Hey there and welcome!
The normal advice to beginners is to not focus on openings, learn basic tactical motifs and get a grip on typical endgames as you can outplay a lot of opponents in this phase of the game.
So, for the tactics, click "learn" in the menu bar and have a go with the tactics trainer. As a free member you get 3 puzzles per day. You can also find a few free sites online that offer tactics training, but I can't mention them here as it'll close the thread. There's a free online book for tactics, here's the link, it's definitely worth a read as it'll teach you the basic tactical ideas and how to implement them.
Book wise, you can check out Murray Chandler's "How to beat your dad at chess", which sounds childish, but is actually brilliant. (Some people will recommend "How to Reassess your Chess" by Silman, but I think this will be a little too advanced right now for you.)
Openings is something you'll get to grips with as you play, and I wouldn't focus on it right now. Sometimes someone will know an opening better than you and you'll crash and burn, but that's the same with pretty much anyone. Though I think that learning how to defend against the Patzer opening is worth doing early, as it's used prolificly when you play online.
For the endgame stage of the game I'd start out with Silman's Endgame Course, which is broken up into sections depending on rating. Then, after getting a few hundred rating points, you can go onto Nunn's Endgame book, or Muller's one.
As an extra, I'd like to recommend two other books, which fall into the "General" category, the first being the brilliant, if not a little advanced right now, "Lessons with a Grandmaster" where the psychologist (and amateur chess player) Joel Sneed sits down with GM Gulko and talks about a number of Gulko's games. It offers general advice, and also Gulko tests Sneed (and the reader) to pick the best move at a number of points through the game, which is really useful. Also, Gulko talks about the philosophy involved during each game, and that is where the book excels, in my opinion, as Gulko draws on advice from previous greats to explain his thinking (or a flaw in Sneed's) to the reader.
The other, which I think will be of more use to you immediately, is Neil McDonald's "The art of logical thinkng" which goes through a bunch of recent games and shows the thinking behind each move.
If you fancy an unrated correspondence game, PM me and I'll set it up. I'll offer all the help that my 1500 rating will allow.
Other than that... play, play, play. You won't win them all, but have fun doing so!
All the best,
Russell
Cliff notes: Read about tactics (Chandler's book), use a tactics trainer, read about endgames (Silman's book), play, play, play.
Hi Guys,
Don't know why but I woke up this morning thinking I've got to get back to playing chess again. Maybe 'cos my partner got me to play 2 x games of scrabble last night so I'm scrabbled out!
I haven't really played since junior school 30 + years ago, so I would like to see if there is some sort of online rating test to see what level I am at. Any ideas?
When at school chess came quite easy to me - I won both the school knockout tournament and the chess league only dropping 1 point when I arranged to draw against the girl I liked in my class! (Too competitive to let her win).
I used to play for the school team too.
I wasn't too original in my playing - the only defence I remember using was the pirc defence but it seemed to work quite well.
Any recommendations on books to take my playing to the next level when I restart? I know that may depend on an assessment score but let me know your thoughts.
And by the way, yes, I did turn into an accountant..... :(
Haven't explored this site yet but looking forward to playing some online games soon.
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Mike