Your top 3 chess tips for 2009

Ok that's it; i keep getting beaten, which as we all know is not polite nor pleasant. So I thought I would attempt to hide my pathetic attempt to glean the best tips from fellow members in this post.

If you were teaching a chess novice, and could only give them 3 pieces of game advice, what would they be?

1)

2)

3)

Thank you🙂

Well I'll provide the first tip. Always develop (bring out your knights, bishops, and pawns) before sending your queen out. I've noticed you tend to go for "Fool's Mate." It's called that for a reason, it won't trick many people 🙂

Originally posted by divegeester
Ok that's it; i keep getting beaten, which as we all know is not polite nor pleasant. So I thought I would attempt to hide my pathetic attempt to glean the best tips from fellow members in this post.

If you were teaching a chess novice, and could only give them 3 pieces of game advice, what would they be?

1)

2)

3)

Thank you🙂

Every chess player is continuously learning about the game. Here are my three pieces of advice.

1) Try to take control of the center (i.e., e4, e5, d4 and d5).
2) Castle early (get your king away from the center).
3) Always be mindful of your pawn structure. Pawns love each other's company. Try to have as few pawn islands as possible.

I'm not a Grandmaster, but I think these three basic rules are very important for players at any level.

Hmm..my top of the list is probably "Take enough time to avoid just giving away pieces". If you're going to lose, lose to a combination you didn't see (everyone loses like that), not just giving away things for free.

1) Open well
2) Play a good middle game
3) Nail the endgame

😛

I too am trying to better my game and there seems to be a lot of different advice on what to study. I guess it's like anything else... it's finding the balance that's the trick. A mastery of the openings won't get you far if you don't know your way around the endgame and vice versa.

I'm reading through this site at the moment...

http://www.chesstactics.org/

Plenty of repetition, which is always good for learning 😉

Wow, only four posts so far and already I feel improved. Well at least in my mind! Thanks.

Keep them coming please...

Originally posted by Ramned
Well I'll provide the first tip. Always develop (bring out your knights, bishops, and pawns) before sending your queen out. I've noticed you tend to go for "Fool's Mate." It's called that for a reason, it won't trick many people 🙂

It's actually called Scholar's Mate. Fool's Mate is 1. f4 e6 2. g4 Qh4#, or anything similar.

On here it has to be TAKE YOUR TIME.

You have days to make a move - set up the position on a board
and throw the pieces about. Use the time that you have been given.

The blunders made on here are incredible - worse than any OTB
tournament I have ever seen.

Avoid the silly blunders and you will win loads of games.

Take Your Time

Perhaps the most famous chess tip of all time goes something like this:

“Position the board so that the sun is at your back and shinning in your opponents eyes”

Maybe not very relevant for playing online, though it always makes me chuckle. 😀

1. Try to understand why you have lost Game 5741570
2. Try to understand why you have lost Game 5712622
(especially the first couple of moves)
3. Do not repeat to play the same blunders.

1. Take a second look before you make every single move to make sure that you are not allowing or missing a checkmate, or the loss of a piece, or a better move.

2. If you cannot find a better move, or cannot yet think of a solid plan, then at least make a move that in some way improves your position.

3. Make very doubtful moves with conviction, as though the move were a certain win and profound, and make very solid winning moves with great consternation, as though you are totally uncertain about it. (This recommendation really only applies to on the board games, but there is a cc variation of it. I've been tricked at times, but very few times, by players sending some light bantering comment, as though the game were really over and they're just going through the motions for another move or two. Next comes the "secret winning move!" I'm always suspicious when I get a message along the lines of, "Gee, this looks pretty much like a draw."😉

The thing which helped me improve most was when I stopped playing moves before I was ready to play them. Often I got tired of analysing and after ten minutes thought I'd play something something impetuously rather than the line I'd been analysing. Once I learnt to mentally "sit on my hands" my results improved significantly. So, my advice would be to stop playing moves which you regret the second your hand leaves the piece!

Originally posted by divegeester
Ok that's it; i keep getting beaten, which as we all know is not polite nor pleasant. So I thought I would attempt to hide my pathetic attempt to glean the best tips from fellow members in this post.

If you were teaching a chess novice, and could only give them 3 pieces of game advice, what would they be?

1)

2)

3)

Thank you🙂

3 Tips That have helped me:

1. Slow down! Too many mistakes are made by moving too fast. For each move, print out a copy of the board, and use a standard chess set (you know...with real pieces) to anaylize with.

2. Use your resources: If you have Informants, New In Chess, or access to an online database of games, these can be a helpful guide.
They'll help get you avoid opening blunders, and allow you to enter the middlegame with your pieces on good squares, and your king safely castled.

3. Become an opening specialist: Choose 1 opening for white, and 2 defences for black (1 vs e4 and 1 vs d4) Play and study only these.
Start compiling a database of games at the master level that use only the openings you play. This can be done in a card file, on computer disk, or a notebook

...and don't beat yourself up if you are not doing well. It's part of the process!

😏

Thank you all again. I see myself making rash moves too quickly as I have lots of games on, am watching tv, talking to my wife and eating dinner all at the same time......well maybe not talking to the wife perhaps!

Chess seems a little like golf or snooker which i used play a lot years ago -- take a short time to pick up, but years to get good at.

1) tactics
2) tactics
3) tactics

😀

Seriously though, I'm probably not in a position to give much advice, but:

1) Tactics- study them and solve them. My style tends to be more positional, but tactical study has greatly improved my game. Most games at lower levels are won or lost on tactics. Positional games lead to tactics at some point anyway.

2)Study annotated master games- I think this is good advice for any level. It's my favorite way to study/train, you get to see all facets of the game in action and explained. You get to learn how the master's think and it helps to ingrain positions and patterns.

3)Study the endgame- Three days after I read about Lucena position I got into a rook and pawn vs rook endgame, and totally knew what to do (I won the game of course)! knowing the basic themes, king and pawn endgames, opposition, etc. will give you more confidence and help you find plans as you play. Most of your opponents (at lower levels at least) will be clueless how to handle endgames. Basic endgame skills will win games for you.

additional points: don't play for cheesy opening traps, as mentioned above, pick a couple good (sound) openings and learn the ideas behind them well.