Introducing myself, advice appreciated!

So i've obviously just recently joined chess.com and i have just learnt how to play the game. I'm a middle aged man so i have absolutely no intentions of become a titled player or anything ridiculous like that. I'm here to see if chess can become my new hobby and to have some fun.

I've spent the last few days trawling the forums for advice on how to get better and it seems that tactics is the way to go so i will do some work with the tactics trainer. I've also learnt that there is some very crazy people on your forums!

Anyway, if anyone can spare some not too complicated advice that would be great. Also, i would to have a performance oriented goal to reach by the end  of the year. If anyone has any ideas that would be great.

One last thing, would type of games should i play? if i have to play daily games, then how many? If i have to play live games, Then what time format?

Thanks and nice to meet you all.

Since I am a blitz player I like playing 15|10 to try my hand on longer time controls.  I think of myself as a slow chess thinker, as when I play 3 minutes I often lose with time unless my opponent never played speed chess before or isn't nearly as good as me.  So I play mainly 10 minute chess now if I am playing blitz, but OTB I still play 3 minute chess with my friends, even though I know I will lose to one of them all the time on 3 minutes, simply because I am not good enough, nor can think fast enough, to beat some of my opponents OTB who are probably rated 1800 OTB.  There is another opponent I play against OTB 3 minute games who I sometimes checkmate, but when I don't, I will just simply lose on time .  There are days where he can checkmate me a lot to, so we are pretty much even in skill, however, I think he wins a little more simply because he has an extra man, because he is just simply faster than I am at making moves.  

The truth is we don't know where your strenghs are.  Do you prefer to play daily chess, and write a lot of notes on your games in an effort to study openings and different variations of chess openings?  Or do you prefer live chess, or both?  Daily chess is mainly to practice openings and taking advantage of the opening explorer to learn openings as you play them and taking detailed notes on your games so you remember your findings.  I take no notes on my games, because I'm lazy, , but I should start else I will never get better at correspondence!

I think the best book out there for people starting out is A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman.  In that book he talks about 5 chess fundamentals to get good at in order to succeed in your chess career and also talks about what I call a cool chess algorithm to go by when thinking of chess moves.  He starts out the algorithm by telling people they need to, before making a move, think up of a list of candidate moves, then afterwards, look for responses to those candidate moves.  If you don't like the results of the responses drop candidate moves from the list as needed until you narrow it down to just one move.  The rest of his advice comes at the cost of his book.  You can look at his site to learn more about his chess thinking.  I would do it if I where you, just google dan heisman.

Do you think fast?  Are you a slow or fast thinker?  Like it or not though, Dan Heisman recommends that you spend most of your time playing games with longer time controls like 45|30 or even 90|I don't know what ...

For me it's 15|10 because I get too bored with 45|30 or make my moves too fast and end up losing.  When I play 15|10 in a lot of my games I still have 15 minutes left LOL, and I still win!!  However, there are games where I use the clock.  

The go to book for studying master games is Logical chess Move by Move.

After you finish Heismans book you should think of a textbook to get for your level, and Heisman will guide you in his book to plenty of them, but I was let down initially with one of his books, the Improving chess thinker, as I do not see how knowing the thought process of a bad chess thinker would be good to know, but then again, Amateurs Mind does the same thing, and that book sells a lot. So there must be sometime to this idea of going over the thought process of bad chess thinking.  

Lastly, if you do not want to buy any books, I recommend you play 10 minute blitz 10 times a day to start off, and a few games with longer time controls.  If you want to study more openings you should play some daily games and take notes to compliment your studies.

Hello, D

its always a little difficult to offer advice when your not sure what the other guy knows.   How long have you played chess?  have you spent a good deal of time learning your tactics.  Seeing forks, pins, discovered attacks Instantly is  a BIG deal in chess...

similarly another topic worth quite a lot of effort is the endgame; and knowing the endgame will allow you win close games (and Draw! when you are down).   but more importantly they teach you to understand how the pieces can coordinate- and how to create a plan; execute it looking carefully for any changes that opponent may create- and winning.

as for time controls... I like G30.  although its still just a little quick for me.  and ofc G15/10 is even quicker.    Note that the increment games are good Stuff- and would help you get used to tournament OTB play- which often has an increment or a delay.

but, their real value is that in a G15/10. if you get to an endgame and you are nearly out of time- you will find if you plan your endgame right.  you can often play with 10seconds per move... if you can anticipate the opponent.

I think I will leave my "advice" at that.   There is absolutely HUGE amounts of posts already here with advice to various people.   if you are middle aged guy with aspiration to become a strong player- then you are much like a LOT of people on the forums myself included.

feel free to ask questions...

Thanks, for the replies.

I think i will choose 15|10 as my live game format but i am unsure about this daily chess format. These games must ages to finish! How many should i play at once? and how do you remember your ideas?

I recommend playing only around 100 games at once, more when you get more experienced. 

You don't need to remember any ideas, just practice your thinking process position by position. Sometimes you'll remember them anyways.

wow....100 games at once ....i think thats too much for now!

yes... games do take a long time.  but often you play several at once.

the idea is to have the ability to really study out a critical position.  if you do that, and find a good but tricky line-- put it in a notebook.

I also find, BTW, that its good to play no faster than "3 day" games- this allows some leeway if you have problem getting to a game for a day or 2.

I do NOT recommend 100 games at once.  I think this places a heavy load on a beginner.  perhaps when you are more experienced you can increase the number of games. 

instead spent the same time on tactics or endgames.

most of the time I agree perfectly with cherub.. a strong player (definitely stronger than me) who has given a lot of great and instructive advice.

this shows that we all Don't play chess, or improve in the same way.

improving in chess is Hard because it means literally changing the way we think!  tough stuff for sure.

Play 20+ daily games at once. While waiting for opponents moves, solve tactics in tactics trainer or watch higher rated players play. (1500-1800 rating). Watching can be as enjoyable as playing.

Nothing is better than playing live, slow games, because that's like how tournament games work. 

But when I saw 100+ games, I don't mean 24 hour/move games - that's way too much. I usually do 7 days/move or slower - at that rate you only have to make 15 moves/day at 100 games. 

Basically, you just develop a thinking system, starting from something well known (like Dan Heisman's recommended system) and try to apply it and implement it in your games. If you mess up, fix the thinking process a bit.

they just vented about lowlife patzers and their rotten advice on another thread.

but look here.  I may not be an impressive OTB player.  but I do play OTB;  and I've made real strides since I started studying.

the number 2 issue in my chess (and surely all us other patzers) is just falling for some easy tactic.  I move a pawn and bang- a skewer is inevitable.

surely a bare beginner needs to spend alot of time to see these new pattern.  as Heisman says its not enough to simply "solve" the tactics- you need to see them quickly so you see them 1-2 moves ahead or you will simply bleed pawns and peices.

now maybe lot of 7day games IS good.  and maybe he can swing a solid 15 move/day AND tactics AND endgames, and the instructive video or book on positional chess

AND do longer G15/10 games

AND do a few G5 games cause he enjoys that

AND look at all his games for better moves afterwards.......

there See my point?  if he tries to do TOO much what will suffer? 
Instead  of very instructive learning and reflection,instead he'll just be putting time "blitzing " out 15 moves/day.

and getting no where. IMHO.

trying to do too much is BAD.

Welcome!

I would say to avoid playing blitz for now and instead play longer games like 30/0. The way to get better is by going through each of your games and trying to analyze which of your moves look good and which of your moves were not so good. Good Luck.

I am a 71 year old man just retired. I have been pushing pawns around since middle school. Have played on and off since then. Almost got to Class B in the USCF, but my last tournament effort blew that. For some excellent books Better Chess For Average Players is good, and I also like Winning Chess Tactics and Winning Chess Strategies by Yasser Serawan. Check Amazon.com for used copies. Also use the learning site here on Chess.com. For the old club woodpusher like me this is really a good bargain. I try to do a lesson and some tactics every day. As someone who can't visualize a chessboard I just try to make the best moves I can see in the position on the board, and take advantage of what opportunities may arise. I don't play a lot, but will try to get one or two games in daily. But I just play for fun. I prefer slower time limits (20-30 minutes) so I can at least have time to look! I tend to get 'blitzed' at speed chess.

Good luck to you.

you know "Better Chess for Average Players" is a cool book.

when  I got it, for awhile I thought it was terrible book- The dialogue seemed contrived... there was enough lost variations played between strong players that I didn't understand.

but recently.  and I think, this is because I've gotten a little stronger at chess, I've been able to understand the point of SOME of the games that are played throughout the book.

the Author I think, uses whole games and miniatures to show important concepts in slow OTB chess.   anyways, I've totally changed my mind about the book.  its a great book!

but....

I don't think it would be a great book for a beginner.

"winning chess Strategy" is another book I have and is much friendlier and easier for a beginner to understand.

Thanks for all your advice.

I signed for the premium membership and have had a good look around the site. There seems to be quite a lot of learning material so that should be a good start.

I think I'm going to start with-

• 10 ongoing daily games
• 15|10 Live games
• 30 mins tactic trainer
• All the lessons/drill/vison things.

800 is the rating that was given to me when i joined 2 days ago.......i haven't even finished a game yet!

Pay no attention to posters like ReincarnationOfBobby. They just troll.

Forget about this Bobby. He is not worth it.

Actually there's a lot of things you could do to get better. Also here in the forum many good advices were already given in similar questions. So playing only very short games is maybe not the best, 10 - 15 minutes imho is way better. Some analyze the entire game after finished by using the tool given here. So instead of being angry of a lost game one checks the reason and can learn from it. Some other check youtube videos with analazed variations of games. Some read countless books. And other just try to copy the ideas from advanced player or just jump in in a running game from advanced players.

But if you say after joining 2 days ago without a finished game, the best could be to play a game.

I do recommend you play people better than you. I earned my 'spurs' in the Lincoln, NE chess club and New Orleans chess club where I took my lickin's and studied my losses (and occasional wins). You learn good chess best by playing good players.

It is really useful to keep a record of your games and use the analysis function on this site to look at what you might have done or overlooked. My best advice: never hurry, unless in time trouble. Try to look at as much as you can before you move. The majority of my losses happen when I fail to sit on my hands and move without checking King safety or exploitable weaknesses.