Chess for Beginners

Category: Lists

Best Chess Blogs and Websites
Below are my favorite chess sites, as well as the top rank websites based on Alexa rank.
Top Chess Sites based on Alexa rank

as of 3/1/2017
1. chess.com #1,181
2. lichess.org #2,622
3. Chess24.com #7,223
4. Chessbase.com #13,286
5. chessgames.com #21,437
6. fide.org #21,932
7. Chess24.com #28.261
8. Chesskid.com #44,208
9. chessbomb.com #46,539
10. chess365.com 69,395
11. chessbomb.com #70,198
12. ICC #93,567
13. chessdom.com #118,009
For more chess links visit the Chess Directory. Please leave your suggestions in the comments.
March 1, 2017
How to Get Better at Chess
Chess Tips on How to Get Better at Chess

1. Learn the basic checkmates

Learning the basic mates and focusing on basic tactics is the most productive use of your chess study time. Most games between beginners and intermediates are decided by
blunders or overlooked tactics.

2. Learn the basic endgames

After tactics the next best use of your time is in studying basic endgames such as king and queen and king and pawn. Your rating will increase because you will be able to draw lost games and win drawn ones.

3. Practice using a physical board

The act of using your hand eye coordination to move the pieces on a physical board allow concepts to be learned more easily.

4. Pick a good book and read it cover to cover

Many beginners have an extensive chess library, but have never finished one book. This leads to inefficient learning and knowledge gaps.

5. Play in tournaments against stronger opposition

Play one section up in at least every other tournament you join.
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6. Review your games, especially your losses

It is important to learn from your mistakes so you don’t repeat them.

7. Go over your games with stronger players

Ask them where you went wrong, and what you could have done differently.

8. Focus on tactics and endgames instead of on openings

The benefit of being a strong tactician and endgame player cannot be overstated. Any time spent learning openings can be better used in practicing tactics, studying endgames and playing long games.

9. Chose your opening repertoire based on how much time you have to dedicate to chess

If you are a working adult, don’t try to learn the Sicilian. You need to be practical and realistic.

10. Learn Chess strategy by reviewing master games

The best way to improve your strategic and positional knowledge is to pick a chess “mentor” and review at least 10 of their games.
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March 1, 2017
The Chess Directory Project
Chess Directory Project

The Chess Directory project aims to consolidate all online chess related information into one place. Currently the Chess Directory has 11 different chess related categories with 50 chess related sites already listed, and is growing quickly.

Popular categories in the chess directory include:
If you have a chess related business , you are a chess coach, or if you frequent a site that hasn’t been included, then feel free to submit your site for free to the Chess Directory.

The aim is to have one place where all good quality chess sites can easily be discovered.

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January 24, 2016
12 Chess Endgame Principles

1. In the endgame the King is a fighting piece and it should be centralized and used actively.

2. Material advantage wins in the endgame. Hold on to your material!

3. Be wary of sacrificing pawns for development. Only in rook and pawn endgames is an active piece worth material.

4. Try to gain tempi whenever possible, but without giving up material.

5. The fewer the pieces, the more important the pawns. The closer into the endgame, the more powerful pawns become.

6. Have a flexible and sound pawn structure. Avoid doubled, isolated and backward pawns.

7. Passed pawns must be pushed!

8. An outside passed pawn is an advantage in King and pawn endgames and it is usually a decisive advantage.

9. Rooks belong behind passed pawns.

10. In open positions the two bishops are murder. In almost all positions the two bishops give a tangible advantage.

11. In open or semi-open positions a bishop is usually superior to a knight.

12. The knight is superior to the bishop in blocked positions or when the bishop is hemmed in by pawns on the same color squares as the bishop.

Attribution: Edmar Mednis’ Rate Your Endgame Play

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December 25, 2012
A Matter of Technique
When reviewing master games, the expert annotator usually does not cover the last few moves of the game and attributes the remaining moves to “The rest is a matter of technique.” Well, I came across the following explanation by Mednis in his excellent endgame book Rate Your Endgame Play, on just what exactly is a matter of technique.

A technique is a procedure used to accomplish a specific activity or task having good technique in chess means:
- Not allowing counterplay
- holding on to a material advantage
- establishing a clear plan and following it
- being careful
- not hurrying, with respect to time or moves
- avoiding unclear or unnecessary complications
- winning the game
December 24, 2012
Five Preliminary Endgame Rules

1. Before even beginning to think of making a passed pawn, put all your pieces into as good positions as possible.

Queen – Center of board

Rooks – seventh rank for White, second rank for Black. But if the enemy has two or more minor pieces the rook must be careful about leaving his own camp and must be content with commanding the open file.

Knights – Square in the center or in the enemy camp, supported by a pawn which is cannot be attacked by a pawn.

Bishops – Center diagonals; pawn support is not essential but desirable.

King – Central, provided that he is not dangerously exposed. If the enemy has a rook, the King is best posted at or adjacent to e2(e7) or d2(d7) – fairly near the center, but still preventing the enemy rook from seizing the second (seventh) or first (eight) rank.

2. Avoid pawn-moves while you are getting your pieces well positioned because pawn-moves create lasting weaknesses and thus make your task harder.

3. Try to free your position from weaknesses; and if possible, make it hard for the opponent to do likewise.

4. When trying to win, keep pawns on both wings. When trying to draw, play to eliminate all the pawns on one wing. With pawns on one wing only, a pawn plus is usually insufficient for a win.

5. If you are a pawn up or more, exchange pieces (not pawns) wherever you can do so without losing in position.

Exception: do not rush an exchange that will leave you with a single bishop running on the opposite color to the enemy’s single bishop. Also, refrain from exchanging if it will give your opponent two bishops against bishop and knight.

CJS Purdy

July 7, 2010
The Three Things That Have Improved My Chess

1. Practising tactics – I cannot stress enough the importance of tactics at the sub 1800 level. If your time is limited, tactics training would be the one thing that would give you the greatest return on investment.

2. Playing and reviewing my games – This allows you to learn from your mistakes, and to prevent you from repeating your mistakes over and over again. This important training tool provides you with the appropriate feedback loop, so that your chess training is focused on those areas that you need to improve the most.

3. Revisiting my thought process – Learning more about how other chess players think, and then taking an inventory of my own chess thought process. I documented a process that made sense to me, and then reviewing it while going over positions and / or annotated games.

Feel free to add a comment of your own list of things that have improved your game.

April 25, 2010