2am and still chessing!

I have only just found this site today after years away from playing chess due to my friends lack of interest. Thankyou all! As I'm a bit rusty now, can anyone recommend any good books to help me pick up my game? Also how does tis rating system work?

Sorry if this is a repeated post, I just couldn't work out how to backtrack through all the topics!

Thankyou guys :)

Welcome to chess.com! Hope you continue to enjoy it!

Chess.com uses an elo rating system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system). Basically you start at 1200 rating, then gain points when you win and lose points if you lose. The amount of points gained/lost depends on your current rating relative to your opponent's.

As for chess books, I haven't read any, so sry :( I only started playing chess about a year ago, and even though i enjoy it, I'm not committed enough to invest time in reading chess books.

When you first join your rating will bounce up and down like a kid on a trampoline.  Later on it's more like an old man in a hammock.  For a more profound explanation check out "Glicko RD" by typing it into the search forums box in the upper right (right under the green Post New Forum Topic).  "Beginner books"  punched into the same box will bring up more archived threads on books than you can begin to imagine.  Have fun, good luck, and welcome back to the Game.

@ Macer 75

Nope, lots of places use ELO.  This one uses the Glicko.

First of all, welcome to chess.com! Hope you enjoy it! :)

Here are some book recommendations:

My 60 Most Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer

Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev

These books have plenty of games to go over and analyze. I personally tend to favor Chernev's book because of the way he explains each move in a clear, easy-to-understand fashion.

A World Champion's Guide to Chess by Susan Polgar. Teaches tactics (ex. pins, skewers, forks), checkmating techniques, etc -- pretty much all the basics. As it's more geared towards beginners, you may find this too easy, but it's still a useful book to go over and have on hand!

Chess Tactics for Champions also by Susan Polgar

Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player by Lev Alburt. Possibly a little advanced but good to have on hand for the future.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman. This book is one of my favorites for the way it's formatted; Silman divides the lessons by class (ex. Class E = 1000-1199-rating). For example if you're a 1000-rated player, he only includes positions that need to be learned for your level of play. Positions such as Two Bishops vs. Lone King are not found until much later in the book (I believe Class C which is 1600-1799-rating!). Really good book here; highly recommend it!

As for the rating system, I think macer75 and baddogno have covered that just fine.

I suppose I got a little carried away here... but I hope this helps! :)

I thought Yasir Seirawan (sp?) books were very helpful when I first started playing again.

Wow cheers guys, brilliant response!

Dan Heisman is a coach and presenter on chess.com TV. He is also a chess author and has quite a collection of books worth doing a quick google search on to see if they interest you.

He does a Q&A programme every fortnight (I think there might be one on tonight) that you should check out, see if you like his style. There is always some really good information in that programme, if you can ignore the idiots in the chat window :).

As for additional features, you have to watch some of Daniel Rensch's videos. He is also a chess.com TV presenter but does lots of instructional videos for all levels of play.

He is funny with it, presents well and speaks to the level of the viewer (depending on the level of player the video is aimed at). It keeps you interested and you don't feel like an idiot watching them.

Also, there are chess.com TV videos called 'Melik and Me'. Melik is a GM and he presents with a chess.com staff member called BrotherJosh. Josh is a total beginner and each week he and Melik analyse a couple of Josh's games while Melik offeres instruction at each stage, lets him know where he went wrong and what he should have done instead - all at beginner level. The idea seems to be to track Josh's progress as Melik coaches him. Very good show for a beginner.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I was new here about 6 months ago and have barely scratched the surface of all this site has to offer in terms of training and information. These are just some of my top picks so far. Hope you find it useful.

welcome !

I suggest you buy Chess Tactics for Champion by Polgar,  Winning Chess Strategy and Winning Chess Endgame both by Seirawan.

Thankyou again guys !

Welcome to the site! It really is a great place to play. If you're willing to listen to a little advice from a crusty old curmedgeon, play slower games, like 10/10 or 15/10 where you can take a little time to think when you get to an interesting position. Make sure you analyze each game you play. If it's a loss, go through the moves until you come to a spot where you know you are definitely worse than your opponent. Go back a few moves until you think you are equal, then figure out what move or moves made you worse. Just my 2 cents. Enjoy the site.