Chess Course Advice

I was wondering if anyone out there recommends a good chess course to take.
I would like to develop my skills & don't know where to go!

Any & all suggestions are welcome

I have seen this one but would like to know what people think about it ?

http://www.chessmasterschool.com/?gclid=CMewybqgiaUCFYxH4wodR1W_Nw

Originally posted by DUFFley
I was wondering if anyone out there recommends a good chess course to take.
I would like to develop my skills & don't know where to go!

Any & all suggestions are welcome

I have seen this one but would like to know what people think about it ?

http://www.chessmasterschool.com/?gclid=CMewybqgiaUCFYxH4wodR1W_Nw

Hi.

Only looked at three recent games.

No need to shell out good cash on a course.

You have Queen Syndrome.
You look for Queen moves all the time, often as early as move two
and you never trade her even if it means losing a piece.

Game 7838100

Don't bring your Queen out so early.
Let the Knights and Bishops do the work in the opening.

You were actually a piece up and had a chance to swap off the Queens.
When ahead like this on material it's often a good to trade down.

Your opponent missed a mate in one in that game dragging it on for
another 15-16 moves. See if you can see it.

Game 7841124

Another odd Queen move on move two and again you came out of this OK
because he loosened his K-side.

Here...Black to play.



Instead of 12...Qh5+
12...f3+ was far better and wins a piece.

Then when you ran out checks your opponent took over.
(he too missed a mate in one, see of you can see it).

Your early Queen sorties are going to get you into trouble.
You do not realise the danger you are putting yourself into because your
opponents have not punished you.

Game 7827507 You won this. Well done.

If you had been playing me you would have been in tears on move 4.

Go and see what should have happened.

Leave Your Queen Alone

In the 1600's it was known that early Queen moves were dangerous.
This from Graco about 1620.

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at my games.
It's very much appreciated
Will take what you say on board & keep the Queen back.
I'll work on developing the knights & bishops.

Chesscafe ~ never heard if it but I'll get into that right away !
Thank you

Any book you would recommend to get ?

Originally posted by DUFFley
Any book you would recommend to get ?

If you're not averse to spending a bit of money, get yourself book or two. Tarrasch's "The Game of Chess" is probably still the best general treatement for the improving amateur. An essential addition I think, at least for anyone to whom tactics doesn't come naturally, is Ivashchenko's "The Manual of Chess Combinations". It comes in three volumes, 1a 1b and 2; no need to buy all at once, it'll take you years to exhaust them.

This website is not too bad. One of the very very few I've seen
that I would actually recommend.

http://www.thechesswebsite.com/index.php

Plenty of stuff for the student of the game here.

(Look st the 'Birds Eye View' trap and spot the flaw).

For tactics I recommend Chess Tactics for Beginners . It's a CD, but is far superior to a book because you can quickly look through solutions, and can be given instructive hints without being given the answer. When I was a 1100 USCF rated player, I did about 50 puzzles a day (it has around 1300 puzzles)) along with frequent tournament play and a potpourri of other studying, and improved rapidly to 1600 over the next year and a quarter. Unfortunately, I don't think it works for Vista or Windows 7, but if you have XP or 2000 it is well worth the 20-30 dollars.

The website below is great:

http://www.chesskids.com/lessons04.shtml

It's great for almost all situations - openings, specific endings, and other bits and pieces. What's great about it is that it gives general principles to follow rather than specific advice. It's also great that the previous poster's name in this thread is chesskids, what's the odds on that happening?

When I started off I used to refer to that site a lot. Actually I still do to be honest. Once you get beyond the openings I'd recommend looking at their stuff on the endgame - it was massively helpful for me.

If you're looking for a good book I'd recommend Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess books. And anything by Iain Banks if you're taking a break from chess. Good luck!