The best way to choose suitable openings is just to play through master games and discover for yourself which openings feel right . Then look more closely at them, start playing them in a few games and try them on for size and comfort. Even the task of securing an objectively good position takes lower priority than finding one which one likes and understands, though , of course, one should really aim to combine these objectives.
How to properly learn and study chess?
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First choose an opening, the most important criterion in selecting a suitable opening is that one should feel comfortable playing it.
The best way to choose suitable openings is just to play through master games and discover for yourself which openings feel right . Then look more closely at them, start playing them in a few games and try them on for size and comfort. Even the task of securing an objectively good position takes lower priority than finding one which one likes and understands, though , of course, one should really aim to combine these objectives.
The best way to choose suitable openings is just to play through master games and discover for yourself which openings feel right . Then look more closely at them, start playing them in a few games and try them on for size and comfort. Even the task of securing an objectively good position takes lower priority than finding one which one likes and understands, though , of course, one should really aim to combine these objectives.
Mar 20, 2022
0
#3
Hi!
Initial chess learning can be overwhelming and confusing with so much material that can be accessed. I’d be happy to help you get set up on learning chess, go over some chess concepts, create a study program (that’s fun not a chore!), and look at your games with you on Chess.com’s classroom. Message me if your interested and we’ll set something up! Not everyone can pay for a coach and honestly a mentor and advise from others can be more than adequate at your level. Have fun learning and playing chess! It is a game after all. 
-Jordan
Mar 20, 2022
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#4
Woollensock2 wrote:
First choose an opening, the most important criterion in selecting a suitable opening is that one should feel comfortable playing it.
The best way to choose suitable openings is just to play through master games and discover for yourself which openings feel right . Then look more closely at them, start playing them in a few games and try them on for size and comfort. Even the task of securing an objectively good position takes lower priority than finding one which one likes and understands, though , of course, one should really aim to combine these objectives.
The best way to choose suitable openings is just to play through master games and discover for yourself which openings feel right . Then look more closely at them, start playing them in a few games and try them on for size and comfort. Even the task of securing an objectively good position takes lower priority than finding one which one likes and understands, though , of course, one should really aim to combine these objectives.
Thanks for the tip, actually makes a lot of sense, I'll be sure to give it a go, I've got a couple of ideas, The London System seems like a solid one for me since it I've noticed that chess.com has some suggestions for other systems such as Italian, Sicilian, French, Ruy and Slav, to be honest I may have fiddle around with the French and Possibly the Slav, but if you can recommend one I would appreciate it.
Mar 20, 2022
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#5
jg777chess wrote:
Hi!
Initial chess learning can be overwhelming and confusing with so much material that can be accessed. I’d be happy to help you get set up on learning chess, go over some chess concepts, create a study program (that’s fun not a chore!), and look at your games with you on Chess.com’s classroom. Message me if your interested and we’ll set something up! Not everyone can pay for a coach and honestly a mentor and advise from others can be more than adequate at your level. Have fun learning and playing chess! It is a game after all.
-Jordan
That would be awesome!!, I would really appreciate the help! If you can really help me out set up some sort of plan that would already be great. I'll definitely take you on that. Once again thanks!
You don’t need openings at your level
Mar 20, 2022
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#7
Opening principles and endgame patterns. That's all you need at your level. Dont play theory openings, just follow principles and develop your pieces as quickly as possible to their optimal squares. Middlegame is an advanced subject, but endgame is the most important. That is all.
Mar 20, 2022
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#8
You may solve tactic puzzles for your middlegame study. Your objective is to gain material in the middlegame, +1 +2 or +3 then try to simplfy the game by exchanging. And go for the endgame. Know your endgame positions well. Keep in mind; Good strategies allow profitable tactics but it's very advanced thing to learn for now.
Mar 20, 2022
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#9
1c4Boom1-0 wrote:
Opening principles and endgame patterns. That's all you need at your level. Dont play theory openings, just follow principles and develop your pieces as quickly as possible to their optimal squares. Middlegame is an advanced subject, but endgame is the most important. That is all.
Sounds like that's exactly what I should be looking for, I know it sounds silly, but "Opening Principles", "Middle Game" and "End Game", are some of the terms I keep reading about over in the books I mentioned before, but somehow the they skip the subject or refer to it in a way I'm not ready to pick up yet, so thanks for the eye opener!
Mar 20, 2022
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#10
1c4Boom1-0 wrote:
You may solve tactic puzzles for your middlegame study. Your objective is to gain material in the middlegame, +1 +2 or +3 then try to simplfy the game by exchanging. And go for the endgame. Know your endgame positions well. Keep in mind; Good strategies allow profitable tactics but it's very advanced thing to learn for now.
Puzzles are actually something I overlooked, but that something I'm planning to do more often, it's amazing and surprising to me actually how much I blunder because I lack puzzle skills not to mention that I fall to the "Tunnel Vision" trap more often than not, like I focus too much on my moves and forget what my opponent is doing, so lots of things to work on. Thanks for the tips, appreciate it.
Mar 20, 2022
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#11
To tell truth, I played so much chess games and learnt from them until I arrived here with the rating of 1800, and with very few chess videos…it took quite long time for me, so I am sorry if my advice isn’t good. So here it is:
I believe for beginners like you, should learn the opening e4 and its traps. This will have make you understand opening traps and make you think better. Another thing, I recommend you do many puzzles and learn from lessons like you do. I am not sure what books are good for you, so I can’t recommend any book. Also,I recommend you play rapid games such as 10 mins and 15l10 games, so you improve your knowledge about chess.
M1m1c15 wrote:
You don’t need openings at your level
Not so sure about that ive been getting crushed in the openings but I manage to turn it around and win (for the most part) in the middle game
Mar 20, 2022
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#13
ChesswithNickolay wrote:
First of all, I'd like to say that there are so many resources and areas to study for players under 2000. Especially those under 1800. After all, you reach 2000 when you master the basics.
It's good to start by picking an opening that suits you best: as white and as black against e4 and d4. Then, study these openings (how to respond to what your opponent plays, ideas in those openings, etc.).
I will stick to one opening for now well two, one for black one for white. Maybe I'm also overwhelming myself with theory and other stuff. Some good advice has come from this post, i really appreciate everyone's input. So for know seems like the best way to go about it is to stick to the opening principles, work on 2 openings for now till I'm comfortable with them, maybe work on puzzles on the side, and practice some End Game exercises.
Mar 20, 2022
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#14
TempoFunk wrote:
Wow, seriously, your post shows what’s wrong with everyone of us. Your rating is fine, just enjoy the game, forget about openings other that 1-2 moves. But you seem to have invested a tremendous amount of time and curiosity & it should have paid off already.
Maybe Gotham (nothing against him) and all the “serious” entertainers & twitch addicts are the wrong way to spend one’s time in regards to chess.
Good luck, buddy!
Maybe Gotham (nothing against him) and all the “serious” entertainers & twitch addicts are the wrong way to spend one’s time in regards to chess.
Good luck, buddy!
Slowly and painfully, but yeah I did see myself improving a little bit after reading and researching, but still, I really enjoy playing chess, and although realistically speaking I'm not expecting to be a Grand Master anytime soon, I do enjoy the research part as well, and getting that !Aha, type feeling when things start to come together. And btw once again I really appreciate the support from all of yo guys, wasn't really expecting this many responses, thank you for taking the time!
Mar 20, 2022
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#15
I would advise watching some videos on youtube if you do not wish to buy a book. Daniel Naroditsky is very good at explaining moves, which is something I feel like all people should be able to do. You should be able to explain your moves. They may not be good moves, but you have to be able to back it up with some sort of reasoning.
For example:
"I want to take his pawn. Is his pawn defended? No. I will take his pawn. "
(takes pawn)
(opponent takes your piece)
"I see that i missed that his knight was defending his pawn. Next time, I need to make sure my opponents' knights aren't doing anything funny."
Mar 20, 2022
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#16
Optimissed wrote:
Chess openings are very much the right place to start but I've a feeling that most books are geared to the next stage up .... how to improve as a player who knows the basics. Also, most good chess players aren't good teachers. There's a reason for that.
What you should be doing is following through simple openings to see how players get to a viable game. One type of resource is books written over 100 years ago, which tended to be for beginners and which dealt with simpler concepts. You can still find them online.
Do not even think of playing blitz. You want to be trying to play at a rate of play you can manage, even for simple openings. Such a rate of play is anything from all moves in half an hour to all moves in one hour. Nothing longer and nothing shorter.
If you ignore this type of advice and try to play faster games, you won't improve, because you need to take time to work out ideas for yourself at the board and then compare them with games already played and so on.
I do watch a couple of games before I go to sleep, I specially look for games where they go through the thought process of why the moves are being made, that actually has helped me a lot when looking at the board, not gonna lie I still miss a lot of things, the main reason is that I tend to focus more on what I'm doing than what my opponent is doing, and that has lead me to making really silly blunders.
Books are helping, even with stuff like notation, I didn't understand it at first , I still struggle reading it, but at least I understand, it can only get better with time I guess.
I started playing 10 minutes because that was the default option, but once I noticed I could switch it, I started playing 30 minutes.
Everything you guys have said so far gives me a ray of hope, although somewhat lost, it seems its not by much, like I just need to organize things up a little bit and eventually things will start coming together, so again, thank you for taking the time to comment and offer insight. Really appreciate it.
You’re welcome 🙏
Mar 20, 2022
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#18
B1ZMARK wrote:
I would advise watching some videos on youtube if you do not wish to buy a book. Daniel Naroditsky is very good at explaining moves, which is something I feel like all people should be able to do. You should be able to explain your moves. They may not be good moves, but you have to be able to back it up with some sort of reasoning.
For example:
"I want to take his pawn. Is his pawn defended? No. I will take his pawn. "
(takes pawn)
(opponent takes your piece)
"I see that i missed that his knight was defending his pawn. Next time, I need to make sure my opponents' knights aren't doing anything funny."
This really made me laugh, like in a good way, because I can relate to it so much. Like I could hear my inner voice going through how I'm going to open up the middle and my plan and all of that: "Like We got this, its not defended, It's a good move, maybe not the best but pretty sure is good, its the right move" next thing I know I missed that a bishop was no longer blocked and just sweeps away, so yeah.
(I'll definitely check that book, thank you for answering the post, much appreciated.) Sorry about this, I was trying to answer everyone's post and I must have messed up my answers when refreshing the page or something, sorry about that!
Hello! and thank you all for taking the time to read this post.
I want to start by saying that I'm a complete beginner, or maybe not even that, but I have played around 100 games or so on chess.com and some casual games back in the day when I was younger. I don't have proper training obviously but I understand the basics of chess, and by that I mean I know how all the pieces work and also special moves such as castling and "en passant", I also understand the standard rules. I have read books and watched videos on You Tube in regards to chess, following some players like Levy Gotham Chess, Chess Vibes, Chess Boot Camp and others. I've tried books like FCO: Fundamental Chess Openings, Logical Chess, Chess The Complete Beginners Guide and another one called Play the London System. To sum it up I have tried finding resources but I think I'm not finding the right ones, you see both the videos and the books jump straight away to Chess Openings, Theory, Tactics and a lot of stuff that seems to me its not the right place to start, I feel like there is something more fundamental before all of that that can help me with, avoiding making silly blunders and tons of mistakes. Chess Boot Camp and Chess Vibes, seem to be the Youtubers I have learned the most from because they really take it to a fundamental level, Levy is awesome too but kind of fast for me, none the less their content is limited, and I wish I had the resources to pay for coaching but I don't. My question to all of you guys is, should I really keep on just studying Openings, or is there another Book or resource that you guys can point me to, that can really simplify the fundamentals better, or how to navigate the board before going into the openings and stuff. Like I've read some stuff about tactics, some about strategy, but everything seems like its all over the place, I can't really figure it out.
I don't know if anyone can relate to this, but if you experienced it yourself when you started playing, It would really help me out if you can point me in the right direction.
Once again, thank you for your time.