Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond
Principles, Fundamentals
How to Play Good Chess (In a Nutshell)
1. Defense - this is your first priority in a game. That is, make sure all your pieces (i.e., pieces & pawns) are adequately defended. If they are not, then have a good reason for their being left undefended. Being the least 'valuable', Pawns generally make the best defenders.
Also be aware of your 'positional' weaknesses such as squares your opponents can use for their pieces to ingress into your positions and make threats against you or squares your opponents can make use of to improve their position and/or piece mobility.
2. Offense - once you ensure your defense is sound, you can then focus on offense. Here are the elements, foundations of a good offense:
a. In the opening - quickly and purposefully develop your pieces (knights, bishops, connect your rooks) and ensure the safety of your King by castling early, especially if the center has opened (i.e., center pawns have been exchanged). See - 'Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond'.
b. Once you have developed your pieces and if you are ahead of your opponent in development, you should then look to open the position by timely pawn exchanges in order to open lines of attack for your bishops, rooks and queen. Your attack may, and typically will, be facilitated by appropriate pawn advances and/or exchanges, looking to create space and improve the scope and mobility of your pieces, and/or to disrupt the opponent's defenses. See - 'Pawn Play and Structure - for Beginners and Beyond'.
3. Avoid playing passively. That is, look to create threats, immediate or potential, for your opponents to deal with. This is aided by creating good positions for all your pieces, by increasing their mobility and scope and ensuring the cooperative deployment of your pieces. In achieving these things you will be creating multiple problems for your opponent to think about and deal with, increasing the pressure on them. Along these lines it would be productive to familiarize yourself with the concepts and techniques of so-called 'positional chess'. See - 'Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond'.
4. Continually study and improve your understanding of fundamental principles of the opening, tactics, the endgame, positional play, pawn play and structure. (Links to instructive resources on each of these are provided in this article). See also - 'Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond'.
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How to Play Chess: 7 Rules To Get You Started - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/learn-how-to-play-chess
Chess Notation - The Language of the Game - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-notation
Chess/Notating The Game - Wikibooks.....(Algebraic notation is the modern standard notation system)...
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Chess/Notating_The_Game
ChessKids Academy...
Excellent introductory chess lessons for kids and beginning chess players of any age...
An openings summary guide (pdf) which you can download...
http://www.chesskids.org.uk/grownups/openings.pdf
Chess - Everything You Need to Know - Chess.com...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY2eXzw8HCzOm5gXAIZAehnfvvUsl8WcI
Pandolfini's 64 Commandments of Chess...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/64-commandments-of-chess-by-bruce-pandolfini
Bill Wall's 64 Chess Principles & Bill Wall's Chess Page...
http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/principles.htm
http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/
35 Vital Chess Principles | Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame Principles - Chess Strategy and Ideas - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXyJdetptXg
Top 50 Chess Principles for All Levels: Beginner to Advanced | Opening, Middlegame, Endgame Concepts - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esi5jgWEP3I
Beginners Chess Course - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp7SLTJhX1u4WqNPieH6vyAf2oVA2aUF4
Free Chess Course For Beginners - ChessFox.com...
https://chessfox.com/free-chess-course-for-beginners/
Free Chess Course for Intermediate Players - ChessFox.com...
https://chessfox.com/free-chess-course-chessfox-com/
Chess Improvement Study Plan - ChessFox.com...
https://chessfox.com/chess-improvement-study-plan/
Chess Study Plans for All Levels – Beginner to Master - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory
Beginner To Master - Chess Network - YouTube...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSA9se6t82I&list=PLQsLDm9Rq9bHKEBnElquF8GuWkI1EJ8Zp
Chess Course From Beginner to Master Level - NM Ramirez...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQKBpQZcRycrvUUxLdVmlfMChJS0S5Zw0
Chess Fundamentals - Instructive Lessons - John Bartholomew...
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=john+bartholomew+chess+fundamentals
Note: many chess principles and guidelines are explained well and discussed at length in the books "Pandolfini's Ultimate Guide To Chess", "The ABC's of Chess" and "Weapons of Chess" all by Bruce Pandolfini, which I highly recommend for the beginner-novice. For an excellent introduction to the four primary elements of chess planning and strategy - Force, Time, Space, and Pawn Structure - see "Play Winning Chess" by Yasser Seirawan. These books will put you on the right path to playing good chess.
The 10 Most Common Chess Mistakes Among Beginners - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-10-most-common-mistakes-among-chess-beginners
4 Simple Steps To BLUNDER LESS - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfmDBpbqMAI&t=3s&ab_channel=ChessVibes
10 Ways to Guarantee You Lose At Chess - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuY411c3PWI
Master Tips To Defend In Chess - How To Defend Your King In Chess - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUTsWcWyYnw
Chess Tips: How To Defend - GothamChess...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF7JCxBRPxY
The 10 most common chess mistakes among beginners - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-10-most-common-mistakes-among-chess-beginners
Fischer's Rule Will Prevent 50% of Your Chess Mistakes - Remote Chess Academy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h4KLNqvLWw&ab_channel=RemoteChessAcademy
The Principle of Maximum Usefulness…
https://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/aa06b18.htm
Mark Weeks' chess site...
Lots of instructive content on chess basics for beginners and beyond...
https://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/caa-ltpc.htm
The Principle of the Least Active Piece - IM Igor Smirnoff...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXIfO3aKA8I
The Top 23 Checkmate Patterns In Chess - Chess Vibes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo93mIhnDz4
Top 18 Attacking Principles/Concepts In Chess - How To Attack Correctly - Chess Vibes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ALEPcUaSU
5 Most Important Principles of Attack in Chess - IM Igor Smirnoff…
Spend some time studying the following instructive game (video) with the goal of understanding the reasoning (i.e., the principles) behind each and every move White makes. Go over the game slowly, as many times as it takes, until you understand White’s decisions (frequently pausing the video to think about the position and the analysis - i.e., the calculation - of the candidate vs actual moves) …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPlzkrBzlko
The 10 Best Chess Plans For The Middlegame - Chess Strategy - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F98JdnLyUXA&ab_channel=ChessVibes
6 Steps To Make A Plan In ANY SITUATION - Chess Strategy, Tips and Tricks - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ump_jFX5oXQ&ab_channel=ChessVibes
Chess Calculation Training: Middlegame - ChessGeek.....14 videos...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsHB5slabLY&list=PLOaFVRf_8WkQYdmtrVUPen79xNUIhfNwO
'Kestony' - YouTube...
Instructive videos...principles, strategies, tips...
https://www.youtube.com/c/Kestony/videos
https://www.chess.com/member/kestony
'Hanging Pawns' - YouTube...
Instructive videos, well presented, on every facet of the game, for every chess player...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJdvwRC-oGPhRHW_XPNokg
'GothamChess' - YouTube...
Fast-paced, (mostly) instructive, (sometimes) entertaining chess lessons...
https://www.youtube.com/c/GothamChess/playlists
'Jim's Chess Channel' YouTube...
Instructive videos.....particularly on openings...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChSqcu-VJQSLfQes1vlGL5g
'ChessEdge' - YouTube...
Instructive videos focusing on chess fundamentals for the improving chess amateur...
https://www.youtube.com/user/BKKaye
ChessCafe.com articles archive...
A gold mine of instructive articles about chess, openings, book reviews...etc...including Dan Heisman's excellent 'Novice Nook' articles.....(have patience; the site may be slow to load)...
https://web.archive.org/web/20140714190611/http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/archives.htm
Outline of Chess...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_chess
Instructive Chess.com lessons, blogs, forum threads...
Note: you may need to subscribe to Chess.com's "Diamond' membership level in order to view Chess.com training/instructional videos in their entirety...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory
https://www.chess.com/lessons/all-lessons
https://www.chess.com/blog/Cherub_Enjel/1-how-to-understand-everything-in-a-chess-game
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/for-beginners/16-tips-from-a-2300-rated-player
My List of Recommended Chess Books.....on a variety of chess topics...
Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond
Openings
Chess Opening Principles....how to begin a chess game....
For a first book on opening play for every beginner-novice I highly recommend "Discovering Chess Openings" by John Emms. The focus is exclusively on fundamental principles of opening play, treating some openings only insofar as they serve to illustrate the principles under discussion. This is the best book for learning the basics of the opening phase of the game in general, i.e., how to play (and not play) the opening...
http://www.chess.com/article/view/the-principles-of-the-opening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ugDFOoevyI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbD_jtRCAsA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21L45Qo6EIY
https://www.chess.com/article/opening+theory
Chess Openings Wiki...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_opening
How to Play the Most Popular Openings - The Ideas and Plans...
https://simplifychess.com/homepage/openings.html
A popular site with an innovative, interactive approach to chess instruction - on every aspect of chess, including openings - is Chessable. I recommend to check it out....some of the courses are free...
https://www.chessable.com/chess-openings/s/free
Chessable’s Guide to Chess Openings...
https://www.chessable.com/blog/opening-guide/
https://www.chessable.com/blog/chess-openings/
Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond
Good Chess Openings Books For Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-openings-books-for-beginners-and-beyond
Checkmate
Basic Checkmates: Checkmate patterns - Chess Strategy Online...
https://www.chessstrategyonline.com/content/tutorials/basic-checkmates-basic-checkmate-patterns
10 Fastest Checkmates - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/fastest-chess-checkmates
The Top 23 Checkmate Patterns | Most Important Mating Patterns In Chess - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo93mIhnDz4
Attacking The Castled King Tactics! Concepts + Examples - Chess Vibes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh3g6Nx8Nz8
36 Checkmate Patterns That All Chess Players Should Know - ChessFox.com...
https://chessfox.com/checkmate-patterns/
Tactics
25 Chess Tactics All Players Must Know - The Chess World...
https://thechessworld.com/articles/general-information/25-chess-tactics-all-players-must-know/
56 Tactics That All Chess Players Should Know - ChessFox.com...
https://chessfox.com/chess-tactics-list/
Chess Tactics | 38 Definitions and Examples - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-tactics#attackingf7f2
Practice Tactics on lichess...
https://lichess.org/study/topic/Tactics/popular
Practice Tactics on Chessbase...
https://tactics.chessbase.com/en
Endgame
The most important fundamentals for the beginner-novice to study in chess are: Tactics, Endgame and Opening principles. While the last of these is certainly important to understand and to become skilled at, you can never study too much of the first two of these. That is, time spent studying and improving your tactical and endgame skills will accrue more to your chess success and rating than focusing primarily on learning specific openings.
Unfortunately, endgame proficiency is probably the most neglected part of the game (at all levels of chess). However, without an adequate understanding of endgame fundamentals, you will likely end up losing many games that you otherwise could have won (or drawn). The most important aspects of the endgame to become acquainted (and skilled) with are pawn endings, rook endings, and the technique of 'Opposition'.
For the beginner-novice, I suggest to supplement the internet endgame resources below with "Pandolfini's Endgame Course" by Bruce Pandolfini. The lessons are presented one per page, allowing for rapid exposure to essential endgame concepts and techniques. The book covers everything that players from beginner through Master (Elo2000) need to know. Be sure also to download the errata for the book...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/errata-for-pandolfinis-endgame-course-by-bruce-pandolfini
Another excellent and very popular general endgame book, appropriate for every chess amateur, is "Silman's Complete Endgame Course" by Jeremy Silman. See also the free online endgame courses on Chessable.
Chess Endgames | 10 Principles for Beginners - Chess.com - IM DanielRensch...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-endgames
Simplification - how to reach a winning endgame - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/terms/simplification-chess
Simplification in Chess: The Art of Reducing Complexity - ChessPuzzles.io...
https://www.chesspuzzles.io/category/simplification
Exchanging Down to a Win - Chess.com lessons
https://www.chess.com/lessons/understanding-endgames/exchanging-down-to-a-win
Endgame Wiki...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_endgame
Reuben Fine's Twenty Rules for the Endgame...
https://www.chess.com/blog/Keyif/twenty-rules-for-the-endgame
Everything You Need to Know About Chess: The Endgame - Chess.com...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mhLQOZKVQs
Elementary Endgames in Chess - Mark Weeks
https://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/ble27end.htm
https://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/aa02k30.htm
Complete Guide To Chess Endgames - SimplifyChess.com...
https://simplifychess.com/chess/complete-endgame-guide.html
John Bartholomew's Endgame Tutorials and 'Endgame Bootcamp' on Chessable.com...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MDzm-bs8kbyHdYEmRGUauot
https://www.chessable.com/endgame-bootcamp-with-john-bartholomew/course/33597/
Many Instructive Endgame tutorials - 'Hanging Pawns'...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLssNbVBYrGcAcadywNlkAGpO1-kLfy0y2
Daniel Naroditsky's Introduction to Endgame Series...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhUoe2JBxco&list=PLT1F2nOxLHOfQI_hFiDnnWj4lb5KsviJ_
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT1F2nOxLHOfQI_hFiDnnWj4lb5KsviJ_
Opposition - The Most Important Endgame Concept.....(I highly recommend to develop proficiency in this technique as an essential part of your study of pawn endings)...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/opposition
'Opposition' tutorial - 'Jim's Chess Channel'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBqSAgsTqDY&list=PLPaM3qJ0ieXsZkPDAwkiT4jtV5MWGQXEI&index=4&t=0s
'Opposition' tutorial - 'Hanging Pawns'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoZPZdnYYk8&list=PLssNbVBYrGcAcadywNlkAGpO1-kLfy0y2&index=2&t=0s
more 'Opposition'...
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=opposition+chess+endgame
King & Pawn Endgames Crash Course - 'Chess Vibes'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr5sA-IzEmM&ab_channel=ChessVibes
King + Pawn endings - John Bartholomew...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLyRWZPXUzI
King + Pawn endings - 'Jim's Chess Channel' (4 parts)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiaGte1CRnM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3QRTpIC9GQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBqSAgsTqDY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3dfayNstrQ
Top 10 Chess Concepts in King And Pawn Endgames - 'Coach Kestony'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Js44DuLc0
Rook & Pawn Endings...
Even more so than King + Pawn endings, Rook endings are the most common endings and are thus very important to learn. Particularly for R+P vs R endings, three important important techniques to learn are Checking Distance, Philidor Draw and Lucena Position (aka 'Building a Bridge').
Elementary R+P vs R Endings (see Checking Distance, Philidor, Lucena Positions) - Mark Weeks
https://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/aa03l13.htm
Rook Endgames Crash Course - Rook & Pawn Endings - 'ChessVibes'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR8ULRlk9HA&ab_channel=ChessVibes
Rook Endgames - GM Josh Friedel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYY0JCuAlY
John Bartholomew's video tutorials on basic rook endgame technique...checking distance, Lucena & Philidor Positions, etc...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xk56Rt-7Rs&list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MDzm-bs8kbyHdYEmRGUauot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVwl3DyOXiM
Philidor (Draw) Position - 'Jim's Chess Channel'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzq4dCrxWs8&list=PLPaM3qJ0ieXsZkPDAwkiT4jtV5MWGQXEI&index=23&t=0s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hMvGvaJ9LQ&list=PLPaM3qJ0ieXsZkPDAwkiT4jtV5MWGQXEI&index=24&t=0s
Philidor (Draw) Position - 'Hanging Pawns'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qftbzl1dZws&list=PLssNbVBYrGcAcadywNlkAGpO1-kLfy0y2&index=10&t=0s
Lucena Position - 'Jim's Chess Channel'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3mgvsmMu6o&list=PLPaM3qJ0ieXsZkPDAwkiT4jtV5MWGQXEI&index=22&t=0s
Lucena Position - 'Hanging Pawns'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOVCZbJAdTU&list=PLssNbVBYrGcAcadywNlkAGpO1-kLfy0y2&index=11&t=0s
Pawn Play and Structure
According to the famous quote by Francoise Andre Philidor (1727-1795), considered by many to be the best chess player of his time, "Pawns are the soul of chess".
Pawn structure is one of the most important aspects of chess to learn well - especially as it essentially provides the road map for how to plan in the opening and middlegame, and also many times in the early endgame as well. Excellent introductions to the topic are presented in the following articles...
Pawn Structure - Chess.com...
https://www.chess.com/terms/pawn-structure
The Complete Guide To Pawn Structures...
https://simplifychess.com/pawn-structures/complete-guide-chess-pawn-structures/index.html
Pawn Play and Structure - for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/chess-books-on-pawn-play-and-structure
Positional Chess, Planning and Strategy
Positional chess is about the cooperative placement and activity of your pieces and pawns with a view toward accomplishing a specific goal, be it offensive or defensive. Positional chess concepts and techniques are integral elements in conceiving and implementing plans and strategies, and are essential if your goal is to play chess at higher levels. If you have acquired at least a basic level of proficiency in the areas I have recommended earlier - tactics, endgame and opening principles - but still feel stuck at your current level, it may be time to consider incorporating positional chess concepts into your knowledge base. Here are some thoughts, examples and suggestions along these lines...
https://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/ble26pos.htm
https://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/aa03k01.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_strategy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBZL_uUX-7E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYtXMJjqfvw
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-play-positional-chess
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1015488
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1013545
Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy
Play Longer Time Controls...
For many amateurs, particularly at the beginner-novice level, speed chess tends to be primarily an exercise in moving pieces around faster than your opponent while avoiding checkmate, in hopes that his/her clock runs out sooner than yours. Or being lucky enough to notice and exploit your opponent’s blunders before they exploit yours.
The point is, there is little time to think about what you should be doing.
It makes sense that taking more time to think about what you should be doing would promote improvement in your chess skills.
An effective way to improve your chess is therefore to play mostly longer time controls, including "daily" chess, so you have time to think about what you should be doing.
This is not to suggest that you should necessarily play exclusively slow time controls or daily games, but they should be a significant percentage of your games, at least as much, if not more so than speed games which, while they may be fun, do almost nothing to promote an understanding of how to play the game well.
Here's what IM Jeremy Silman, well-known chess book author, has to say on the topic...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/longer-time-controls-are-more-instructive
And Dan Heisman, well-known chess teacher and chess book author…
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627052239/http:/www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman16.pdf
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/dan-heisman-resources
and the experience of a FIDE Master...
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/how-blitz-and-bullet-rotted-my-brain-don-t-let-it-rot-yours
Chess.com Slow Chess Club...
https://www.chess.com/club/90m-30s
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/clubs-and-teams/if-1-of-your-new-years-resolution-is-to-play-more-serious-games-at-slow-time-controls?page=1
Time Controls - Everything You Wanted To Know...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/time-controls-everything-you-wanted-to-know
Chess Online Databases
https://old.chesstempo.com/game-database.html
https://database.chessbase.com/
https://en.chessbase.com/post/using-the-live-database-from-the-browser
https://theweekinchess.com/twic
Chess Terms and Glossary
Rules of Chess
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_chess
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/7324/28/
http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook?id=124&view=article
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For more helpful chess resources, including chess book recommendations, be sure to check out my Chess.com blog...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell
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