What should I start learning? - Chess Forums

KuramaOtsutsuki

Oct 4, 2017

0

#1

I am rather new to real chess, but I believe I have improved quite a bit over the last month or so and am hoping someone could recommend something that I, as a ~800-900, should focus on if I wish to improve and what books could help me. I believe I have a good grasp on tactics for my level and it is steadily increasing, although, I tend to make rash decisions and lose a good opportunity to gain an advantage. I believe I am poor in evaluating the future value of a move as well as a rather bare understanding of the opening beyond simply trying to develop pieces and obtain center control. I would like to learn an opening, but I don't particularly know where to start and have been told that I should focus on the principles rather than already created opening.

I'd personally like a book or two to read as I only really have the time to play a few games of chess per day (Without feeling burnt out that is) while I almost always have plenty of time for reading due to being a student. Thanks!

KuramaOtsutsuki

Oct 4, 2017

0

#2

I am doing the tactics and improving quite a bit due to them. Which reminds me of another question. What does the tactics rating mean? Is that supposed to be the elo at what my current tactics level is at in an actual game?

jambyvedar

Oct 4, 2017

0

#3

Get The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess by GM Wolf. This book will show you what things you need to work on and this book will also improve you. This book contains the endgame, tactics and strategies that every beginner should know. Play the games in a chess board and do all the exercises. Studying all the contents of the book and doing daily tactics problems should help you improve your game.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Chess-Third/dp/1592573169

MitSud

Oct 4, 2017

0

#4

Q: What should I start learning?
A: Chess

Unhelpful advice, for over a decade.....

kindaspongey

Oct 4, 2017

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#5

Daybreak57

Oct 4, 2017

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#6

KuramaOtsutsuki wrote:

I am rather new to real chess, but I believe I have improved quite a bit over the last month or so and am hoping someone could recommend something that I, as a ~800-900, should focus on if I wish to improve and what books could help me. I believe I have a good grasp on tactics for my level and it is steadily increasing, although, I tend to make rash decisions and lose a good opportunity to gain an advantage. I believe I am poor in evaluating the future value of a move as well as a rather bare understanding of the opening beyond simply trying to develop pieces and obtain center control. I would like to learn an opening, but I don't particularly know where to start and have been told that I should focus on the principles rather than already created opening.

I'd personally like a book or two to read as I only really have the time to play a few games of chess per day (Without feeling burnt out that is) while I almost always have plenty of time for reading due to being a student. Thanks!

It depends. How long are will willing to devote to chess in a day? If it is about 3-5 hours I strongly suggest you get a diamond membership and start going through the beginner course and redue the course a couple times maybe after 20 to 30 of your games you should be doing in a month or so and then rinse and repeat until you are about 1200. You should also look at a couple books from kings list:

Logical chess move by move by Irving Chernev

Back to basics: By Dan Heisman

A Guide to Chess improvement by Dan Heisman

You may need to read other books on the list after you read those, but for now just those you can look at Dan Heisman's free resources to look for other books to study after you are done reading those. Also look at his website, Dan Heisman's website that is. The Idiots book that the guy is talking about in the previous post isn't a good book for beginners because it's too confusing. I wouldn't recommend it. I am basing this off of customer reviews to the book. I was able to download the table of contents of that book and I don't really like it. Don't get me wrong it has useful stuff in there, but not quite so useful to a beginner, plus, it sounds like a dumbed down version of a Jeremy Silman's book for the most part if you ask me. I would rather get Bobby Fischer teachers chess as your theory book before you get into Jeremy Silman though. Yeah yet another book to put on your list, but that is the life of a chess pupil who doesn't have a teacher, go over lots of books.

I would continue to do whatever tactics you are doing and maybe add some as you get further down. Start with just getting a diamond membership and going though some articles and videos as far down as you can through the beginner plan till you soaked in enough new info and get tired. Then, practice your new theories you've learned by playing over some games. Analyze the games, rinse and repeat.

A lot of people ignore this step but you really should keep a chess journal or blog on chess.com. You should also have your own personal opening book of all the opening traps you found in game or got hit by and drill them till you have them down cold so you don't repeat your mistakes or repeat great victories. Only do this when the mistakes happen in the opening and the game is lost in 20 moves or less. Or 25 or so must be a quick game you decide what move you want to stop at. You should drill them in this way with a partner. You should also drill the openings you are suppose to be learning in the study plans with a partner as well, and play "training" games with them. If you havn't figured it out yet, you need a chess partner.

First start out with a Guide to chess Improvement and go over 1-3 games a day on Logical chess move by move. You can fudge with these numbers a bit if you must. This is after you have done the study plan at least once all the way through.

If you do that. In about 6 months, you should be a lot better player. I do not know the exact number sorry everybody is different.

If you only have an hour or so to study a day then I would just forget the books save for two, logical chess, and back to basics. Forget the study plans to, maybe at first. You can do them later after you are done with the books. and then do A Guide to Chess Improvement, then finally go through bobby Fischer teaches chess but the material in that book may be redundant if you do it that way... I'm not sure never opened the book myself!

These are just things I just came up with. I could be wrong. This may not be the best approach for you. You may be better of doing one thing at a time. If that is what it is just do one thing at a time and compliment it with playing games and analyzing them, and studying tactics.

Anyway I wish you well in your quest to get better at chess. I remember being where you are right now and it wasn't fun. It felt like I wasn't gaining ground at all for a long time. If you chose to take my advice, I hope the materials I mentioned serve you well, and do know that there are many other routes to gaining some rating points, one of them is hiring a coach. You may not be able to afford it though, but if you ever want to play some unrated games with me just shoot me a message and I'll try and find time to play you a match sometime so I can better discern what you need to improve on and give you some feedback. This I offer free of charge, but know that I am not that good either, but I think I am a lot better than you. We'll let the board decide though!

kindaspongey

Oct 5, 2017

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#7

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708110052/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review587.pdf

fdpg1963

Oct 5, 2017

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#8

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-Dummies-James-Eade/dp/0764550039

Nice for beginners, easy to read. Play against friends with a higher rating and ask them for tips how to improve. Play tournaments on chess.com but keep the number of simultaneous games limited to stay focused. I started playing at the age of 52 hardly knowing anything about chess and went from 800 to about 1100 in one year.

RussBell

Oct 5, 2017

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#9

Study FUNDAMENTALS - opening principles, tactics, endgame, positional chess concepts, instructive games...

Instructive books covering all these topics for beginner-intermediate players here...

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

Chess.com Study Plan...

https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

ed1975

Oct 5, 2017

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#10

Daybreak57 wrote:

A Guide to Chess improvement by Dan Heisman

Have this book but found it overrated.

kindaspongey

Oct 5, 2017

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#11

Daybreak57 wrote:

... I would rather get Bobby Fischer teachers chess as your theory book before you get into Jeremy Silman though. ...

"Theory book"?

kindaspongey

Oct 5, 2017

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#12

ed1975 wrote:

Have [A Guide to Chess improvement by Dan Heisman] but found it overrated.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf

kindaspongey

Oct 5, 2017

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#13

If one wants one book on a bunch of topics, one might consider tne fairly recent book, A COMPLETE CHESS COURSE by Antonio Gude. One can see a sample at:
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/A_Complete_Chess_Course.pdf

ed1975

Oct 5, 2017

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#14

Fred Reinfeld also did a Complete Chess Course, now available also with the excellent Forward Chess app

https://forwardchess.com/

Candidate35

Oct 5, 2017

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#15

Hi!

It looks like you are working on tactics daily so that's the core of what you need to focus on to improve. I also recommend "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess" by Patrick Wolff as well as Yasser Seirawan's "Play Winning Chess series", which has 7 books each dedicated to a specific theme on chess. You can't go wrong following International Master pfren advice- Learn opening principles, basic endgame technique, and tactics and apply them to your play!

Good luck!

stellakelly

Oct 5, 2017

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#16

Until Now I haven't got a Single Win!

stellakelly

Oct 5, 2017

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#17

DeirdreSkye wrote:

Tactics , opening principles , basic endgames.You will really need nothing else until you are around 1600.

Play one long time control game every day or every second day(at least 3 week) and analyse it thoroughly to find out your mistakes.Try to develop a thinking process(that's the point of playing long time control games) and try to fix the mistakes in it(that's the point of analysisng your games , especially your defeats , thoroughly)

Thank you for tips.

kindaspongey

Oct 5, 2017

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#18

"... This book is the first volume in a series of manuals designed for players who are building the foundations of their chess knowledge. The reader will receive the necessary basic knowledge in six areas of the game - tactcs, positional play, strategy, the calculation of variations, the opening and the endgame. ... To make the book entertaining and varied, I have mixed up these different areas, ..." - GM Artur Yusupov

kindaspongey

Oct 5, 2017

0

#19

Candidate35 wrote:

... Yasser Seirawan's "Play Winning Chess series", which has 7 books each dedicated to a specific theme on chess. ...

http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm