Originally posted by DaveIsHereWow, with that wide-ranging question, you'll get more ideas than you can handle!
Does anyone have any recommendations for a good book or website to learn more about chess, openings, etc?
For starters, you can't go wrong with checking out Dan Heisman's web site. Check out his book recommendations, and also, you can't miss his Novice Nook columns - A veritable treasure trove of information. But in general, just go through his chess site with a fine-tooth comb.
http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Main_Chess/chess.htm
Don't worry much about openings at this point, except for learning general opening principles.
"Discovering Chess Openings" by John Emms is a good starter for learning the principles of opening play. Also check out books by Yasser Seirawan...he has a book on tactics and a book on endings which are both worth working through.
There are a lot of titles that would work for you so it might be worth trying to find a specialist book store so you can browse through them before you buy.
The key to chess books is finding the right book at the right time. Just as if you were studying a new language you'll find the more advanced books quite incomprehensible until you've reached the appropriate level.
http://www.chessvideos.tv/ - has some good training videos to watch.
www.chesskids.com - has some good resources if you don't mind the kid friendly presentation of the site.
www.Chessgames.com - is worth a look around. You can play through some master games here and also click links to games that resolve with basic mates via the "endings" tab and so on.
Good luck!
Originally posted by DaveIsHereJeez, dude!
Does anyone have any recommendations for a good book or website to learn more about chess, openings, etc?
Try not to hang pawns in the first few moves.
Here are a few constructive points:
1)Open with a central pawn, but make as few pawn moves as possible early on. I reckon 3 or 4 max in your first 10 moves is about right.
2)Develop knight(s) before bishops.
Knights take longer to reach the other side of the board. A knight gets more powerful the further it advances, but is also a key defensive piece early on, 90% of the time on c3/c6 or f3/f6 for both players cannot be wrong.
3)Develop with threats.
This gains you time. For example 1.e4...d5, 2.exd5...Qxd5 3.Nc3 attacks the Q & brings out the knight in 1 move.
4)Don't move the same piece twice unless you have to.
5)Don't bring your Q out early & generally not beyond the 2nd or 3rd rank.
Your opponent can gain time & develop by attacking it with minor pieces.
6)Castle as soon as possible (Kingside is usually safest)
This helps protect your King & brings your Rooks into the game
7)Don't move the pawns in front of your castled King unless you have a reasonably good motive.
8)Don't panic if he keeps pushing pawns in the opening! Just try to keep your pieces safe, prevent him from giving you doubled pawns (inflict them on him if you have the chance) & the developmental advantage should show soon enough.
But basically try to allow your openings to give you mobile & developed pieces & control of the center, whilst denying these to your opponent.
&
Look for basic threats that your opponent makes before you make your own moves & look for your own possible checks/captures/threats & you will be miles ahead of the other -1000's.
Here white is massively ahead in terms of development & control.
This is the sort of ideal that you should perhaps be looking for.
White has controlled the central squares.
He has developed all his pieces.
His King is safe.
His Rooks are linked on an unobstructed back-rank & also support the center.
His Queen is off the back-rank, but only as far as e2. She is ready to spring into action should the need arise, but is perfectly safe at the moment.
Originally posted by DaveIsHereI'd go with Chessmaster. The 10th version is definately good enough, and is probably cheaper than most of the books you would buy. it should be worth a lot of books. take it seriously and you'll get to 1400 in a few months.
Thanks for the info Squelch.
I would recommend reading ONE of the following books:
"Chess for Dummies" by Eade
"Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess" by Wolff
"Play Winning Chess" by Seirawan and Silman
Then, I would recommend reading "Logical Chess: Move by Move" by Chernev.
After that, I suggest solving the tactics problems in "303 Tricky Chess Tactics" by Wilson and Albertson