What's the best chess advice you ever got?

"Play every game like you're playing a GM"

"It's better to lose from being too aggressive than from being too timid"

"It's just a game" <-- We all need to remember this one

I think "always have a plan" is pretty good. In every situation, tactical, positional, or winning, a general goal is almost always needed.

In fact, one way to simplify what chess is is making a plan or plans, and executing it.

A good plan makes us all geniuses. A bad one us all idiots.

So it would be good to study your opening quite thuroughly to get an idea of what the positions are like and typical ideas. That way you make your plan finding easier.

- Play the board...not the man.

- Look before you leap.

- measure 3 times before you cut once.

"Why fear someone who's quite capable of going berserk?" - Jeremy Silman

In the Amateur's Mind, Silman writes this about psychological approach to the game - players under IM level are capable of playing very, very badly so it's important to play for a win and not get scared by your opponent or their rating. As a player who draws a remarkable percentage of games (due to quiet, 'scared' play), I need to remember that one!

best advice I have heard, " a knight on the rim is dim "

I found after analysis of most of my games (quoting myself)---

"No plan is BETTER than a poorly thought out good-looking plan"

"Don't always take pawns with pawns, sometimes push forward" <-- this one advice from a friend

"Never have more than one unprotected major piece. It's just gonna end badly."

"Do not threaten something, while something of yours is threatened unless you're absolutely sure you will win in both spots."

"Don't bring your queen out early" -- brother's advice when I was kid.

I've often thougth that one of the worst pieces of "advice", or really wisdom is the "knight on the rim is dim". 

Especially true since early on I started working on the Ruy Lopez and almost immediately discovered that the black Knight goes to the "rim" in some of the most common variations to kick the white KB.  Maybe I should have made the thread what the best AND worst advice you've ever gotten?

In my opinion, there's no such thing as a "best" chess tip; no one can really make you a better player on its own.

But that's an exception to the rule. Usually a knight on the rim is dim--except in certain cases, for example in the example you mentioned and the Polar Bear System (bird's opening).

"Never have more than one unprotected major piece. It's just gonna end badly."

But aren't your rooks unprotected at the start of the game?

Yes, but I mean in the middle-game and end-game.

I like that one too. A 2000 is much less consistent than say an IM, and there are probably sometimes where the 2000 comes up with a novelty then the next game demonstrates he has no idea what he's doing, or maybe make an elementary blunder. It's definitley possible, but much less so when you put yourslef at a pshychological disadvantage from the start by fearing him. If you make good moves, they can't be refuted no matter who you play.

Often, the knight is indeed badly placed on the rim, but in those openings there was a clear purpose everytime it happened. Now, is there such a deep explanation (for example in the ruy to chase a bishop) for moves like Nf3? Well sometimes the choice between say Nf3 and Ne2 is plausible like in the english but more often Nf3 is obviously better. In fact in the ruy the a5 knight often becomes badly placed and gets redirected after it served its purpose of attacking the bishop and perhaps clearing the c pawn.

I mean if a knight on the rim only controls a few squares, you better make sure those are damn important squares.

Paraphrasing Nimzovitch:

Learn to take pleasure in modest accomplishments on the board.

For example a good player gets as much pleasure from inflicting a pawn defect to the opponent as a rookie gets from capturing his queen.

In my most recent tournament, the advice of "when you find a good move, sit on your hands" worked well.

For those of you who know the Caro-Kann, here is the line. It's an opening trap, but what do you play next.

e4 c6 d4 d5 Nc3 dxe4 Nxe4 Nd7 Bc4 Ngf6 Ng5 e6 Qe2 Nb6 Bd3 h6 N5f3 c5 dxc5 Bxc5 Ne5 Nbd7 N1f3 Qc7 Bf4 Bb4+ c3? Bxc3+! Kf1

http://www.chess.com/explorer/index.html?id=2881221&ply=29&black=0

That's tough, Ozzie.

Just retreating the bishop fails, e.g. 14. ... Ba5 15. Nxf7! Qxf4 16. Qxe6+ Kf8 17. Nxh8

It looks safe enough to just take on e5, e.g. 14. ... Bxe5 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Bxe5 Qd8 here black is up a pawn, but I bet white has compensation if he can take advantage of his bishops quickly, 17. Bb5+ Bd7 18. Rd1 could be bad (though black might be able to just 0-0 there).

@Loomis I know you meant 15... Qxf4 in that first line. Yes, you're right that white has compensation in the 14... Bxe5 line. Look again, there is rather a killer move for black. Because if black has to play ...Bxe5 there, then one can argue that it's a good gambit, in a sense.

Yes, c5 = f4 if you're looking at the board from the opposite side of the  pieces you're playing and convince yourself (somehow for just one move) that you have to image the board rotated to get teh notation right.

The only other idea I can come up with in the position is 14. ... Nh5 threatening to take the bishop on f4 which also attacks the queen on e2 and defends e6. This takes the sting out of any discoveries based on moving the e5 knight.

"every pawn move creates a weakness" has been one that has been helpful in games for me. I forget where I heard it though.