new player

Originally posted by thebluegirl
i am also not sure how chess notation works.

It's always good to get a beginners book. I am convinced that most of my losses happen in the first 5-6 moves. The notation looks complicated ( I had to adjust to it from the old style), but once you get used to it it is easy. When you look at the board on the site,you will see corresponding letters across the bottom and numbers on the side. For example if you begin a game by moving your king pawn up two spaces that is e4. If your opponent responds in kind, that is e5. You can notate a piece in addition to the square moved to such as b-g3. Or q-f6.

Originally posted by deathbypawn
try and control the center. control the center control the game.

1.e4 (your first pawn moves to e4-there's grid references at the side of the board) is always a nice move to start with (although dbp's statement isn't exactly trure...😛).

there are some site's that will give you help with your openings, although i don't know of any (i have a book though? 😛)

also-try playing lower-rated players, cause they're usually easier to beat and generally couldn't give two craps how good you are 😉