Tactics and endgame.
For the opening you should just learn simple principles like piece development, center control and king safety.
what should a beginner focus on ?
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Most experts say tactics are the quickest way to get better. Trying to study the subtleties of opening theory when you're still dropping pieces doesn't make much sense, and tactics are the quickest way to better board vision. All of that said, you do need a little knowledge of opening principles as well.
Lucky you! Chess.com came out with a great series of 25 free courses designed to make intermediate players out of beginners. They did such a good job that they cut it back to 15 courses because they were giving away the store! Anyway the remaining 15 will give you a solid foundation for your chess career, including the very gentlest of introductions to opening theory. Enjoy!
https://www.chess.com/blog/webmaster/free-chess-mentor-courses
mohamulator wrote:
should a beginner bother himself with openings or would it better to study tactics & midgame in general.
1. Opening Principles:
Control the center
Develop toward the center
Castle
Connect your rooks
2. Tactics...tactics...tactics...
3. Basic mates
KQ vs. K
KRR vs. K
KR vs. K
4. Basic endgames:
KP vs. K
Opposition
Jan 25, 2016
0
#6
A beginner's study assignment:
1) Endgames
2) Tactics
3) Endgames
4) Positional Play/Strategy
5) Endgames
6) GM Games Pre-Karpov
7) Endgames
8) Openings
9) Endgames
10) GM Games Karpov-onward
Thrillers assignement might seems like alot. but don't underestimate the challenge there ALOT to learn about chess- its not just mindlessly pushing wood hoping for a tactic.
thats the problem with the openings OR tactics. both are important (and part of a larger list).
thegreat_patzer wrote:
Thrillers assignement might seems like alot. but don't underestimate the challenge there ALOT to learn about chess- its not just mindlessly pushing wood hoping for a tactic.
thats the problem with the openings OR tactics. both are important (and part of a larger list).
I like that he stresses endgames.
Jan 25, 2016
0
#9
thegreat_patzer wrote:
Thrillers assignement might seems like alot. but don't underestimate the challenge there ALOT to learn about chess- its not just mindlessly pushing wood hoping for a tactic.
thats the problem with the openings OR tactics. both are important (and part of a larger list).
Let's just say that I learned how to play in 1983, picked up my first chess book in 1995, played my first tournament in 1996, have played almost 2500 tournament games since (not counting quick or blitz - just regular here), and I'm still studying chess literature, predominantly more advanced books in the categories of Tactics, Strategy, and Endgames along with GM Games from the last 30 years and Opening Theory, all stuff that would be beyond that of say, an 1100 player, hence why you see Openings and recent GM Games near the bottom of the list.
That list is not intended to be a "10-day course", more like a "10-year course". Welcome to year 1!
ThrillerFan wrote:
thegreat_patzer wrote:
Thrillers assignement might seems like alot. but don't underestimate the challenge there ALOT to learn about chess- its not just mindlessly pushing wood hoping for a tactic.
thats the problem with the openings OR tactics. both are important (and part of a larger list).
Let's just say that I learned how to play in 1983, picked up my first chess book in 1995, played my first tournament in 1996, have played almost 2500 tournament games since (not counting quick or blitz - just regular here), and I'm still studying chess literature, predominantly more advanced books in the categories of Tactics, Strategy, and Endgames along with GM Games from the last 30 years and Opening Theory, all stuff that would be beyond that of say, an 1100 player, hence why you see Openings and recent GM Games near the bottom of the list.
That list is not intended to be a "10-day course", more like a "10-year course". Welcome to year 1!
If you had to point to 1 thing, what do you think is the single most important thing that lead to your improvement?
Jan 25, 2016
0
#11
Diakonia wrote:
thegreat_patzer wrote:
Thrillers assignement might seems like alot. but don't underestimate the challenge there ALOT to learn about chess- its not just mindlessly pushing wood hoping for a tactic.
thats the problem with the openings OR tactics. both are important (and part of a larger list).
I like that he stresses endgames.
A lot of people write off the endgame, deeming it boring.
The endgame has many stages of complexity:
Stage 1 - K+Q vs K, K+R vs K, K+B+B vs K, K+B+N vs K, K+P vs K, Checkmates (i.e. Ladder Checkmate, Corridor Mate, Other Common Mating Patterns - You should know this stuff by the time you are 1000.
Stage 2 - Endings with Multiple Pawns, Basic N endings, Basic B ending, B vs N, Basic Rook endings (i.e. the Idea that an active Rook is worth a pawn), Basic Queen endings.
Stage 3 - R+P vs R and R+fpawn+hpawn vs R - Philidor's Draw, Lucena's Position, Short Side Defense, Long Side Defense, KRPP vs KR with the P's are a and c or f and h. If you are 1500 and don't know these endings like the back of your hand (at least all the ones with 1 pawn), you are behind on your endgames.
Stage 4 - Complex Rook Endings, Complex Minor Piece Endings, Endings with 6+ pawns, etc.
Stage 5 - Imbalanced endings, like I had a game once with Q+4P vs RBBN (I had the pieces [Black] and won against the Queen and 4 Extra Pawns [White])
The stage 5 doesn't have many books that cover this, and those that do tend to be advanced (i.e. Grandmaster Preparation: Endgame Play - One of the books I'm currently reading).
Jan 25, 2016
0
#12
Diakonia wrote:
ThrillerFan wrote:
thegreat_patzer wrote:
Thrillers assignement might seems like alot. but don't underestimate the challenge there ALOT to learn about chess- its not just mindlessly pushing wood hoping for a tactic.
thats the problem with the openings OR tactics. both are important (and part of a larger list).
Let's just say that I learned how to play in 1983, picked up my first chess book in 1995, played my first tournament in 1996, have played almost 2500 tournament games since (not counting quick or blitz - just regular here), and I'm still studying chess literature, predominantly more advanced books in the categories of Tactics, Strategy, and Endgames along with GM Games from the last 30 years and Opening Theory, all stuff that would be beyond that of say, an 1100 player, hence why you see Openings and recent GM Games near the bottom of the list.
That list is not intended to be a "10-day course", more like a "10-year course". Welcome to year 1!
If you had to point to 1 thing, what do you think is the single most important thing that lead to your improvement?
Calculation
"The Inner Game of Chess" by Andrew Soltis when I was 1400
"Grandmaster Preparation: Calculation" when I was 2000
ThrillerFan wrote:
Diakonia wrote:
thegreat_patzer wrote:
Thrillers assignement might seems like alot. but don't underestimate the challenge there ALOT to learn about chess- its not just mindlessly pushing wood hoping for a tactic.
thats the problem with the openings OR tactics. both are important (and part of a larger list).
I like that he stresses endgames.
A lot of people write off the endgame, deeming it boring.
The endgame has many stages of complexity:
Stage 1 - K+Q vs K, K+R vs K, K+B+B vs K, K+B+N vs K, K+P vs K, Checkmates (i.e. Ladder Checkmate, Corridor Mate, Other Common Mating Patterns - You should know this stuff by the time you are 1000.
Stage 2 - Endings with Multiple Pawns, Basic N endings, Basic B ending, B vs N, Basic Rook endings (i.e. the Idea that an active Rook is worth a pawn), Basic Queen endings.
Stage 3 - R+P vs R and R+fpawn+hpawn vs R - Philidor's Draw, Lucena's Position, Short Side Defense, Long Side Defense, KRPP vs KR with the P's are a and c or f and h. If you are 1500 and don't know these endings like the back of your hand (at least all the ones with 1 pawn), you are behind on your endgames.
Stage 4 - Complex Rook Endings, Complex Minor Piece Endings, Endings with 6+ pawns, etc.
Stage 5 - Imbalanced endings, like I had a game once with Q+4P vs RBBN (I had the pieces [Black] and won against the Queen and 4 Extra Pawns [White])
The stage 5 doesn't have many books that cover this, and those that do tend to be advanced (i.e. Grandmaster Preparation: Endgame Play - One of the books I'm currently reading).
My favorite part of the game is the endgame. Its also my favorite part to study.
mohamulator wrote:
should a beginner bother himself with openings or would it better to study tactics & midgame in general.
Mostly I agree with what has been said already.
On openings, just learn opening principles and the general ideas behind specific openings. Eventually, there will come a time for studying opening schemes in detail and memorising lots of moves. But that is a long way down the track for a beginner.
Don't neglect endings. And study some endings from games, as well as specific types of endings that come in endgame manuals.
There are a lot of chess videos online, often presenting full games. This is engaging and will give some info on all parts of the game.
I agree with a lot of suggestions here. One thing I want to mention is that you should see if there are any local chess club nearby where you live. Also, try to play in a tournament in real life and don't you dare think that you need to study chess before going to a tournament. You need some real experience in order to improve.
mmm. tactics.
thats VERY easy. on the other hand, if you do need to DEVELOP your peices too.
those thoughts together will earn you a lot of chess games. Just be warned, tactics can be startling and hard to see- that is why you need to Study IT so intensely.