Originally posted by BowmannThere's also SVW's "Chess for Chimps". Quite enlightening!
My own book "Chess for Chumps" may be a good place to start, if you can find it.
Beginners can read it from beginning to end, whilst more seasoned players may approach it the opposite way round.
Good luck!
Ok, seriously, to the original poster that started this thread - Yes, you're opening play is a little different, but it's not horrible. You do violate some chess prinicpals every now and then, but you seem to spot tactics pretty well.
If you really want to improve you should read a couple of books and play over the positions in them. Some good ones have already been recocommended here. I'll add that any book from Jeremy Silman, but especially "The Amateurs Mind", will serve you well.
In time you'll also need to pick a few openings as white and black and STICK with them. You'll learn the traps that way and you'll also learn what those openings are trying to accomplish in the middle game.
And keep studying tactics. Never stop.
Time is on my side in digesting the learnings; with challenge and the overcoming of confusion comes enjoyment...
Thanks heaps to everyone for all of your advice...am glad to receive such pointers towards the basic principles...
there is too many of you to mention individually....i promised myself i wasn't gonna cry....*sob*
😉
CS