Hi, beginnner questions. Help me please :)

Hey there chess.com, my first post.

I have played around 50-100 casual games but I had no idea of openings of concepts and didnt actually know there were tounaments etc. happening (I know, a sheltered life).

I have a few questions about starting to learn chess; I hope I can fine some answers here and sorry in advance, they are probably posted every day.

1) Is it normal to find it very hard to follow algebraic notation? I also have the issue with watching videos with people referring to squares i.e e4 then knight to f3.

2) Are there any simple opening with not many variations for white which you could recommend? I'm only playing as black as with white I just overextend or get my development interrupted and end up exchanging and ruining my position.

3) When I try to develop the King's indian I often get pawn rushed by the computer to e5, and have to withdraw the knight or exchange early on. What should I do here, just play d6 early?

4) I can't really see tactical plays in advance, I can attack or defend certain squares but can't see past 3 moves, is this normal? How can I advance my planning, by doing puzzles?

Thanks is advance. Sorry for my noob questions, I have a feeling I embarrased myself...

1.Not at all.  I got the hang of it within a few minutes.  It's that intuitive.

2. 1.b3 and 1.Nf3 with the idea of a reversed Queen's or Nimzo-Indian, but if you're trying to avoid tons of variations you may know you're weak at calculation and may want to look into that.  If you're having trouble with overextending then simply develop pieces, castle, then push pawns.  Sometimes timing is critical (e.g., 1.e4,e6 2.d4,d5 3.e5 or else black has the option of 3.Nc3,dxe4, still quite playable for both sides but now your e5 option is off the table)

3.Stay away from the King's Indian!  Petrosian, who was a world champion and therefore consistently defeated people infinitely better than you and me, bragged about feeding his family off people who misplay the King's Indian, or something to that effect.  You risk getting pushed off the board and you need to know tons of variations, something you yourself said you didn't want.  I'd recommend either the Bogo-Nimzo Indian complex or the QGD.  QGA is a little risky, but just remember as black against d4 you want to prepare ...c5 and pressure that d4 pawn.  White can trip over himself trying to hang onto it for dear life.  

4. There's a Quality Chess book on how to spot tactics:

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/products/2/140/chess_tactics_from_scratch_-_uct_2nd_edition_by_martin_weteschnik/

As for planning you want My System to start with.  It'll go over certain strategic concepts and some imbalances. 

You have not embarased yourself.We all started from where you are , none of us born knowing these things , not even the World Champion.

1)Of course it is normal.Read a lot of games and soon it will be easy to find the squares.Learning to read games is something you must do  , if you want to improve.Seems difficult at start but becomes very easy very soon.

2)Yes there are simple openings.You don't need any opening theory for now.

3)King's Indian for you is a nonsense.Play 1.e4 or 1.d4 as white , 1...d5 against 1.d4 and 1...e5 against 1.e4 and follow , as much as you can, the basic opening principles. 

4)You need a lot of games and a lot of tactical puzz before you are able to see more than 3 moves.Don't worry , seems very difficult now , but becomes easier later.

p.s.Message me if you need more info.

It is huge mistake to talk to a beginer for 1.b3 and 1.Nf3 and reversed Nimzo-Indian.

for 2) you should play openings which you can play intuitively

for example the italian, scotch and some variations of the spanish with white; two knights, petrov, queens gambit with black

3) you cannot improve your planning with tactical puzzles. you can improve spotting tactics and calculation with those. for better planning you'll need positional knowledge. things like: pawn levers, which side to play, when to exchange, weaknesses etc.

Howcome?  I figure since it's intuitive, safe, very few forcing variations, lightsquared bishop goes to either b5 or e2 depending on black's choice, and early kingside castling is possible with c4 and d4 strikes possible it's a viable choice that meets his criteria.  I'd normally recommend 1.e4 but you need to learn lots of variations or else black will know the territory much better.  You need something vs. French, Caro-Kahn, different open Sicilians, Ruy Lopez Schliemann, Archangelsk, Berlin Wall, etc.  1.e4 is quite a lot of work theoretically. 

Your right, you did embarrass yourself. Can't follow that type of notation? Development interruption? Computer to e5? Can't see tactics? You don't learn chess just by coming here posting stupid questions.

I can't see any stupid questions here, just one stupid answer...

Openings... learn to develop fast. White play king pawn, king knight, queen pawn, queen knight... then bishops and castle. White moves first so keep that edge by forcing black to respond to you, to get your pieces out and the center under your control... black, play the king or queen pawn up depending what white plays, try to develop fast and fight for the center...

Tactics takes time to learn the combination types and a lot of time to recognize then in games. You will get better at it. I am...

I totally agree!!!!

Now I am sure he is confident with the opening. After all, he can't read notation.

1) it is perfectly normal in the start not to have full board awareness it requires a lot of work. after playing chess you will start to see moves on a virtual board in your mind and you will find f3 without even trying. You should also learn things like a1 to h8 diagonal is black.

having full board awareness will lead to less blunders.

4) doing a lot of Tactics trainer each day and you will begin to see a lot of tactics in game.

Didn't even use notation in my response, got anything positive to add?

Play the london-system. Easy to remember. Sound system. 

white's moves are d4, Bf4, Nf3, e3, c3, Nbd2, Bd3, and usually 0-0(castling short).  Nf3 goes to e5. Then Qf3, Qh3 and you attack the kingside. 

If you lose always try to find out why so you won't repeat it the next time around. 

1) sit down with a chess board and look at each square say to yourself

a1 black

a2 white

a3 black

it will take some time. but it is only 64 squares to memorize.

repeat this exercise till you know each square.

after a while you will know f3 without looking at the chess board.

Try the four knight's defense and do tactics puzzels. 

I'm still learning and making lots of errors. The notation isn't too difficult, pay attention to it as you play here. One thing I learned is playing against a computer really never helped me. I just learned to play against the particular program. Playing online here against players with ratings from 600-1750+ really gives you great experience. I would also suggest sticking to one or two openings. I usually play Queen's or King's gambit.

Thanks for all the comments, really I am genuinely impressed with this site. 1/20 trolls isn't bad at all, and I have had lots of friendly messages. I will take on board everything that has been said. I realise I skipped a lot; easy to do when you learn only from the internet. I will go to scratch and learn principles before trying to get into actual openings etc.

@pawnstogo, I'm not entirely sure why you think I can't literally read the notation. All I said was that I find it difficult and it takes me time. The 'not being able to read the langauge' analogy is incorrect as I speak multiple langauges.

Not to become a keyboard warrior though, thanks for the tips and hopefully I learn to not get hammered by the beginner computer, ha.

                    Well I'm impressed.  That went well. He's got potential.

1. No. 

2. No. 

3. Not gonna touch that it'd take too long.

4. Yes.