Hi I am new

Hi,

I am very much a beginner

I have been playing against friends and family for years, but very basic and not serious in any way.

I have recently joined this site and play chess elsewhere, online as well. I have tried to take in as much info as I can from playing/chess tips sites and here.

My problem is , I usually try to get either the king/queen pawn out and try to set up my bishops/knights in the middle of the board and try to castle early(as most beginner guides say, and usually that is the easy part).  I seem to get to a point where I have to either make an attacking move and lose a lot of my pieces or  start backtracking and get stuck.

Should I persevere  with what I am doing and learn some more before trying something else?. should I start attacking earlier and not worry so much about getting set in the opening stages?

Any help would be much apreciated

Cheers

It seems like you have the basics down. My advice would be to play through some master games, and buy a book of games by one particular grandmaster and adopt them as your hero. Jeremy Silman book selection will improve your game while for the time being i would steer clear of opening books but it would be beneficial to learn some of the main lines of popular openings.

edit: on hints and tips, these will only go so far with learning, i think you need specific study of certain positions. 

Thanks Graw81,

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by "master games"?

I think I will just keep on trying with what I am doing and perhaps look into getting a book, if budget allows.

My main prob is getting my pieces out and the finding I have to backtrack to save them. Perhaps i need to find a ballance there somehow...

Cheers 

 Yeah I think I need to look more closely at where I am putting my pieces rather than trying to get them out so I can castle (I am still unsure on how to work out which side to castle)

Cheers

I am not sure how to post a game?  do i just view one of my last games and post the link on the FEN string thing?

 Ok perhaps I need to learn more about that.... I did say I was a beginner

Thanks TalFan:

Here is another:

You can probably gather that I got frustrated and resigned in both games...

But I thought I had a good start in each, although it all went pear shaped.

I have many games like this... 

I'm not sure about 5. Na3. Especially after , ...a6 it leaves it quite hemmed in? But I think the real problem was not protecting your e pawn after 9...Qd7. Would it have been better to have exchanged bishops or brought your knight back into play before launching an attack with your pawns?

But I make no claim to be an expert by any stretch...

I agree withg Loomis, hold on to your pieces and you will progress. The best way yo do that is to slow down. If you were playing over the board, I would tell you to play "left-handed", a ruse to get you to be more careful. Further, get your mind conditioned to think not only about you are doing but what your opponent is doing. What are his strengths, what are his threats, what is guarded, what isn't. Condition your mind to think this way.

As to master games, the best master to learn from for beginners is Capablanca.

Go to chessgames.com and search for games played by Capablanca. Simple, eligant, forceful and outstanding endgames. Good luck.

I agree with mxdplay4. I also think the analysis board can be especially helpful when you are playing games on chess.com. It can help you look at the board from the other player's perspective and get you to think a few moves in advance.