Frustrated Beginner

Hello all,

I've recently decided to try and pick up Chess because it's something I've always wanted to be good at.  Unfortunately, i'm having trouble starting out since I don't really know any good openings and I have a hard time learning/not getting frustrated from my losses.  If anybody has any tips or ideas, they would be much appreciated.  I really don't want to give up on this game.

Openings really don't matter for you. The game is almost never decided in the opening until you're much much higher level. Put a pawn in the center, get all your pieces into the fight and castle, that's more than enough.

Your first thing as a beginner is to make sure you don't lose any pieces just because you didn't see that they were attacked and undefended, and to win all the pieces that your opponent just drops like that. And to learn how to win the game once you have a few pieces more.

Concentration, that's the key.

Edit: and blitz chess isn't the way to learn. Play slow games.

So, would you recommend 30 minute games?  I've been playing 10 minute chess and time has never really been an issue.

You will want to play longer games. This will give you more time to think and spot things. Getting into the habit of moving quickly won't help you whatsoever. You may also want to study up a little. The first place that comes to mind for me is WiichessVids on Youtube which has quite a few of IM Waitzkin's Annotated games where he walks you through important concepts. There are stronger players out there, but his teaching style is easy to understand and follow so it may be a good starting point.

Otherwise I agree with kik, ignore the openings. Learn more about chess theory in general. Once you do that, you will start to figure out strong openings without ever having to look them up.

just keep learning. study some tactics. study some basic mating patterns. study some basic endgames. look at master games to get a feel for how they develop. play against a computer program gradually increasing levels of playing strength. keep a chess notebook with some insights you gather along the way.

I started studying chess in highschool and i didn't know anything compared to where I am now. I knew very little. Still learning, of course.

Not to sound like a know it all, but beginners are taught that the squares are just squares, but the squares are really intersections. that's a helpful insight. click the link to see an animated gif

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jOjZrxEzNC4/UXl5H5IVsHI/AAAAAAAAA7k/5i6oxyMrIFQ/s1600/chess+GIF16.gif

Don't be frustrated - as a beginner you're supposed to lose a lot (and hopefully learn something out of mistakes).

I feel your pain, Ive been playing for about a couple of years and Ive come to realize that chess is a hard game to study. Ive bought several books that havent seemed to help. I watch videos all the time and every once in a while I find something that I can hold on to that makes sense and helps my game. Most of the books and videos say to get better you have to go back and really study the games you've lost and understand where the game took a turn for the worse and what you could have done to stop it. The tactics trainer on this site is pretty good too. As frustrated as Ive become Ive never lost the love of this game.

I really agree with all the above comments.  Study a favorite opening and try to stick to that for a while.  Play for position, instead of tricks or traps, although you need to watch out for traps you might fall into. 

Forks and pins are something good to learn and watch out for.

He hasn't been here for three months.

I have a question.  I started chess in junior high.  Not to much worth remembering there.  But by the time I was 19, I started regular playing with a good tourament player.  Lost every game except 1 draw for 3 years.  But learned alot.  Always beat all my friends, also lost to tournament players.

I'm retired/disabled and thinking about picking it up again.  I have alot of concepts that I don't know if they are sound.

EX.  advanced pawns to the fifth rank are hard to defend at the start or midgame.  I have good endgame strag's but have hard time living through a strong offence against my openings.

Any advice.

Good for him. Clearly he wasn't enjoying Chess a whole lot.

He said he didn't want to give up on it.

That just isn't true. Beginners are almost always outplayed in the opening. Getting to at least a playable middlegame is a hard task even if you know opening principles. Learning an opening is essential and losing dozens of games due to opening traps is simply an unavoidable part of the process.

I picked up the game in February and I continue to play the same opening over and over. Ruy Lopez as white, it is simple and follows general chess principles.

Before you move check that all of your pieces are protected because the most common mistake I made was to leave pieces hanging, count how many enemy pieces are attacking your pawns or pieces. If you do not what move to play try to develop a piece. If all of your pieces are develop, look for squares where they could be better placed.

Be patient, chess is a complex game and it takes time, practice, and study to begin to understand it!!! Good luck.

Go to ChessTempo.com and do tactics until your eyes bleed.

Really.  If you want to start improving and you're picking chess up later in life, you're not even going to see the board until you've done about 100 hours of tactics training along with playing long games and analyzing them with stronger players.

Trust me. I was staring at 1200 problems like they were another language for quite some time because...well, because they were.  You need to just do so many that eventually you start speaking the language.  Repetition and review. I just can't emphasize enough how basically all chess knowledge will be a waste of your time until you can start speaking the tactical language.  What good is the book you just read on pawn structure if you're still hanging a pawn and a piece a game? 

I've put a lot of effort into this game in a short period of time and I still win only about half of my games against ~1300 rated players on ICC.  And I'm making blazing progress compared to most of the people I talk to regularly who picked the game up within the past year.

It's a marathon - not a sprint.