Hi I am new here

Oh ok actually when you put it like that its obvious ha sorry! x

I'm sorry too, for maybe spelling it out too pedantically. But really wanting to learn to play chess well means some tough decisions, because many people actually think bullet is chess and don't like playing slower than 5 minutes. You really need 20 mins minimum per game so you can try to think about reasons for moves. Also following some games played by good players is useful. I would say not by masters because they're apt to be too clever for their own good. The most solid players are around 1800 FIDE. That's maybe 1900 USCF or perhaps 2050 here. But the level of opponent you play against to practise should be around maybe 1200. At least they should understand some of the basics. You should play with people who know how to develop their pieces. If they fool about trying to show off by attacking before their pieces are developed, thank them kindly and move on.

I can't find a game for 20 mins its just 10 or 30 mins no? Also I am playing a game over 24 hours though which is helping me.

Use numbers to quote, it's easier to understand

Sorry what does this mean??

He's Scottish. Nothing wrong with that but he doesn't even know his own name.

i think he wants you to reply to a specific post like I'm replying to #67. That's all very well until someone gets muted and their posts disapper so the others have different numbers.

disappear
I knew I could spell it. I really must do some work.

#69 that is true, if I could I'd use the proper quotes, but the browser version of forums is not easy to use on my device. When ppl quote with the whole other comment in their own tho it's hard to see where their own message starts

Oh ok so quote the replies I thought its easier to just reply with quote marks no???

You're not being blonde. You've just started your journey, as all of us have had to.

There is a huge amount to learn, and it's best to start by keeping things really simple.

1 Blunder check, both the move your opponent just made (can you just take the piece he just moved? If so, what can he do in response?), and the move you're planning to make. (Can he just take it for free?)

2. Simple opening principles. Put one pawn on d4 or e4. Support it with your pieces and other pawns, and try to control other centre squares with your pieces and pawns. Develop your pieces and get castled.

3. Basic checkmates. Back rank and ladder mates. Also learn how to mate with king and queen or king and rook against lone king.

4. Simple tactics - forks, pins and skewers.

This barely scratches the surface, but it should be enough to gain you several hundred rating points.

Not on his phone, apparently. He calls his phone Apparently for some reason that isn't apparent or for no reason I know of. I suspect him of liking excellent American comedians of the 1950s. He's nearly 96, which is older than me, which is quite something. He knows that young females of the opposite sex will fall for him without fail, because of his name. Everything's so predictable here.

Hi thank you soo much for this I will try it x

Here are a couple of matters where I see differences of opinion within the community.

First, do you need to learn any openings? My view is that you should learn opening principles before learning openings, otherwise you won't understand the point of the moves or what to do when you reach the limit of your learned lines. Also the three other areas I indicated above, to the depth I've suggested, will be more useful to you at this stage, and will probably exhaust your chess learning ability, at least for a while.

Second, are puzzles helpful for a player at your level? I think they are. I recommend the puzzle rush, not for the rush element of it, but because the first half-dozen or so puzzles you get are really easy. The first one or two are sometimes as simple as "his queen is hanging, just take it.". If not, then they are simple one-move checkmates. The more you do, the faster you'll get at spotting them, and the more likely that you will notice such opportunities when they arise in your games.

The three free puzzles you get each day are, on average a bit harder that the first few in the puzzle rush, but still pretty easy. By all means try them but don't worry too much if you can't do them. The puzzle of the day is usually much harder.

This is another just-played game. Among other things, it's an example of why a new player should make some kind of basic study of openings. This is because after the first three moves by both sides, the analysis engine doesn't like it at all for black and gives it as +1.3 for white. Yet it's a major opening, called the Modern Benoni and therefore it cannot favour white as much as that. maybe a little bit perhaps, like +0.4.

It's also another example of herding an opponent's king into a mating net. The checkmate at the end was one move faster if I didn't win the opponent's queen. Otherwise, after about the fifth move black was always better than white.

If it takes you 20 seconds to complete a blunder check, then you won't have time during a blitz game, or even a fast rapid, to do blunder checks. But if you don't do blunder-checks because you don't have time, how will you ever get faster at doing them?

^^ Very good point. Start off slowly if you really want to improve. Join a local club. You need to learn to think deeply when you're starting off. Play some Daily games. Not too many though. Two days per move or maybe three, with vacations. I take it you don't live online? If you're impatient, you won't improve so fast.

There's soo much to learn with this ahhhh my tiny mind is exploding!!!!

That's why the four-point plan I posted above is so simple. There's no point in overloading your brain with new and difficult concepts. The hardest part of the plan is the blunder check, not because it's difficult to understand or do, but because it requires sustained concentration. A momentary lapse, and there goes your queen. It's happened to all of us, and still happens to most of us from time to time, even at 1200, 1300, 1400...

And you can count on it happening, time and time again, to your opponents at 300, 400, 500... That's how you win at your level - by punishing your opponent's blunders and avoiding blundering yourself.

Thank you these pointers I am soo in need of and I really appreciate this! xxx

See the OP closed their account. You'll never get your furniture advice now @Bishop_e3. Bit weird you had those pictures though.