everything in life costs money

tried the new learn function here yesterday and after first lesson which was--- i guess pretty good-- its cost money to continue -- life is expensive i know -- but can't someone here at least start a course that is free for beginners to at least get them sucked into to learning chess  the proper way -- if one joins this membership thing  here (which i think is expensive at least for poor retired people  like me )does the lessons become free after that ???-my bell internet rate just went up 5 dollars a month so i have try a different approach -- tried joining a local chess club -- that cost money also -- only u tube is the free avenue- for lessons -- tried buying cheap chessmaster 9000 dvd lessons but they won't play on my computer-- they say software not compatible- need windows 98 -- so alittle bit at wits end--- here-- losing more games then winning and have dropped below 250 from joining this site at 350 level -tried that other site for chess -- but this site for me is better  easier to use -- one more game here then off to utube for a while --   maybe some young turk will show me the answers i seek --- 

There is lots of free advice on chess.com, but there's SO much content, you have to dig to find it. My short answer about the right way to learn chess is the old advice of Capablanca:

a. learn endgames first

b. learn middle games as transitions to the endgame

c. learn openings as a way to get the middle game tabiyas (a Russian term referring to important pawn structures with appropriate piece placements "positions from where play begins")

The Chessmaster DVD series was a big part of my chess learning - especially Josh Waitzkin's game annotations and lessons.

Luckily, I see that all the content has been uploaded by someone to YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NucZCsISmtA&list=PL1TfIrAqsOzcNSHV00pmvNusNTqYagQfz

I believe that's over 10 hours of quality chess lessons, right there ...

Although some features on Chess.com are behind a paywall, there are still many free resources available.

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