Chess for Beginners

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  • The Outpost

    The Outpost
    The Outpost

    The diagram shows that White has the center and the d-file. In other respects positions are equal. White with the move will attempt operations on the d-file. This presents difficulties since the protected Black pawn at d6 represents a “granite block”. The key move in this position is 1.Nd5 and the knight placed here we call the outpost. By outpost we mean a piece, usually a knight, established on an open file in enemy territory and protected by a pawn. The knight will exercise a disturbing influence due to his radius of attack and will cause the opponent to weaken their position in the d-file, in order to drive him away, by …c6.

    • An advanced outpost forms a base for new attacks
    • An outpost provokes a weakening of the enemy’s position in the file in question.

    from My System by Nimzowitch

  • The Step Method in Chess

    The Step Method in Chess is a chess improvement system that takes a player from beginner to a expert level.

    About the Steps Method in Chess

    The Step Method in ChessThe step-by-step method (or the Steps Method in Chess) has been developed by Rob Brunia and Cor van Wijgerden to teach children a Step-by-Step Chess Method to learn how to play chess for beginners. A large number of schools and chess clubs in the Netherlands and Belgium use this method for their chess lessons. The Step Method is intended to take students from the basics all the way to the chess level of an ELO rating of 1900 after the student has mastered step 5. The program can take a student up to a 2100 ELO rating once they master the self-directed 6th step.

    This steps method consists of six steps.

     

     

     

    Step 1

    Rules of the game and basic skills are covered in step 1.

    15 lessons:

    1: Board and pieces
    2: Moves of the pieces
    3: Attacking and capturing
    4: The pawn
    5: Defending
    6: Check and + getting out of check
    7: Mate
    8: Mate
    9: Castling
    10: Profitable exchange
    11: Twofold attack
    12: Draw
    13: Mating with the queen
    14: Taking ‘en passant’
    15: The notation
    (more…)

  • Most Popular Posts

    Below are the six most popular posts on beginchess.com of the past few years:

  • Detailed Chess Training Schedule

    Building upon the generic training schedule the detailed chess training schedule includes information on the topics and materials to be covered during my chess training sessions. This list is customized for me, but I am including it as an example for others to build upon as well as for my own reference.

    Monday July 13th
    Study Endings using Silman’s Endgame Course (1hr)
    Solve tactics on chess.com (30min)

    Tuesday July 14th
    Study Strategy from My System (1hr)
    Solve endings using Chess Tempo (30min)

    Wednesday July 15th
    Play G/30 Game
    Annotate game

    Thursday July 16th
    Solve strategy using content from Chess Master Schools (1hr)
    Solve tactics on chess.com (30min)

    Friday July 17th
    Study openings (Nimzo-Indian) (1hr)
    Solve endings using Chess Tempo (30min)

    Saturday July 18th
    Play G/30 Game
    Annotate game

    Sunday July 19th
    Catch-up day

  • Classic Endgame Pawn Breakthrough

  • Chess Openings for Beginners: Dealing with the Seirawan Attack

    I am slowly building my opening repertoire and I feel comfortable with my opening as White (The English) as well as my defenses as Black against 1.e4 (the French). I am a bit more unsure when it comes to my defense to 1.d4 as Black. I just recently decided that my repertoire against 1.d4 would include the Nimzo Indian against 1.d4 1.Nf6 2.C4 e6 3.Nf3 and the Queen’s Indian against 1.d4 1.Nf6 2.C4 e6 3.Nc3.I still need to iron out my responses against the Torre, Colle and Tromposky…but until then I’ll just play logical moves against those openings.

    While playing a game on FICS the other day I encountered the following move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Bg5 which to my chagrin was not covered in either my Nimzo or QID books. This is known as the Neo-Indian Attack or the Seirawan Attack.

    The two most common responses for Black against the Seirawan attack are either 3…h6 or 3…Bb4+. Based on my use of the Nimzo-Indian against 1.d4, I am going to respond using 3…Bb4+ which has an insignificantly lower winning percentage than 3…h6 (36.8% versus 35.3%).

    My biggest fear with 3…Bb4+ is that it does not address the pin on the f6 knight. This is addressed with 4…h6 placing the question to White’s bishop.

    Here’s a sample game where the Neo-Indian Attack transposes into the Nimzo-Indian Leningrad variation:

  • Endgame Positions

    I have added a JavaScript replay chess board which contains critical endgame positions. Right now it contains three positions mainly King and pawn endgames dealing with the opposition, but I plan on adding more every couple of days.

  • Chess Board Visualization Exercise #3

    After mastering exercise 1 and exercise 2 you are ready to move on to the third chess board visualization exercise.

    Using the board look at all of the squares controlled by:

    – a knight on c3
    – a knight on f3
    – a knight on c6
    – a knight on f6

    Then, without the use of the board repeat the exercise again visualizing the squares controlled by the knight on f3, c6 and f6.

    Perform this exercise for two sessions or until you feel comfortable. You should also repeat exercise #2 until you are extremely comfortable performing it.

    Remember it is important to build upon fundamentals, and exercise # 2 is an important building block in developing chess visualization skills.

  • Annotated Game: Winter vs. Capablanca 1918

    Here’s an annotated game by Capablanca from his game Winter vs. Capablanca that took place in Hastings in 1918.

    Winter vs. Capablanca 1918

    NOTE: I am testing a Silverlight chess board, please leave me your feedback.

  • Chess Memory

    Interesting article on chess memory which should be read by all who are interested in chess psychology and learning.