looking at checks/captures/threats, the tactical checklist. And, they make you look at the board from your opponents point of view as well, and doing that is a must to really improve. You need to recognize the weaknesses in your position and correct them, these help you spot them.
As for study, I would focus on end games mostly. Know the basic checkmating with K+Q, K+R, how to ensure that lone pawn gets promoted with the aid of only the king are the 3 most critical early on (you probably can do the first 2 already, and it doesn't take too long to learn the basics of how to use the opposition to force a pawn in, just practice to make it automatic). It is worth the time to learn how to mate with a king and two bishops, and then with a king, bishop and knight. Doesn't come up all that often, but does help learn how the pieces work together. Once you've got those, there are some basic rook end game sequences to look into (like "building a bridge"), which comes up when you have a king, rook, and pawn against a king and rook.
Anyway, that's plenty to think about. Personally, I think starting to think about some of the positional ideas will probably help the most, particularly when you play slower time controls and give yourself time to think through each move. By practicing the tactical checklist, and considering the positional ideas, you will get faster at spotting them, but initially it takes time to go through all those, so play slow and go through them. End games are not as exciting to study as openings, but you will benefit more at this stage from learning the endgames than more openings.
Tysm!!!!
Beginners should avoid playing blitz and bullet games as they tend to be very fast paced and you do not get as much value from it as opposed to rapid games. Think critically into your and your opponents moves.
Try to double check your moves to make sure they’re good. Most of my losses are from going too fast.
UHMM
Hi! I've learned and kept on using london system as opening. Can you suggest a much stronger opening for beginner? Aside from the opening, I felt like I'm not really thinking of an end game. I just play based on opponents response but of course there's holes in this type of game play. How can I improve positioning of my chess pieces?
Hey
Oct 8, 2023
0
#57
xokat wrote:
Hi! I've learned and kept on using london system as opening. Can you suggest a much stronger opening for beginner? Aside from the opening, I felt like I'm not really thinking of an end game. I just play based on opponents response but of course there's holes in this type of game play. How can I improve positioning of my chess pieces?
Something funny is going on here. There are only 3 games played and none of them use the London System. And those 3 games were played a whole year ago.
HI
Some of the best advice I got was simply "practice". You'll slowly learn little things here and there. Your knowledge will build up on itself over time.
play