Tell Me How To Suck Less At Chess

[Artelis]

I feel like I've come to a standstill in my chess playing, and I want to imporve my gameplay.

[Developer]

Experience is a very important factor in chess.
So if I were you I would start a membership in some sort of online chess site. Try googling for it.

[imran_p]

Well without an idea of how good you cunrretly are its going to be very hard to help you breech the standstill.
Imran

[Umbrasquall]

Practice solves everything. Unless you're just stupid, in which case everyone has their talents somewhere. :D

[wasup]

Okay I have some real advice... as most people just said practice more :P

One important thing is to play toward the middle (I don't know how good you are by the way, so a lot of what I'm saying may be obvious). If you have the chance of taking a knight to the left which brings you out on the side of the board, or a bishop which brings you to the middle, then choose the bishop. Especially the bishop because you have to consider how important those pieces of theirs are when taking a piece. A queen is much more "powerful" if it is covering many pieces and a central unit on the board. However if it is off to the side and its pathways are all blocked off, it's not that useful piece. Make sure all your pieces are developed this way (so you don't have a bunch of pieces hiding off in the corner which cannot do anything). Prime first move - move the pawn in front of the king up two spaces.

This helps control the middle. From this develop your pieces and protect the middle. I've found it is very very easy to play someone who does not protect the middle. Make sure to consider all of your possible moves and their possible outcomes many moves into the future, as well as what he might do to retaliate and how you would solve that problem. How long do your average moves take? Sometimes when I'm not distracted, I could take 10-15 minutes on moves for many moves in a row. This helps rule out every possible mistake, and you can consider a lot. Make sure you aren't rushed, unless it is a timed game. If it is a casual game, I recommend moving a little faster or no one will ever want to play with you again. But in a more serious game spending many many minutes on one move (and quite a bit longer on more significant moves) can help your strategy and skill a lot. I don't know who you are playing, but a lot of beginners rely on their opponents lack of attention to the game to do certain moves. Don't do a move and *hope* that your opponent doesn't do one move that would crush you. Make sure any move you do will have a good counterattack if they do a good move.

Another trick is based on developing pieces is developing a piece while moving it, while simultaneously opening up another pathway (preferably of attack) of another piece. This is kind of a "silent" attack. Such as having a bishop locked on with another bishop, but a knight is blocking. Move the knight toward the middle in a developing way. Most people will not even notice the bishop. Though remember to consider what you can do if they take your bishop in that case.

So yeah, basically the primary thing I remember is play toward the middle. A piece like a knight is much much more powerful when in the middle and covering many squares. Maybe we can play sometime.

[The Blue Meanie]

ataraxis, maybe you and ME can play sometime. You just described a lot of what I do normally, quite well.

The crucial thing I will add is: ACT. Do NOT RE-act. Meaning, you want your opponent to be reacting to your moves, not you to his. You don;'t want to be on the back foot. Chess is all about initiative IMHO, and in making the threats, not having to defend from them. In any game of chess, the first few moves, five or even up to ten, is all about positioning, controlling the middle four sqyares, projecting power, and covering your own ass. you want to position your pieces so that they can kill tyour opponents, and defend each other if your opponent starts an attack. What is a sufficient defence all depends on the relative worth of pieces and who would come off dfoing more damage in any exchange, and what tactical advantage you'd gain. if you start taking each other's pieces:

If your opponent can kill more of your stuff than you can kill his, this means you haven't set up enough defences and you're losing.

If tit came to tat and if you started taking each others' pieces, you would end up killing each other's pieces of an equal worth, you're in for a hard game.

If you can attack more pieces than he can defend from, and would come off better in any exchange of pieces, you are winning.


The other thing I'd emphasise, is don't use your queen unless neccessary. In my experience, the moment the queens come out in any game, the shit hits the fan and the stakes rise. You get too agressive and move your queen around, then she gets threatened, and you end up playing your game around defending your queen rather than projecting power. In a game against an agressive player, if given the opportunity to exchange queens and take each other, I'll do it, no hesitation.

[QwinsepiaSquared]

Buy a good chess game and play against the computer. Most come with tutorials that can teach you advanced skills, plus you can play against challenging opponents anytime.

[Howie]

What area of the game are you lacking? Beginning -middle -end


Hey Arty, Check out this Post. Chess (http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7465&hl=Chess)

[pj]

It's hard to give advice without knowing what level you are stuck at. Are you rated? If not, do you know about where you would be rated?

Do you know your basic openings? Do you understand the value and power of "capturing moves" through forcing retreats that do not develop position?

Do you find your losses come more from being out-thunk rather than making mistakes?

[Howie]

pj makes a good point. It can be very involved. So to single out your weaknesses would be best.

Every one else makes good points too.

As ataraxis said. develop a strong middle.
Castle early if you can. (This brings the Rooks out and protects your queen.)
Don't be afraid to exchange pieces, But pieces generally have a point system, meaning which ones are most important. Queen - Rook -bishop etc.

Computer chess will not give you the feel of playing chess from an individual. It is too systematic.
When you play with a person they (assuming they are not a chess master) will make odd uncharacteristic mistakes. Ones you will not at all familiar with, if you play with a computer. IMO.

[Artelis]

Well, I've been playing the game chessmaster, a bit. It gives you different "characters" to play against with different personalities and mistakes, so I just switch up the characters a lot. But I try to play with real opponents as much as possible.

I think something I really need to develop is being able to see several moves ahead. I have a hard time predicting what will happen next. I've developed a fairly solid opening - control the middle, bring out bishops and knights, move each piece only once if possible, etc. My middle game is fairly weak. Sometimes my problem is I get too set on one move I want to set up and make that I don't notice what is going on around me. I'd like to be able to notice pins, forks, etc before they happen to me.

Good comments, keep 'em coming!

[pj]

Good comments, keep 'em coming!
[/b]

Ok...

If at all possible, either join a chess club or participate in club meetings as a guest, and enter tournaments.

I'm telling you - that'll do more for your game quicker than just about anything else... plus it will get you a rating, which will be an incredibly useful tool for seeking advice and further advancing your game.

[wasup]

Oh and also, play your opponent like he is a grand champion. As I said before, don't rely on your opponent not noticing that you are setting something up. Make sure any strategy that you are preparing won't hurt you if the person does one move that makes it all not possible. Make sure while you are setting up, you are developing and further helping your side. Because if you do a risky move and they prevent it, you have to reset up your pieces, which takes precious moves and gives you less time to develop.

[The Blue Meanie]

I think something I really need to develop is being able to see several moves ahead. [/b]
Yeah, I think out of all things, this is the key. You need to be able to think in multiple stages. Like "if x then y then b but if is o I can do c then... etc, etc, etc."

[Howie]

learning annotation is very difficult. To me anyway.

[hellopotato]

hey artelis,

go to yahoo games and click on chess, gives you thousands of others to play with.

when i first started on the site i was owned continuously. but over time (maybe a month or two) i have started to hold my own.

you gain tons of experience.

[Artelis]

hey artelis,

go to yahoo games and click on chess, gives you thousands of others to play with.

when i first started on the site i was owned continuously. but over time (maybe a month or two) i have started to hold my own.

you gain tons of experience.
[/b]
I've heard people have a lot of trouble playing against people who use programs to calculate moves for them.

[wasup]

I've heard people have a lot of trouble playing against people who use programs to calculate moves for them. [/b]

You can generally tell if they are using a computer depending on how long it takes them to move.

[Neruo]

-Think ahead a few moves. Not just your own moves, but your enemy's moves too.
-Keep pressure on your enemy. Be on the attack, not the defense.
-Use your pieces: Open up the pawns in a way they cover each other, an so you can move out your pieces to put pressure on the middle of the board.
-Don't make silly mistakes, take some time before you move, even if it looks like a simple move. You might just forget to see that bishop that annaly rapes your queen.

[BohmaN]

I've got some tips:

- Be alert, predict what your opponent will do next and act accordingly.
- It's like lucid dreaming - always have a plan what to do.
- move the smaller pieces first.
- Make sure your pieces interact - don't block the way for other pieces.
- Attack is best defence.
- Don't put any valueable pieces behind the king.
- Rule the middle of the board.
- Hide pieces that behind other pieces and then attack with double effect in just one move!

Good Luck!

[Amethyst Star]

I'm no chess master, but I'd say I'm about average for the little I play. Usually I make about two to four moves just to get my defenses set up as well as plot a course for the King.

I always try to keep the King as my primary focus and then work backwards from there. I look and see how my opponent has moved and look for the possible checkmate spots. Judging by the defenses and keeping in mind which ones are currently unusable/usable and which ones my opponent will likely free up, I plot a multi-directional course. When you move a piece, know at least two or three moves ahead how that piece could be taken and how you can depend upon that.

Also, don't be afraid to sacrifice certain pieces, especially if you know that you can get them back. If you're playing someone in real life, it can be very helpful if you have something set up to try and get your opponent to focus on that piece. Make it seem important.

Don't let your opponent get himself into a stalemate position. If I'm obviously going to lose, the first thing that goes into my head is a plan on how to stalemate the board. That's another useful thing to learn sometimes, but it annoys the heck out of the aggressor!

[TripleX223]

practice practice practice

[wendylove]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1Y0UZIm2vfw
Chess now
This is funny as hell and really hard to watch. The best book on chess is proberly Thinking differently about blacks and whites by Jowson the current british chess champion. I guess to truely learn how to play chess you need to do chess excerises and learn the common mistakes and traps. Also you have to choose a opening and stick with it mine is the sicilian dragon or the basic sicilian, I hate the king indian and all other defences.

Apparently the best place to start would be on the most common checkmates then the middle game then the opening.