New to Chess.com

Hello everyone!  I am a new arrival at chess.com and love it so far.  I have always had a fondness for chess (but never played competitively or was ever very good).  Lately, I started playing chess against the computer using Chess Titans (a program that comes with Windows Vista) and the Computer program here on Chess.com.  I have played some live chess here and have enjoyed it so far.

My question is, how should I go about improving if I wish to get better?  I would like to improve in my chess skill and play with others who have this goal.  How do I get involved with a group of like-minded players?  Are the benefits of purchasing a premium membership here worth it for people who want to learn fast?

Any input is appreciated.

-Nick

Hi Nick,

I am glad that you would like to purchase a premium membership! My advice would be to do it! I have gone up approximately 200 rating points since getting my gold membership 1.5 months ago! I also suggest studying tactics, strategy and endgames (with a few more tactics on the side ;))

Good luck with your improvement!

not so fast. wait a month. you can get plenty of improving by practice, and studying your mistakes (which i never do).

at your level, i think you can improve without the help of tactics trainer or chess mentor at the moment ok?

I also suggest getting some online chess games going!

Online chess games allow to take longer over your moves so that you dont blunder any pieces away, and can help you develop skills that you can eventually transfer to live chess.

try unrated too, i only play unrated though, i take it a bit far lol. unrated to "try" out how it feels, then rated for the real stuff.

improve your tactics -> www.chess.com/tactics

improve strategy -> www.chess.com/chessmentor

improve openings, strategy, and more -> www.chess.com/videos

basically, anything on our LEARN page -> www.chess.com/learn.html

yes to get better follow this http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/the-chess-softwares-you-were-looking-for

 you stupid, this has nothing to do with this topic! your just posting to get views! on the otherhand, try this http://www.chess.com/forum/view/more-puzzles/embarrissing

 This is a free chess site before you start paying out any money use this chess site for as long as you need,it is a good chess site for learning chess.

i would probably switch to membership eventually but i feel fine right now with free membership

i would recommend reading chess books and doing tactics trainer

You can challenge me to an unrated game if you wish to talk about the game while it's in progress.

if you want to get your game better quickly. chess mentor will walk you through chess from beginner to advanced. A diamond membership gives you full access. Along with many other benefits. Totally worth the little amount of money that it costs. Good Luck!!!

Wow!  Thanks for all the suggestions and links everyone.  I really appreciate the replies.  I will play more online games and do the trainers that I can with a free account for now.  I may end up paying for a membership at some point but my wife just gave me "the eye" about spending money on a chess site so maybe I'll see what I can do with the free membership first! :p

I will contact RyanMK who offered to play some friendly games, and anyone else here who would like to play friendly games to learn with me (or give me some pointers) are welcome to contact me via message.

I tired chess mentor and really liked it but I can't do any more lessons in it without paying so I will stick to the free games for the time being.

What is the deal with chess groups here?  Are they only for more advanced players?  The chess vote thing looks really cool and having a small group of players to train with and get to know looks really interesting.

I also have gone to the library and checked out a book by Gary Kasperov called "Learning Chess".  Hopefully my time investment and games played in online chess will help me to improve!

Consider a Diamond 'ship for "Chess Mentor" 

waaay too expensive =( think about the bill!. 7.99 per month anually. that'll be 8 x 12 = 96 quid!!! per year. actually that doesn't seem much... hehe. but i barely spend anything. get it if your an adult, thats my advice. if your like me (kiddies), then go spend your 10 pound note on a 2nd hand game. yeh, much better than chess.

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Tactics Trainer!

And play, of course.

Chess groups are purely for fun. Join a couple if you're interested.