Josh Waitzkin's Academy

Hi, I'm total beginner at chess, but I really love and admire this game so much that I decided to learn it. I have zero experience with chess, so I bought a copy of Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition to help me out.

Yesterday I started the Josh Waitzkin's Academy Tutorial, I managed to finish the Introduction part and I'm about to finish the Arsenal part.

My question is, since I have zero knowledge in chess, should I stop doing the tutorial at the end of the Arsenal part and start playing against the program's personalities? Or should I do the entire tutorial first, then play against the personalities, after ending the Josh Waitzkin's Academy? 

By the way next topic in the tutorial is Strategy, and sorry for my english, I really don't speak english at all, so please forgive any grammar and mistyped errors.

Thanks!

I like chessmaster for it's tutorials. I think those are really nice. Ofcourse you should try out the tournament mode and see how far you get, but do keep in mind that chessmaster often plays really strong and then makes a unhuman blunder so you can catch up. It's a nice program but I really feel that it plays really unhuman-like. Playing perfect computer moves for 10 moves in a row and then giving you the queen. 

Thank you very much Wilbert_78 I will give it a try, but I still think Im not ready yet for the tournament mode, since I just started learning chess yesterday.

Thanks again!

Oh just give it a try! See how it goes. I believe the first one is in a 'virtual' cafe or park. And those are quite fun to do! I'll bet you can win there!

After learning comes practice :) 

haha, nice, welcome to an addiction for the rest of your life!! Frankly, anything you do with chess, as long as you're enjoying it, is great!

Thank you very much Somebodysson. Yes, you're totaly right! and for me chess is beautiful , enjoyable and awesome. :)

Thanks again!

The lowest strength personalities are ridiculously weak. If you just know the rules of the game, you can probably beat some of them. You can set up tournaments with just the weakest personalities if you want to.

Thank you very much Quasimorphy, I will try that. But should I try training mode first? or go straight to tournament?

Thanks again!

Either. The program just gives you a rating if you're using tournament mode. You can use it to track your progress.

Ok , thanks again! I will do tournament then.

Thank you for the advice!

What I said wasn't exactly correct. The Ranked Play button will also give you a rating. And the Tournaments button will still let you play unrated games. You have to select the "Rated tournament" option when you're creating a tournament if you want those games rated.

Ok, understood! I will do that!

Thank you very much again Quasimorphy!

I learn to play chess late in life (31 years old) back in 1988 on my Apple IIGS computer with the program (((Chessmaster 2100))). So it's never too late to learn. I think you're doing the right thing and just hang in there. It comes slowly but when you finally get it you can become pretty good at it...

Thank you very much IMacChess, I must say I'm starting to learn chess late in life just like you, I'm 43 years old, but I find  chess so amazing that I needed to start learning even if its too late.

Thanks again!

And here's 25 free Chess Mentor lessons.  It's a similar format as the various Chessmaster Academies but with maybe a little more feedback.  Nice intro for when you outgrow Chessmaster and are looking for something else.  There are another 3900 lessons available to diamond members.

http://www.chess.com/blog/webmaster/free-chess-mentor-courses

Thank you very much baddogno, I will do them as soon as I finish all the chessmaster tutorials.

Thanks again!

hehe, nice thread. BarataToxica, hope to see more of you on here