Learn chess with proper method

Hi all,

I apologise immediately for being probably not the only one asking this, but still I have plenty of doubts on how to learn chess properly...

I play for fun, never use a method. I know basic opening principle and I have the last HIARCs software on a MAC.

My question is: what s the best way to get a solid chess base ?

I am struggling on how to analyse game / learn openings. It looks like there are infinite possibilities there and I dont know how to organise the information.

Should I concentrate on few openings and to continue playing / analyse games? I feel analysing GMs games is still a bit too complicated.

Thanks for any help!!!

Alessandro

I'll give you my personal thoughts on learning chess, but to start, since you're a chess.com member, I'll mention there's plenty of material e.g. under the "learn" tab.

For example https://www.chess.com/lessons

The general areas are openings, strategy, tactics, endgames, and annotated game collections.

The general methods are playing, studying, and doing drills.

The worst improvement vs time ratio is generally accepted to be learning openings. For now stick with the opening principals and memorizing maybe 5 moves of your favorite openings.

The best improvement vs time ratio for lower rated player is generally accepted to be solving tactic puzzles. I would put this activity under drills. Do maybe an hour a day. Save every puzzle you don't solve correctly and try it again the next day. If you fail it again, that's ok, it just stays in the fail pile until you solve it correctly at least once.

But yes, it's overwhelming, and as a new player looking at GM games was very frustrating to me because moves often didn't make sense, and they seemed to be sacrificing pawns (or not capturing undefended pawns) all the time which was confusing to me.

So other than tactics, get an endgame book, or a strategy book. I'd recommend this

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Endings-Everyman/dp/1857443489

then this

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Chess-Strategy-Ludek-Pachman/dp/0486202909

Counter intuitively, it's nevertheless long been said that it's best to start with endgames first, and do openings last. Endgames teach you where you're headed. How are opening moves and middlegame strategies supposed to make sense if we don't know the objective? Endgames also feature positions with few pieces, and give good simplified positions showing how to organize your forces of just a few pieces. In the middlegame, where you have to organize many more pieces, it's much more complicated so it makes sense to start with endgames first.

After tactics, endgames, and strategy, now openings and GM games will make a lot more sense. You can purchase a repertoire book and something like Zurich 1953 by Bronstein.

That's my general outline for improvement. Don't forget that you can't just study. Play many games too. Preferably at long time controls which will give you time to work new ideas into how you play the game.

That's really a nice answer thanks. And I agree on endgame first... it make sense.  Last thing, should I play also with the software and let the software analyse games or is losing time at the moment?

Human opponents are almost always better.

However sometimes computer opponents are useful. I knew a guy who loved to play for tricks, all the time he made moves hoping his opponent wouldn't see his threat. By playing computers for a while, he was able to break that habit, because the computer never fell for his tricks

But yes, letting the software analyze your games is good.

The endgame lessons here on chess.com are really good. I suggest starting there before buying any books. Especially since you have Diamond Membership, and all the lessons, drills and tactics trainer is available to unlimited use. I believe that if you commit enough time to doing these, and play longer time control (15|10 at minimum) games, you should get to 1400+ in a few months/year. Remember to go through every game you play and see where you made mistakes, and if there were things you could've done better. This is crucial to learning!

I bought my first chess books when I was at about 1300+ on chess.com, and have really enjoyed those. I do think that most of the things in the books would've been a bit difficult to understand, without first having a solid understanding of chess basics.

Of course everyone learns differently, but atleast I find chess books a bit more tedious to go through, compared to all the available lessons, drills and tactics trainer here on chess.com.

Good luck on becoming a great chess player!

agree with Taskinen. you have time for books latter first do the lessons on chess.com

go thru the lessons first where you feel your the weakest. and take it from there.

My question is: what s the best way to get a solid chess base ?

Tactics...tactics...tactics...

I am struggling on how to analyse game / learn openings.

Just analyze your games.  Writes down your ideas, plans, thoughts, how you felt, what you were thinking.  Most of all...DO NOT worry about being right, or wrong.  Post your games for peer review.

FORGET about openings for now.  All you need are Opening Principles.  Beginners all seem to suffe from this idea that they need to know openings.

Should I concentrate on few openings and to continue playing / analyse games? 

No...what good is it going to do yu to memorize openings, when youre not following openig principles, hanging material, and missing simple tactics.

One of the nest things you can do is analyze your games, and post them for peer review.  Go over your losses before any wins.

I feel analysing GMs games is still a bit too complicated.

You can still play over GM games.  Doing this will give you a better feel for "why" pieces go where they do in the opening.  It will help you get a better understanding of piece placement, and pawn structures.

Definitively these are the answer I was looking for, I will follow the advices, start on chess.com and step by step when I get familiar with tactics and strategies I will go deep with opening and books!!!

Thanks again for the help

Member Since: Apr 7, 2011

You have played 1 blitz game?

Yes but always against computer