I am new to playing chess, but I know what every piece does. I need to have some stragedy ideas or anything at all would be helpful. I have playes 7 different games with my dad and nothing I do seems to work, I mean I know that he is good, but i would like to beat him just once!
As a rough guide you could aim to: Move a pawn in front of your king two squares forward for your first move follow this with the knights and bishops from your kingside then castle (see the FAQ pages for castling rules) get your other Knight and Bishop out if you can (you'll have to make another pawn or two to do this ) then bring your Rooks to the centre. Now you have your army devloped and your king is safe - attack.
In the begining keep pawn move to a minimum - they don't go backwards. Try to move each peice only once or twice in the first few moves. Co-ordinate your peices so they work together.
Whilst aiming to do the above - something always gets in the way - respond the best you can to your opponents moves - learning some tactics is the best way to do this - check out; knight forks, forks, pins, skewers and double attacks.
Now you'll need to finish him offf with checkmate.
Learn to checkmate with king & two rooks verses a king, then learn how to checkmate with king & rook, then with king and queen.
Now learn how to use your King to defend a pawn to get it across the board promote it to a Queen and checkmate and a whole range of other checkmating themes. It's good to know a few checkmating patterns because this can give you somethjing to aim for. Solving checkmate puzzles will really help here.
A good introductory book is a great help and there are many websites - both are listed in other threads here - and not forgetting a good chess engine for your PC or MAC. However it might help to think of this as learning a language if your up for becoming the best player you can with the time you have available. Perhaps spending an an hour or two a week playing and studying - many spend more time than this.
Oh and don't tell your Dad any of this until you've beaten him at least three times!
Good luck
Speaking as a dad, your best rescource to help beat you dad is probably your dad. To a kid there may be no greater pride than beating a parent at chess (or any skill game), but a parent will take just as much pride in teaching a son or daughter well enough that they can win against them in a fair fight. I know that if I can get my own son to this point it will mean sustaining his enjoyment of the game for years to come, keeping his brain active in positive persuits and giving him the pride of accomplishment (since if he's as good as me in 5 or 6 years he'll do well in school tournaments.) If the price of this is that I lose games to him it's well worth it.
Chances are good it's like that with your dad as well. I can't tell you where you're going wrong because I don't know you or how you play, but he certainly does. No one is in a better position to help you understand where you went wrong or is more likely to be motivated to help.
My Dad taught me to play chess at 11. By 13 I had not beaten him but then did for the first time. By 14 I beat him every time. He never played me again as I was by now too good for him. He was proud when at 16 I took 3rd place in my countries Scholars Chess Championship. My Dad was great for the basics and you need to ask him more, get him to tell you where you went wrong and practice, practice, practice, here on RHP playing some of those many decent players who will gladly help you.
Learn how to mate, then the basics about openings then tactics and strategy. Thats all there is too chess except as you get better you need to know more about all these things. Simple endings are good enough for now. I am posting a few here at the moment - learn them.
Originally posted by meshacklaReally, you need to learn the game. Nothing a person can say in this thread is going to help, you need to learn it.
I am new to playing chess, but I know what every piece does. I need to have some stragedy ideas or anything at all would be helpful. I have playes 7 different games with my dad and nothing I do seems to work, I mean I know that he is good, but i would like to beat him just once!
If you learn all this info, you are going to get a LOT better. Learn it all, don't just read quick through it... you need to learn it all.
http://www.princeton.edu/~jedwards/cif/intro.html
It's going to take you years to catch up with your dad, unless he's never studied anything on the subject of chess. We don't know how strong your dad is at chess. All you can do is get as strong as you can.
This will also help you with the chess tactics someone else posted here.
P-
If you play with white, play 1.d4 (move the queens pawn two spaces) and then don't advance it any further, use it as an anchor and develop your pieces (knights and bishops) around the squares that pawn controlls.
If black tries to attack the pawn, defend it with the kings pawn.
Castle as soon as possible.
If you play black, sometimes a symmetrical defence works well. Play the opposite moves your father does and see what happens.
Good luck, there is some great advice here by other posters as well!
Originally posted by Dragon Firelol, DragonFire, something simillar happened to me too, similar age...
My Dad taught me to play chess at 11. By 13 I had not beaten him but then did for the first time. By 14 I beat him every time. He never played me again as I was by now too good for him. He was proud when at 16 I took 3rd place in my countries Scholars Chess Championship. My Dad was great for the basics and you need to ask him more, get him to tell you wh ...[text shortened]... ngs. Simple endings are good enough for now. I am posting a few here at the moment - learn them.
I am wandering why the dads do not continue to play after they start loosing? (I like to play better players because I consider I learn more...maybe it is the feeling that you were the one that was coming from behind and he has game by game lower chances to win)