Beginner's Depression

Though I've known how to play chess (or rather, I've known the rules) for years, I've always been a move-by-move "reactionary" sort of player, with no strategy or anticipation whatsoever. I don't get to play often, but have always enjoyed the game and thought I'd get myself on this site, start playing a little more, and actually take the time to learn something about tactics.

Been giving Chess Mentor a shot, and I've found that I end up guessing rather than actually being able to work out what the hell's going on.  If I do finally hit on the correct move, I read the explanation as to why it's a good move and I'm still none the wiser.  Now, I'm not one of these people who expects miracles - I know that chess is one of the many things that takes time and practice before one sees an improvement - but before I get too depressed at the horrendously steep learning curve that lies ahead, do any of you chaps/chapesses have any hints as to how to get started?

(And of course, feel free to call me a moron and tell me to give up!)

Learn the endgame first as Capablanca, Tarrash, Smylov, Spassky all the great GM's recommended it's the life of chess and the key to chess mastery.

I'm kind of a beginner myself, though I've been playing for over ten years. After really watching master games live, online, I'm beginning to see, quite often for me, why grandmasters make their moves. I studied openings when I began, because I couldn't understand them. That only made me be able to name the opening for the first 3-5 moves and follow it, but without understanding why. Then I just played tons of games for years, losing most of them. But I also won maybe one out of four games, which I was pretty proud of. Now, I can and have followed live master games, and can anticipate enough of their moves to make it exciting to watch. So, I believe playing a lot, and testing what I learned by watching master games of chess was probably the best for me.

I find progress in chess comes in sudden leaps and is not a gradual thing.  You may not feel you are learning anything, but your subconscious is trying to put things together.  One day a light will come on and what you have been studying will suddenly make sense.  When I first started studying the middlegame, I had a USCF rating of 1500.   My rating dropped to about 1300, then one tournament it suddenly shot up to 1700.   In my case I was studying pawn structures and thematic pawn breaks.  One day it hit me that I was making the  pawn breaks prematurely and that timing was everything.

Just play and have fun.

Hi.

If you have problem with tactics, I recomend that you try analyzing master games. The catch is to find the games with textual commentaries that explain motives behind the moves, and why GM chose certain move and not the other. I found that best book for begginers is "Introduction into chess" by Vladimir Vukovic, only I haven't found it on amazon.uk and don't know if it's translated into english. There are however two other books by same author that you might find helpful - "The art of attack" and "Chess sacrifice". Also, Bronsteins book about Zurich Candidates tournament is very good, only you moght find it a little above your head. The exercise that helped me to develop the sense for the board and pieces on it was reading game collections without the board and trying to follow the game from one diagram to the other.

P.S. Doesn't "male gender include female when spoken in general"? You don't say teacheress or doctoress. Anyway, female version of chaps should be chips.

The problem is being reactionary. In my chess classes, I teach my students not to panic when faced with an opponent's move that appears to be creating a big problem for the student. Your opponent is often banking on the fact that you will panic and react with a quick defensive move that may not be the ideal choice. The next time you start to react with a quick defense move, stop and look over the board. Ask yourself "is there a move I can make that will put great pressure on my opponent's position?"

Many good players known that sometimes the threat is great than the actual play. If an opponent threatens one of your pieces, play it out in your mind. Determine whether or not your opponent is going to gain an advantage by taking your attacked piece. Many beginners panic when their Knight on f3 becomes pinned to their Queen by a Bishop. This is a relative pin. Continue developing. You don't have to immediately break the pin.

Use good opening principles to guide your opening no matter what your opponent throws at you. Chess is a team sport so use your pieces to protect one another rather than going for quick tactical strikes. Play for position rather than fast tactics. Build up pressure and have an eleastic game plan. Many players create a game plan that is to rigid. A game's dynamics can change in a single move and your plan has to be flexible to compensate for the constantlt changing landscape of the chess board.

When I teach, the first half of the class is a lecture dedicated to a master game that I analyze for my students. I have learned most of what I know by analyzing master games. Find some Andrew Martin chess videos. He has a great way of explaining moves in a master game in an easy to understand way.

Hi Falconermusic

I am in much the same boat as you, and am currently giving the free 10 day premium membership a go - so that I can use Chess Mentor.  I have completed two courses (starting with the easiest levels first), and it is very encouraging when things start to slowly connect and make sense.  On Monday night I managed to get my rating up to 1490, but due to some major (obvious!?) errors tonight - I am now back down to 1201 

Note to self ......  don't even attempt to improve your chess ability after a long week at work and your brain is fried!

Good luck, and keep at it.

Teresa

It's a long way to be a chess player. Nothing to it but to do it.

 Remember it is just a shit game! certainly does not mean anyone is special if they are good at it. way more important things to do in life then dwell on this game, or any other for that matter.

Looking at master games is a good way to start. When I started to learn how to play chess, my grandfather helped me study the endgame of old GM games.

Same here.

I use master games in my school program. It will jump your game up greatly. However, you have to really determine why each move was made. I sya this because too many times, I have sat down to analyze a game when I was tired and have missed a few key points. study when you're refreshed and awake.

Ok, I have coached people, and of course, what you need to work on is whatever phase you are having problems in.

If you tend to lose during moves 1-12, you are probably opening "deficient"

I suggest learning a basic opening line (preferably the italian game, because it is so simple) and try and figure out the ideas behind the opening (in the italian game, you want to hit f7 as quickly as you can)

If you tend to lose when there are a lot of pieces on the board (which is the middlegame), I suggest that you practice your defensive and tactical skills. For defensive skills, you just need to keep practicing. For tactical skills, I suggest chesstempo.com for tactics practice. Also, it is a good idea to find your opponents weaknesses and attack them. Sometimes your opponent will have a weak pawn, so you should pile up on it with all your pieces. Other times, a weak square is exploitable. on other occasions, you will just be in a position, where its a simple one, where you just want to play solid. Most players I encounter love to play with no plan in mind, which is why they lose.

If you lose when there are few pieces (like a Rook and a few pawns) then you are having trouble with your endgame. This is very easy to improve on. There are a few theoretical positions you will have to learn, but besides that, you will want to learn the basic mates (K+R, K+Q, K+2B) and you will want to learn basic draws. all of this should help you in general to improve your game.

Some books that I can suggest are:

FCO/MCO(for openings)

The life and games of Mikhail Tal

My 60 memorable games (by Bobby Fischer)

Silman's endgame course

How to Reassess your chess (by silman)

The Amateurs mind (by silman)

and any fundamental book on the opening you like to play (ex: how to play the sicilian)

also, I coach, if that helps. I have multiple students, so I cant do it all the time, but just message me, and I will help out a bit.

 Silman's Endgame Course is great! I've already started improving my endgame since I started the book a month or so ago.

At least as a beginner you are sustained by the false hope that you will eventually not suck.

The opening: I think I have the advantage

The middlegame: I have no idea whats going on

Endgame: I know I'm dead lost.

Who was it that said something like, 'There are three stages of a chess game. The first, when you're sure you're ahead, the second when you think you're ahead, and the third when you know you're going to lose.'? If someone could tell me who said it and what the exact quote is, I'd appreciate it.