Solve tactical puzzles. Its single handedly the most effective means of improving as a beginner. I spent a lot of time studying strategy thinking I could ignore tactics. While studying strategy will help, it will not help as much as tactics will simply because almost all of your games will be won or lost due to a tactic.
Best way to gt better at chess?
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Thanks, any good apps or ways to train my tactics?
blindfold chess
The best android app for chess tactics so far is "ChessPuzzle" by Yan Levesque.
LINK: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.levesque.chesspuzzle&hl=en
You get 14,000 chess tactics puzzles ranging from easy (+11 points) to difficult (+20 points). If you solve the puzzle, you get points. If you fail, you lose points. Not timed, so you can take as long as you want to solve the puzzle.
Jun 30, 2013
0
#6
All good advice except for your endgame comment which I couldn't disagree more with. Studying endgames is extremely important even for beginners. Its much more important than knowing deep positional ideas. Having more endgame knowledge will win you a lot of games when you know more than your opponent. You'd be surprised how poorly some high rated players play in the endgame sometimes.
Dargone wrote:
Repetitious study of basic tactics, going over master games and working on your analysis skills.
A note on thought process and analysis skills. The reason a nine year old kid can beat a 40 year old who has read 100 chess books is because the nine year old is a better analyst. So make sure you are constantly working on your thought process and analysis skills. This is advice that you rarely get, but before I started taking lessons I was very weak here.
Also, don't spend too much time on openings or endgames. The endgame comment will ruffle some feathers, but as an experienced class player who is improving and taking lessons with Dan Heisman I can tell you my games are won or lost in the middle game.
Here are some books that have served me well -
Chess Tactics for Students by Bain
Silman's Endgame Course
Chess Opening Essentials (4 volume set)
Chess Strategy for Kids
In regard to Chess Strategy for Kids, don't let the title fool you. This is a great book that covers a lot of ground for beginners (e.g. tactics, basic strategy, basic opening principles, basic endgames).
The opening essentials books are fantastic and will serve you well until you become a strong intermediate player and begin to focus more on your opening repertoire.
Silman's book is divided by level (USCF) and is probably all you need on endgames until you become an intermediate player. I've read a section above my rating and it's more than enough. Again, most amateur games are decided in the middle game.
I cannot recommend the Bain book strongly enough. It's 300 basic tactics that cover all the motifs (e.g. pins, discovered attacks). I cut them out and made flashcards. I'm actually finishing up my last run through of the set because at this point I solve most of them in a few seconds. This is what you want. Pattern recognition of basic tactics. I've got several books lined up to continue this process (using Dan Heisman's suggested list).
Hopefully that helps! While there is more than one way to skin a cat, these books have served me well. My results in the National Open were great and I even played a section up. In fact, I had my weekly lesson with Dan Heisman this past Friday and he feels that my USCF rating is too low and that I played in the right section. Encouraging words indeed!
Thanks for the advice! For a beginner, if I could only purchase one book due to financial problems, what would you guys recommend? And what app for iPhones?
Create your own personal book of lessons. In it, list the fundamental reason you won or lost every game you played. The fundamental reasons for winning will teach you what to repeat. The fundamental reasons for losing will show you where you need to improve. Over time, you will create a pattern of success based on your own playing style and preferences.
The road is long :). For beginners: the reason that you dont have like 1200 FIDE/USCF what-ever in rating is that you blunder material. So remember these 3 steps for every move:
1) Check your opponents threats. If he has any: fix the problem so you dont lose material.
2) Decide for a move.
3) double-check that you are not giving away material for free after your move
...when your are an expert in the above. Let us know :) then its time for the next step :D
Follow @Estragon's suggestions in Post #14, to the letter.
Imbibe and learn cold the following two books --
Paul Littlewood, Chess Tactics, (1993), and Jeremy Silman, Essential Chess Endings Explained Move by Move, (1992). Both books are relatively short.
Ignore the rest of this thread, it's a massive amount of blather.
Sorry guys, but the OP is rated well under 1000 in blitz and standard, and your suggestions would fill a large library, or even a two-car garage. 
I would agree with the old soviet system by working from endgame first. If you REALLY want to get better, then the BEST way to get better is by playing long games of chess. By this, I mean 40 moves in 2 or 2 and a half hours. To be honest, I SUCK at blitz. If all you play is blitz chess, you will NEVER get better. Play in tournaments. Go over the games with your opponent after the tournament games. I would highly suggest learning Kotov's candidate move system as part of your REPERTIORE in playing chess. This is a very important concept to understand if you want to get better at chess. However, don't use it solely as the only thing you know about chess. Use it with positional understanding that you learn about the game of chess. Going back to KNOWING your endgames. If you know your endgames, you will have a better knowledge about what strategy you can make in order for the game to lead into a more favorable endgame for you. For example, can you trade from what looks like a lost position, down to less material, but into a well known fortress draw? The biggest mistake I see patzers make EVERYDAY, is they trade from a drawn rook and pawn endgame into a completely lost King and Pawn endgame. The people above me say study tactics, and I completely agree with them. However, do not try to memorize positions. Rather, use part of your repertoire I talked about before. Kotov's candidate move system. Remeber that this system will only help you analytically. You need to know than analytical information in chess. POSITIONAL play is also very important. Before you play, think through a move and ask if this is the best move you see. What is the best move? The BEST move is the move that will usually lead the position on the board to the most desirable position for YOU. What is desirable? That is very interpretive, and is for YOU to find out. Above all, remember that the game of chess ascends all knowledge. The way YOU play is the different from the way I play. That doesn't make you better from me. That doesn't make me better from you. That makes us DIFFERENT. I have given you one tool for your repertoire. That is, Kotov's canidate move system. There are many other tools available. Some even heeding more positional guidance than analytical. Whatever you use may or may not work in your favor. There is NO right way to play. There are many wrong ways to play, but choose your path carefully.
Whenever I played white, I played the Bishop's Opening (1. e4 e5 2. Bc4). But I played two live chess games today in a row and won both. The first I was White. I had seen a forum post about the queen's gambit, and it seemed interesting, so I tryed it in this game. Guess what? I won. But it wasn't just that. I had a good position in the game, but I was down a few points. So then, I forked my opponent's queen and knight with my bishop with their rook right behind their queen (diagonally). They moved their queen. I took the knight. Later, they put their queen right in front diagonally of their king, setting up a bishop pin. I did that, also using a discovered attack as the bishop was in front of my rook before. The bishop was guarded by my queen. So my opponent was forced to take my bishop and then I took back (with my queen). So my suggestion is: go out of your comfort zone. But also, be aware of opportunities. And then find a way to force those opportunities to come. As Sherlock Holmes says to Doctor Watson, you see, but do not observe. I add, you see but do not understand. You see, but do not apply.
Best way to get better at chess? What is the best paid app to improve chess skills? Mind you that I am a semi-beginner but I'd like to get to a competitive level. Thanks!