I only recently started playing chess with a few friends of mine and I must say it's been a ton of fun.
But only knowing how the pieces move and using half my brain really isn't helping me much (the game really showed me how mushy my brain is.)
I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good book or website for a beginner.
Appreciate all your help in advance.
My favorite book for a beginner is THE SIMON & SCHUSTER POCKET BOOK OF CHESS by Raymond Keene. It is a great book for not just explaining basic strategy and tactics, but also by providing a great tour of chess history. This is a good book to get you up and running. Most bookstores have it.
For websites, one of my favorites is Chessville (http://www.chessville.com/). It covers just about all aspects of the game, from the latest news to product reviews. It also has an enjoyable weekly newsletter.
Yes. Some good books you might try are Yasser Seirawan's books on chess. They might be a little pricy, but you can definately count on them to help improve your game. If you're serious about improving your chess abilities you might also consider finding someone to teach you the basics, such as a teacher or higher rated player. Finding some other players to just mess around with regularly and play some chess with on a daily basis is a good idea. Chess takes a tremendous amount of effort to master, just because it's so competetive and strategically complex. If you're starting out I've heard it's good not to focus on opening theory and to just play the game. Get a feel for your own style and worry about opening theory after you've got some experience under your belt. If you can manage it try to get some games against stronger players also, from personal experience it's good for your confidence and strategical mastery. I dunno, from then on I guess just be ambitious about your improvement. There's no telling how far you can go in the chess world if you put in the effort. If you want offer me a game some time and we can talk chess some more, I definately don't mind helping out 🙂
I used books by Bill Hartson as a newbie but hopefully someone will recommend other books. See Thread 69763