There is no substitute for experience. Just keep playing and see where it takes you. After 1000s of games I became a little bit better than when I started. There are plenty of players under 1200. The best trick in chess is to drop your ego and focus on learning. If you lose some games, nobody cares. Online chess is the bomb because you can play as many games as you want to to gain experience.
Never give up.
A while back someone recognized that beginners really did need a structured approach to the game. We have something called the Chess Mentor here and it's normally accessible only to premium members. However, the powers that be came up with 15 free courses to help newcomers. They're really well written, although if the concepts are new, you may have to review them many times before it all sinks in. Good luck.
http://www.chess.com/blog/webmaster/free-chess-mentor-courses
Don't fret. I joined chess.com to improve my game after I joined my school's chess team. When I started I bottomed out at about 900, after a month or two, I'm hovering around the mid 1200s. And I'm currently "undefeated" on the team, 3 wins 1 draw. I'm not uber amazing yet, but the more I play the better I get. Just keep playing. I've been trying to play around 10 games a day and do a few chess puzzles. My goal is to reach the 1300s (hopefully mid 1300s) by the end of the year.
Check out the chess.com study plans as well. Roll your cursor up to the green bar at the top, over Learning, and then click on Study Plans. As others have said, you do just have to start playing at some point. We have an online version of correspondence chess here that Erik (the owner) calls Online. You can take hours or even days for each move if you wish and standard reference materials like books and databases (Google free chess database) can be used to help you out in the opening. No engines of course, but some folks like it better than live chess because the time pressure is missing.
And if you like reading folk's advice, well, this isn't the first time someone asked for beginner help on the forums:
http://www.chess.com/forum/search?keyword=beginner+advice
made me remember when i was first getting into chess
much younger really liked that here i had a levelish playing field
bill chessmickey has offered you unrated online games (upto 3 days a move on average) this is worth doing
dont be shy to use the chat opion there to ask for help in game (unrated this is allowed)
Billy do not worry so much my friend. When you play online you will be matched with players close to your ability so you should have some length of game and even a chance of a win. Remember, even if you lose (as we all do) you actually learn more than the winner. When you lose try to work out what your single biggest mistake was and learn from it. Even if you have a string of loses you will eventually have a win and it will be all the sweeter. Also, buy a book of general play of chess to begin growing insight into start, middle and end game theory. A good chess club should nuture new members with great care; if they do not then they are arrogant and you should join a different club. Chess is an amazing game, the only game that is universal across the globe (I have played against opponents where we do not speak eachothers languages). The game has lasted over 1400 years for one good reason: it is the greatest game ever invented. Good luck.
In the beginning you will lose many games, badly. I know this, because so did I and everyone else. I'd lose so badly I'd get checkmated before the opening was over. I'd fall for a trap, then the next game fall for it again, and then a few days later fall for it a 3rd time.
At his first tournament, USA #1, world #7, lost all his games. We all start at the beginning. You're not wasting anyone's time. There are plenty of people rated below 1000.
I'll play a match with you. Don't worry about winning or losing, just look at the board and measure consequences. Life and chess are both boring without risks. When someone better wins, it's cool to see what they did.. and that weakness which allowed that losing scenario will be less weak next time. Cigar smoke (cough..wink) n all..
Hey, Billy. I was in a similar situation when I joined chess.com about 5 months ago. I knew the rules and had casually played some friends a long time ago. When I started playing here I lost badly, and realized there was so much more to this game than I anticipated. It was still really fun though, and I had a desire to get better. Every day I use what I can of the tactics trainer, and chess mentor here. I do some more puzzles at chesstempo.com. I watch videos on youtube (too many good channels to list, but my favorite might be 'Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis'). I downloaded, for free, Capablanca's book 'Chess Fundamentals'. After trying to learn just a little bit each day I started getting better results out of my games, getting to play higher rated opponents, and starting to see just a little bit of the stuff I've been studying, in my own games.
My point is, if you want to play, and get better, then you will get better if you play. There might be a little shock at first, and there's always going to be a bad day here and there, but if you really enjoy the game it will be worth it. I've really enjoyed my time here. There's a lot of friendly helpful people to consult with. There's nothing to be scared of, so ... jump on in.
My best advice for a beginner is don't play unless you are enjoying it. Take long breaks for a week or more every so often to refresh your thoughts as well. Good luck.
Challenge me anytime Billy, unrated if you want to, I felt the same when I joined here but remember it's supposed to be enjoyable and brush off any negative vibes you might get, the majority of people are here to enjoy chess, good luck :)
Good Luck in your chess journey! :)
Billy, one of the worst things for a beginner is being scared of losing. You can set challenges by rating range. After playing about 20 games your rating will become indicative of your skill level. You won't be wasting anyone's time. Often a chess club is full of quite advanced players and so can be very intimidating.
The best things you can do are:
- Study basic tactics (Chess mentor here is very good).
- Play games and analyse them to see where you went wrong.
- Watch videos on youtube.
I do agree with all the comments about studying and analyzing chess...but I'm rubbish at this, more of a 'gut feeling' chess player as in if an opponent does a move I wasnt expecting you can guarantee they are up to something! This happens a lot to me but it's all good! :-))
Well you aren't going to get any better if you don't play a game.
You have to conquer the fear of losing. Its sometimes okay to lose if you can get something out of it- like trying a tactic or a variation or even a sacrifise.
To convince you- I am demonstrating a game I played today, where I had an often to secure a boring checkmate. Instead I went for more daring - Venus fly trap variation.
As you can see- I was playing a higher rated opponent even though a computer, but still I took the risk just for the joy of playing chess.
Billy, you sound exactly like myself awhile back. I was playing people on Yahoo games and everybody and I mean everybody was destroying me. Here are the steps I took to get better one by one.
1. I learned to castle and to castle and also to always, always castle unless there was one darn great reason not to. If your opponent does not castle, make them pay.
2. Played the computer on chess.com on easy. Yes, it beat me several hundred times in a row but really,at that time, there were only 3 levels, easy, intermediate and hard. The easy level had to be 1300-1400 and that is way over complete beginner level. It made no mistakes and was quite adept at kicking butt. When I finally beat it, I must have souned like a Colombian soccer fan after my team's goal.
3. I watched quite a few famous games on chessgames.com that ended in 12 moves or less, especially games by Robert Morphy from the 1800s. I loved his openings. I wanted to know what openings were good attacks and what counter moves should have been used to stop a quick ending. That was a good learning experience. Now, I almost never lose or get behind in the first 15 moves. When I do, I learn from it.
4. When I first started playing here, I played the live games. I did not know at the time but that was the WORST thing I could have done to learn the game. I could not keep my rating over 1200. I then began playing the correspondence games where you have days to move instead of minutes. This strategy immediately, overnight increased my rating over 200 points. I have had a hard time keeping it over 1500 but that is a different story.
5. When you are about to make a move but before finalizing the move, ask yourself the following questions:
A. After I make this move, what should my opponent's best move next be? That way, you can decide if your move even makes sense.
B. After I make this move, can my opponent put me in check and possibly take one of my pieces after I move or block my checked king? (very important).
C. After I make this move, can I lose a piece? Am I being threatened right now?
D. After I make this move, can my opponent skewer me or fork me? Look up the terms if you don't know what I mean.
Every move you make in the opening will determine whether you are attacking, the game is neutral or you are attacked so learn common sense in openings. By that, make your moves to keep you out of trouble. I tend to stay on the defensive early in the game unless I see a mistake my opponent made.
6. My next piece of advice is the hardest to learn and I will let you know (or my rating will) when I have it down. Try to see as many moves ahead as possible. The better you are at this, the better you will be in chess.
7. When you lose a game, go back and look at it move by move and see what you could have done to prevent your blunder, loss of a piece or the checkmate...whatever cost you the game. This is one of the best ways to improve.
hey all
First post on chess.com. Please bear with me, I feel a bit like a toddler wandering into a smoke-filled room of adults. I'm not exactly a complete newbie at chess, but I may as well be--I've known at least the basic rules since high school, have done a fair amount of reading online recently, and and just interested in the game, but outside of playing the computer (rather badly) I haven't actually played any real chess since school, ie 20 odd years ago. So what to do? I've inquired at one of the local chess clubs and obviously I've signed on here in hopes of meeting some fellow players, but almost instantly I'm like, okay I'm here...but the c.c computer beat me instantly (on Easy) and the first game that popped up when I went over to Live Chess was between a GM and an FM, everybody seems to be at least 1200-1300 and well over that...aiieee.
I can't tell if I'm just out of my depth or if some study time before I even start trying is in order. Outside of basic, basic principles (ie control the center) and a fairly scattershot understanding of tactical patterns, I've never actually studied the game. But knowing that just about everyone can wipe the floor with me at this stage makes me really hesitant to try playing a real person, and I don't want to waste anyone's time. I just don't know where to start, and I'd be embarrassed if I attempted a few games and threw up my hands after getting trounced a few times.
I hope I'm not putting anyone off with all this timidity, I seriously do want to try to pick up the game again and finally gain some competency. I suppose besides study time what I really need is some gentle encouragement, or something, just to get past this initial intimidated feeling and find my way into the chess community in however a small way I can.
cheers
Billy S.