First, you need to learn how to correctly speak in chess terminology.
The correct question is "How do I become a stronger player?"
Strong player and weak player are the way in which you refer to
"how good" someone is.
The best way to learn how to play chess is to play on the internet.
The Internet Chess Club - ICC (www.chessclub.com) is the best
resource to improve your chess skills.
There are free other sites also like playchess. You can search for
free chess playing websites but the ICC is clearly the best because
of its libraries resources and competition.
The libraries allow you to research games in classical chess which
is very important if you want to understand chess theory. The
contemporary libraries allow you to access games from the best
players in the world...but this is something you are really not ready
for until you become a master and truly understand what is going
on and the 10's of thousands of patterns and pieces in combination
tactics you will need to know in order to equalize and not miss what
your opponent can do to you.
Play blitz. This is how you improve your chess. Everytime you lose
a game you learn by what your opponent has done to you. Playing
thousands of blitz games will greatly improve your chess. It is all
about pattern memory and knowing what to look for.
Double king pawn openings are important for learning tactics. Avoid
the so called "safe" queen pawn opening and closed games and play
as many open games as possible. Don't worry about winning...worry
about learning the patterns until you become a master. Play open
games not closed games.
Some people believe you should learn chess "backwards." What
they believe is that you should first learn everything about "endgame"
so you can know how to achieve an advantage in endgame by
transitioning from the middle-game. Learning everything about queen
and pawn endings, rook and pawn endings, and how to combine with
queen and knight, queen and rook, queen and bishop, rook and bishop,
two rooks, rook and pawn endings, etc. is VERY important in knowing
theory and how to play the middle game based on theory - and not
just seeing all of the thousands upon thousands of tactics.
In Russia they teach small children everything about endgame even
though they don't really use this knowledge until they can play the
opening and the middle game. Eventually you will need to learn
the openings if you want to make it to the middle game with even
chances for winning. I recommend learning at least 5 openings for
both black and white that you can transpose to when you are an
amateur...but at some point you should learn dozens of openings
and 100's of variations to those openings. If you have a good
memory...it is not that difficult to learn a 1000 different lines
15 or 20 moves into the major openings. It is important to know
the theory behind these openings and how they relate to pawn
structure. This is only something you are going to learn once
you get passed Class A or expert and can see the tactics of your
opponent in order to equalize (Lasker's ceterus paribus).
My son is a national champion. He achieved this by playing thousands
of blitz games online. The great thing about the ICC is that you can
always find opponents at your level of play. There are free lessons
through Dr. Spock and other videos..as well as plenty of what we
call "Trainingbots" which are really easy at solving in seconds once
you are advanced enough. You can also learn how to play Queen
and King against Rook and King (and win - which is difficult if you
don't know how) and learn how to mate with a Bishop and kNight
(which is a little easier once you know how).
An advanced player or a master is generally above 2500 or 2600
on the ICC. When you really learn how the game works you can
start shooting for ratings of 2700 to 3000 and play grandmasters
all over the world. My son plays GM's and IM's all day long on
a regular basis because his ratings are this high. His favorite time
control is 1 minute (bullet) for the whole game)that way he knows
he is not playing against someone's computer.
Be careful not to become addicted to chess. Chess can become
an idol if you are not careful. Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
should always be your King...and not a chess piece.
The correct question is "How do I become a stronger player?"
Strong player and weak player are the way in which you refer to
"how good" someone is.
The best way to learn how to play chess is to play on the internet.
The Internet Chess Club - ICC (www.chessclub.com) is the best
resource to improve your chess skills.
There are free other sites also like playchess. You can search for
free chess playing websites but the ICC is clearly the best because
of its libraries resources and competition.
The libraries allow you to research games in classical chess which
is very important if you want to understand chess theory. The
contemporary libraries allow you to access games from the best
players in the world...but this is something you are really not ready
for until you become a master and truly understand what is going
on and the 10's of thousands of patterns and pieces in combination
tactics you will need to know in order to equalize and not miss what
your opponent can do to you.
Play blitz. This is how you improve your chess. Everytime you lose
a game you learn by what your opponent has done to you. Playing
thousands of blitz games will greatly improve your chess. It is all
about pattern memory and knowing what to look for.
Double king pawn openings are important for learning tactics. Avoid
the so called "safe" queen pawn opening and closed games and play
as many open games as possible. Don't worry about winning...worry
about learning the patterns until you become a master. Play open
games not closed games.
Some people believe you should learn chess "backwards." What
they believe is that you should first learn everything about "endgame"
so you can know how to achieve an advantage in endgame by
transitioning from the middle-game. Learning everything about queen
and pawn endings, rook and pawn endings, and how to combine with
queen and knight, queen and rook, queen and bishop, rook and bishop,
two rooks, rook and pawn endings, etc. is VERY important in knowing
theory and how to play the middle game based on theory - and not
just seeing all of the thousands upon thousands of tactics.
In Russia they teach small children everything about endgame even
though they don't really use this knowledge until they can play the
opening and the middle game. Eventually you will need to learn
the openings if you want to make it to the middle game with even
chances for winning. I recommend learning at least 5 openings for
both black and white that you can transpose to when you are an
amateur...but at some point you should learn dozens of openings
and 100's of variations to those openings. If you have a good
memory...it is not that difficult to learn a 1000 different lines
15 or 20 moves into the major openings. It is important to know
the theory behind these openings and how they relate to pawn
structure. This is only something you are going to learn once
you get passed Class A or expert and can see the tactics of your
opponent in order to equalize (Lasker's ceterus paribus).
My son is a national champion. He achieved this by playing thousands
of blitz games online. The great thing about the ICC is that you can
always find opponents at your level of play. There are free lessons
through Dr. Spock and other videos..as well as plenty of what we
call "Trainingbots" which are really easy at solving in seconds once
you are advanced enough. You can also learn how to play Queen
and King against Rook and King (and win - which is difficult if you
don't know how) and learn how to mate with a Bishop and kNight
(which is a little easier once you know how).
An advanced player or a master is generally above 2500 or 2600
on the ICC. When you really learn how the game works you can
start shooting for ratings of 2700 to 3000 and play grandmasters
all over the world. My son plays GM's and IM's all day long on
a regular basis because his ratings are this high. His favorite time
control is 1 minute (bullet) for the whole game)that way he knows
he is not playing against someone's computer.
Be careful not to become addicted to chess. Chess can become
an idol if you are not careful. Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior
should always be your King...and not a chess piece.
