Tips for newbies?

That pretty much speaks for itself. The only person I have ever played chess against was my idiot of a brother, who was taught to play by someone with an IQ of about180... He owned me. I would like to be able to play chess, but still don't really know how. Anything helps! :]

Try not to move an unguarded piece(s) to a square where it can be captured. Of course there are exceptions but generally this is good advice.

Welcome aboard & good luck 🙂

I've played thousands of chess games and I still know nothing about the game so I think I'm the right person to tell you what not to do. In your learning, don't confine yourself to reading Wikipedia articles. When you're playing through a master game and don't understand a move, don't start playing Minesweeper instead. Don't think too highly of yourself. When your opponent plays a move you think inferior, don't consider yourself the victor.

I've done and do all of these things.

You can find a lot of information for free on the web. Among the things that a newbie should look at:

- know the rules (e.g. explained on this site under 'Help'😉
- basic ideas of the opening (= get a position from which it is easier to attack/defend)
- value of pieces (during the game, you will trade/exchange pieces: try to gain from this)
- basic checkmates (two rooks, king and rook, king and queen)

Good luck.

Get some tips and pointers from the IQ 180 who taught your brother.

I'm serious.
It depends on the chess playing enviroment you are in on how much you improve.

If there is a good player knocking about you can pick his brain.
If not then players may stumble on and on and go around in circles.

Face to face lessons are best, play as often as you can.

If you can't get help from IQ 180 like greenpawn34 suggested and you have to use the internet, reading these three articles might help:

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman15.pdf
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman35.pdf
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman65.pdf

Yellow post it notes randomly placed around your pc monitor with reminders not to hang pieces & always check for checks can serve you very well, so I'm told.

Perhaps the most important part is to analyse your games (this doesn't have to be in great detail. For instance if you blundered try to reforge the position to before it happened to make sure you won't face the same mistake again). When you lose try to understand WHY you lost. Usually a stronger player can help you with this. Also don't just look at the mistakes you made, also find out what you did good. This will help you remembering the good moves as well.

I'll pick up from Yashin. Going over a lost game. Hope this helps.

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Hi Trojan

Just did one of those online IQ tests.
At the third attempt on the same set of question I finally got an IQ of 181!
So there is no need to go and see that eggheaded friend of your brothers.

Your first game on here Game 8695918 you were mated in 4 moves.


Learn from it. We were all mated this way when we first started.

Look at the initial position.


The square f7 and f2 are the weakest points.
They are only squares defended by the King so you will see a lot
of attacks aimed at these squares in the beginning of the game
especially by players in the same temporary class as yourself.

(note the word 'temporary' stick with me kid. I'll soon
have you beating that idiot brother of yours.)

Here is a game played on here. Just normal players like yourself.
It's not witchcraft, it's very easy to pick up.

Here is what happened.

White attacks Black's weak spot, he is driven back.
Black attacks White's weak spot and thanks to the time wasted by White,
Black's attack is much stronger and harder to defend to against.
Indeed White failed and was mated.

Note how the White Queen ended up on her original square and Black
had a Knight on d5. This was the wasted time I was talking about.

RikWb - amolv06 RHP 2008

There are no easy solutions.

You are going to have to learn to see the board, this comes with practice.

Good practice is to castle early and castle often.

Good practice is to protect your pieces. Don't just leave them sitting unprotected.

Another good thing to do is to find someone better than you to go over your games with you so that you can see what you did wrong and what you did right.

Let's see... Unless you're aiming for Scholar's Mate, don't move your queen out of position too soon, because you'll probably have to waste time retreating it, and don't aim for Scholar's Mate. Sure, you'll get a few wins out of it, but you'll learn nothing from them, and you'll lose against anyone who actually knows how to defend against it (as aptly demonstrated above).

Beyond that, learning the first five or six moves of a standard opening or two (the Ruy Lopez and the Sicilian Defence are usually good ones to start with) would be useful, since that will help you to develop pieces quickly and safely. Finally, do not make random pawn moves. It can be tempting when in a tough position, but pawn structure is important. A strong pawn structure defends your king; a weak one opens it to attack.

Originally posted by Trojan2
That pretty much speaks for itself. The only person I have ever played chess against was my idiot of a brother, who was taught to play by someone with an IQ of about180... He owned me. I would like to be able to play chess, but still don't really know how. Anything helps! :]

Chessfucius say:

Beginners see only pieces. Masters see pieces and squares, and how they relate.

You can see where the pieces are. Focus on where they aren't, and where they can be.

Pieces control or at least influence their unobstructed range of motion, but they exert no influence on the square they actually occupy, except to act as an impediment to the movement of other pieces. What a piece controls or influences is more important than where it is.

Have an idea of where your pieces are going to go, and place your pawns in such a way that they complement your pieces, not get in the way of them.

A Post-It note on laptop warning about loose pieces and checks is a very simple algorythm- the only chess engine allowable by the rules.

Castle early and often.

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
Chessfucius say:

Beginners see only pieces. Masters see pieces and squares, and how they relate.

You can see where the pieces are. Focus on where they aren't, and where they can be.

Pieces control or at least influence their unobstructed range of motion, but they exert no influence on the square they actually occupy, except to act as an imped ...[text shortened]... ose pieces and checks is a very simple algorythm- the only chess engine allowable by the rules.

cosigned 🙂

Originally posted by Trojan2
That pretty much speaks for itself. The only person I have ever played chess against was my idiot of a brother, who was taught to play by someone with an IQ of about180... He owned me. I would like to be able to play chess, but still don't really know how. Anything helps! :]

You didn't really say what was giving you the most trouble when you play, so "anything" may help....or it may not. I looked at the few games posted on this site. You got mated regularly. Why not start with that? You can't defend against a mating attack unless you recognize what's about to happen. Try spending some study time working on basic mating patterns. Chess websites, books, etc; there's plenty of sources for simple tactical exercises. Good luck.