Any Tips For Beginners?

I am a thirty-nine year old guy from England, I have just discovered chess.com from a search engine...although I have never played before, I thought it might be fun to learn chess and join this site. I am learning the basic rules of chess, layout of the board, basic moves, etc... Would other users recommend that I learn chess via the internet, or would it be easier for me to join an actual local club or get some private tuition?

I hope everyone is having a good day, today. :)

best advice:DON'T take up chess.it's worse than cocaine!! lol!!

but seriously though...playing both at a club and the internet can't hurt!

hi CerebralAssassin, thanks for the advice and i really like your sense of humour. :)

i think it is sometimes a good idea to learn by 'trial and error', like with most things in life.

Check the following:

"Introduction

	If you know nothing at all about the game of chess other than the 
	rules, there still things that you can do right away to help you win 
	more games.  You won't be beating tournament players, but you can rise
	above your current level by studying the right things.  The same 
	principle applies to all levels of players.  There are things that
	you can do immediately to win more games.

	The key to chess improvement is pattern recognition.  Whether you 
	realize it or not, to improve at chess you must reprogram your brain 
	to see things that you did not see before.   You can do this by 
	studying at least 20 minutes of tactics per day.  I provide 1,500 
	tactics problems for you to study, and I also recommend some of the 
	best tactics books.

	I also provide instruction in other areas of the game, and recommend a 
	system for memorizing openings and other things when that becomes 
	necessary.

	All the lessons here build upon the lessons that come before them.
	If you want to start at one of the higher levels, first review
	the simpler lessons."

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com/index1.htm

From what I am learning so far, it seems really important to grasp the basic rules of the game, first. Then again, isn't this true of all tactical games? I am drawn to chess because it is a calm and measured contest and a really good way to exercise your brain cells> :)

I must admit to finding the bit about 'castling' a bit confusing, but the other rules about moving pieces seem straightforward enough, in their basic form.

First - join a good OTB club (over the board, meaning in real life).  This will help keep you motivated, a good club is full of friendly members, and it's hard to explain why but there truly are lessons you can only learn over the board.  Online is more convienent, but it's no replacement for a real life chess club.

Second - learn overkill checkmates, here's a page I just found using google: http://chess.about.com/od/tipsforbeginners/ss/KQvsK.htm  There is nothing more fustrating in chess then whittling your opponents forces down to his king, checking him a lot of times, and never managing to checkmate him.  By learning how to checkmate with an extra queen/rook, this is a lot less likely to happen.

Third - Play games.  Well duh.  Some will tell you to study chess puzzles at this point, but that is not the most efficent way to study until you hit your first plateau IMO.  Also, puzzles aren't quite as exciting as chess.

The rest (like efficent ways to study) can come later.  Play some games, and have some fun =).  Be warned though, on online servers the first few games will probably be against much stronger players, so don't worry if you lose (also keep in mind how these opponents played and maybe try to copy them a little).  Eventually, your rating will adjust and you will be playing opponents around your skill level, probably 600-900 elo.

Honestly there is a lot to learn in chess, and there is a lot to learn, but IMO thats all you really need to learn to start.  If you want to speed up the learning process,  I suggest picking up a beginners chess book to give you some good ideas on how to go about things (Note: to read chess literature, record games, and communicate with other chess players, you have to learn algebraic chess notation.  Google it) .  That way you don't have to learn as many things through trial and error.

MilkyBar,

Here's some links ...

• Rules (right here on chess.com)
• 10 Tips to Winning Chess (USCF site)
• Best novice articles in the universe by Dan Heisman (this goes to latest, see archives from the beginning).

Good luck.

great advice. thankyou so much.

i will pick up a book for beginners and i will check out what 'algebraic chess notation' is, too. sounds so complicated, but it probably isn't! LOL!

Oops, almost forgot.

Learn the value of each piece.  Otherwise you might start throwing away material without knowing it.  Do you know if two rooks are more important then two knights and a bishop?  If not, read on.

Pawn = 1

Knights, bishops = 3

Rook = 5

Queen = 9

In additoin, after each game I suggest pausing after each game to figure out how your opponent won pieces/checkmated your king.  This is both to copy their methods, and to figure out ways to prevent these nasty tactics next time.  If you don't know, ask other chess players (including your opponent) to explain the tactic to you after the game.