Can you give me tips or websites that will make me better at chess?

Question

Can you give me tips or websites that will make me better at chess?

Answer 1

1)  Control of the center of the board.

2)  Learn to use your opponents pieces to block and/or hem him in.  You don't have to always capture.

3)  Position is sometimes more important than who has the most pieces.

4)  Castling.  Easier to defend if done short-side.  Don't castle too early.

5)  Sorry, but busting the queen out early only lets her get chased over the board. You lose development of your pieces if you have to waste  moves defending her or saving her hide.

6)  The knight is probably the most deceptive piece on the board.

7)  At the end game, the king can become a powerful offensive piece.

8)  Get a good book just on openings.

Answer 2

keep your queen, rooks, and king in one place as long as possible and website to go to is queenchess.com

Answer 3

BEGINNING CHESS by Bruce Pandolfini is the perfect book for anyone getting into chess. It trains you and then drills you and you check your score as you progress through the book so you can monitor your progress. I have many, many chess books and this one is really top notch. Then there is also Susan Polgar's CHESS TACTICS FOR CHAMPIONS which is excellent! My game dramatically improved after having read only the first 10 or so pages!!!! But it's better for people who already have some knowledge of chess.

The following is copied from other times I've answered similar questions and it has received "best answer" almost every time so I hope it may help you as well! ----

For some free chess tutoring, download the demo of Chess Mentor at

http://www.chessmentor.com/demo.html.......

Also, here are a few tips from my bag-o-tricks (from books I've read) and then I have some great resource recommendations for you:

In the opening, avoid moving the same piece twice.

This will help you get your pieces activated quicker. Clear out the area between your king and rook as soon as possible so you can castle early.

Move pawn to e4 on your first move.

Then focus on controlling the center of the board.

Always capture towards the center whenever possible.

Avoid placing knights and bishops on the edge of the board.

Use pawns to support bigger pieces, never have bigger pieces support other big pieces or pawns. This will keep stronger pieces available for attacks.

Always ask yourself, "If I were my opponent, what would be my next best move?" Then find a way to either prevent that move or plan a counter move that will make your opponent sorry for making his.

If you are even in material or slightly ahead, don't be afraid to trade off pieces evenly including queens. This will clear the board of clutter and make your lead more obvious. It will also make for a quicker game.

*Remember that a lone bishop can only capture on 50% of the board. (White squares only, or black only depending on the bishop). But a lone knight can capture on 100% of the board. (Both colored squares as he alternates on each move.) This may be important if you have to decide which one to sacrifice or trade off near the end game.

*Pawns are insignificant at first, but they become mightier as they move forward towards the eighth rank and become queens! Don't underestimate them!

Seek out a target and hit it! Whenever your opponent leaves a piece unprotected, make that your target!

Most pieces work better as a team closer together than they do apart.

Don't just watch for opportunities for forks, pins and skewers. Look for ways to create them! Entice your opponent into those situations with small sacrifices.

RESOURCES:

Bruce Pandolfini's book, Beginning Chess is the best book by far that I've seen which will train your eye to see golden opportunities that are regularly overlooked. It's a fun way to learn because it gives you chess drills and scores your perfomance. That way, you can always go through the book again and try to beat your previous best score!

Also, Susan Polgar's book, Chess Tactics For Champions ($17 at Barnes & Noble) is a great way to learn how to create forks, pins and skewers. My game improved greatly after reading just the first 10 pages! A very exciting book! After spending a little time with it you can't wait to play a game and try out what she shows you! A really great book!!You would probably enjoy her website, too: Polgarchess.com.

For $10 at Staples you can get the PC software called Majestic Chess. I highly recommend it for this reason...It has a very unique "story mode" which is the most entertaining way to develop your chess skills that I've ever seen! In the story mode, you are riding a horse to progressive locations. At the first location, you are taught chess basics (you may skip any location at any time if you feel already know that particular lesson.) Then, after it teaches you, you are challenged to a drill (a test on what you've learned.) If you pass the test you are given a chess piece to play with in the next challenge. You are given additional pieces as you pass the tests along the journey and you will need them to win the challenges that lie ahead. So, you are being trained piece by piece until you have built an entire chess set to play with. The challenges are excellent and really make you think. The training really does develop your ability to recognize opportunities and pitfalls that you wouldn't have seen before playing this excellent chess game. And a word should be said about the magnificent environments in which you play your games. Very soothing and pleasing visuals and music make this game a joy to play. And of course, you can just play a regular chess game against the computer at any time as well...so you have the nice story mode, or you have the computer opponent ready to play a regular game at any time. So it is a well rounded chess tool.

Good luck! I hope this helped!

Castle early!

Answer 4

I would suggest that you log on to www.instantchess.com. The best thing about it is that you don't really know who you're playing and on a site like this, it can range from the casual player to a player of a grandmaster level. I've played there for years, and it's never grown monotonous. It has several features which stand out in its category. The site is simple and does not have flashy ads (exactly as Google Chess would be, if they offered a game like that). The chess analysis section is great, as are the blitz games. The only weak link is that if you make a mouse slip you will lose, most of the time, but you can reverse the move (or even the board) with the consent of your opponent. There are tournaments and everything else you would want in a chess site. It’s a simple site really and that’s what makes it so appealing and addictive

As for tips, well I'd suggest that you sort out your openings first. If you are a beginner, I would suggest a basic level book to start with. The greatest learning lesson, and for that matter, intellectual joy will be gained from playing out on an actual chessboard the actual games of the masters. Also, you should make the following your dictums 1) Never play in the hopes that your opponent will not see your trick (always have a plan B). 2)Your pawn structure and the opening are especially important 3)The best way to defend an attack on the sides is to attack in the center 4) Usually, the opponent doing better space wise wins. 5) First and foremost protect your king from onslaught, then carry out the offense

Answer 5

Well, many people do a famous 4 move K.O strat, do avoid that,  move your queen as fast as possible. Do it even if its not a K.O strat, the queen is very useful when it is out.

Answer 6

development of pieces is Good, and is good advice, however, as Jeremy Silman says, "It is better to make no move at all than to randomly develop a piece."  You need to Develop pieces with a plan. But there is your problem, You don't have a plan, and if you do, It may be the wrong one. The basic plan as you already know is to occupy the center.

Look at key components in the game, Where your pawn chain Points is where your play is. Don't make weakening pawn advancements. getting your pawns in the center is a great tool, however don't ruin a pawn chain by moving your pawns because you relinquish control on key squares.  

Another fantastic tip is to study chess tactics. Grand master Larry Christiansen claims that the only difference between class D C B A Expert, and Master players is their ability to see more tactics and utilize them of course. This does not mean that you have to be able to look 30 moves in advance, it simply means you need to notice key components to the game, such as the basic pins skewers forks and the many others, And more importantly from seeing them, be able to create them. Or at least create a threat.

Another and my last piece of advice, Often times beginners defeat themselves. They defend against moves that really aren't dangerous. So your opponent wants to trade pieces or is threatening to attack your piece. Maybe his idea isn't actually sound. you may be able to ignore it. you want to make moves that make his moves seem less rewarding, or maybe even useless.

And more importantly, Practice.