As of 2024-08-05, I have updated my chess lessons.
From Beginner to Chess Expert in 12 Steps
A chess improvement course for all class players.
If you know nothing at all about the game of chess other than the
rules, there still things that you can do right away to help you win
more games. You won't be beating tournament players, but you can rise
above your current level by studying the right things. The same
principle applies to all levels of players. There are things that
you can do immediately to win more games.
The key to chess improvement is pattern recognition. Whether you
realize it or not, to improve at chess you must reprogram your brain
to see things that you did not see before. You can do this by
studying at least 30 minutes of tactics per day. I provide 1,500
simple tactics problems for you to study, plus I also recommend some
of the best tactics books.
I also provide instruction in other areas of the game, and recommend a
system for memorizing openings and other things when that becomes
necessary.
All the lessons here build upon the lessons that come before them.
If you want to start at one of the higher levels, first review
the simpler lessons.
Getting better at chess is not easy. To improve you should expect to
work at it every day. Because the human brain is inherently forgetful,
I recommend going through all the material on this page repeatedly
until it becomes second nature.
Learn the Rules
U.S. Chess Federation.
Special Chess Rules.
Recognize Checkmate.
Recognize Checkmate.
I recommend getting the book Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess and
going through it enough times that every bit of it seems easy.
The first 112 diagrams at 1w.htm are positions where white can make a move
that immediately checkmates. Although this may seem a little hard at first,
it would be good to go through all of these and try to find the checkmating
move. Like everything else on this page, you should do these 112 problems
enough times that they become easy.
Learn Chess Notation.
Although you don't need to write chess notation until you play in
tournaments, you need to be able to read it to follow the lessons on this web
page. Here are a few web pages that explain how to read chess notation .....
How to Read and Write Algebraic Chess Notation
Learn Notation
The simplest possible opening.
The simplest possible opening is one where you deploy your
pieces like so.......
The idea is to place only 2 pawns in the center, unless your
opponent can capture them, move the rest of your army into
play and then castle either kingside or queenside.
Sometimes these are not safe squares for the bishops, so they
have to go to other squares like the following....
As a general rule, you want to move the knights out before the
bishops. The reason for this is that it is easier to know first
where the knights should go. Where the bishops go depends upon
where your opponent has placed his pawns and other pieces.
Your first move should be a pawn move into the center of the board.
You really have the option of moving 2 to 3 pawns in the opening,
and it could be any of these 4....
Again, you don't want to move pawns out to squares where they
would be immediately captured, although like all rules in chess
there are exceptions to this rule, so in some cases you would
only move a pawn up one square to prevent it from being captured.
If you do move a queen pawn or king pawn up one square, it is
preferable that it does not block the path of one of your
bishops, so in some cases you would move the bishop out before
moving the pawn.
As a rule, moving 4 pawns in the opening is probably over-doing
it. You don't want to move so many pawns that you slow down the
deployment of you other pieces. Moving too many pawns could also
create "holes" (weaknesses) in your position that your opponent
could exploit.
Read more about openings here: http://www.dwheeler.com/chess-openings/.
Don't expect to learn all these immediately as the subject of chess
openings is vast and thousands of books have been written about chess
openings. This web page will cover more about openings further down.
Learn the value of the chess pieces.
See Chess piece relative value.
Learn what tactics are.
One of the goals in chess is to capture more of your opponents pieces
than he captures of yours. The reason for this is having extra
material makes your army stronger than your opponent's army.
The simplest possible chess tactic is one where you or your opponent
inadvertently moves a piece to or leaves a piece on a square where it
can be captured. If the person losing the piece doesn't have a good
counter move then this is called "hanging a piece." At the lower
levels of chess skill this is fairly common, and it even happens
more rarely at the higher levels.
However, you can't count on your opponent to just make an obvious
blunder. Winning pieces usually requires you to threaten two or
more things at once in such a way that your opponent will not be
able to defend both threats.
Chess Tactics.
Begin your daily chess tactics study.
Start doing 30 minutes of chess tactics study per day. Some people
I know have shown tremendous chess improvement by doing 60 to 90 minutes of
tactics study per day for about year, but most people wouldn't find the time
to do that consistently.
If for some reason you can't find the time to do 30 minutes or more of tactics
per day, then try to do 15 or 20 minutes. Doing them consistently every day
is more important than the exact amount of time.
On alternate days do the white or black problems listed below.
White to move chess problems or Black to move chess problems.
Each day, start with the first problem and see how far you can get in 30
minutes. I recommend keeping a record of how far you get each day. If
you are new to chess then you might not get very far on your first couple
of days, but that is O.K. With each subsequent attempt you will get further.
Later on I am going to recommend other good tactics problems that you can
study, but for the moment these problems above will form the bedrock of
your chess tactics understanding. These problems will help you get to at
least an 1800 tactics skill level. A player rated between 1800 and 2000
with practice should be able to do all the 1 move, 2 move and a majority
of the 3 move problems within a 30 minute time frame. An 1800 to 1900 level
player should be able to do all the 1 move problems in less than 10 minutes.
More advanced players shouldn't assume that it is futile to study simple
chess problems. Being able to see simple tactics almost instantly is the
mark of a Class A player, and studying simple problems helps avoid time
pressure blunders.
I personally think that there is some benefit to studying tactics before
bedtime, as research has shown that we forget things while we sleep.
Also study: Chess Level 0.
Also study: Chess.com puzzles.
Also study: Lichess.org puzzles.
Learn how to checkmate with the King and Queen.
About.com gives a pretty simple explanation, but I don't necessarily
think that this is the fastest way to do it. The second half of this video
shows the fastest way to mate with a king an queen by using the king and
queen together to limit the squares of the enemy king. If you ever play sudden
death time controls then I agree with the author of the video who says that you
should practice with a friend and a chess clock, which I occasionally do, to see
if you can do the mate in 10 seconds or less. For some people that would
take a great deal of practice. If you are a novice player, feel good if
you can do the mate within 30 seconds.
Learn how to checkmate with the King and Rook.
This video shows the most efficient method.
Play chess on a regular basis.
I assume that you want to become a better chess player because you like
to play chess. You also need to play chess to become a better player.
Getting better at chess is mentally like learning a new language. You
have to live it everyday. Just sticking your nose in a book isn't enough.
It is all about learning the "language" of the chess board.
Back when I was in public schools, I played chess almost every day which
helped me to improve.
Practice this exercise on a chess board!
The purpose of this exercise is to practice seeing more quickly
where the knight can move. The black pawns never move in this
exercise. The goal is to make legal knight moves to take the
knight from the square a1 to the square b1, however with the
limitation that the knight can never land on the black pawns or
where the pawns can capture. (For example, the pawn on c3 can
capture on b2 and d2, making all three squares off limits to
the knight.)
The knight can get to b1 in three moves by moving Nc2, Na3 and then
Nb1. The next goal is to get the knight from square b1 to square
c1 following the same rules. One of many ways to do that is to
play Na3, and then Nc2, Nd4, Nb3 and then finally Nc1.
After that the goals are to get to d1, e1, f1, g1, h1, h2, f2, c2,
a2, a3, b3, d3 etc. until the entire board is reached in this
fashion.
A good class A player with practice should be able to do the entire
board in less than 3 minutes. For lower ranked players this might
take much longer, even with practice.
Doing this exercise will actually help you win more games by making
you better with your knights.
Do your daily chess tactics study.
Do 30 minutes of chess tactics study per day.
On alternate days do the white or black problems listed below.
White to move chess problems or Black to move chess problems.
See how far you can get with each set of problems. You will be able to get further every time you do these.
Also study: Chess Level 1.
Also study: Chess.com puzzles.
Also study: Lichess.org puzzles.
Study instructive chess games.
Like all instructive chess games on this web page, you should
go through the games enough times that you can remember the
vast majority of moves for the winning side. Once you learn
them, you should review these games occasionally to make sure
you haven't forgotten them.
The games will be much easier to remember if you understand the
reasons as to why the moves are played.
Damiano Defense
Four Knights
Symmetrical English #1
Petroff Defense #1
Review tactical positions.
Tactical positions #01
Tactical positions #02
Watch a video:
Single Best Advice for Improving
Beginner's Openings and Tactics.
Learn more about chess endings.
King and pawn ending #1
King and pawn ending #2
King and pawn ending #3
King and pawn ending #4
Study instructive chess games.
Benko Gambit #1
White to Play and Win
Giuoco Piano
King's Gambit
Watch a video:
How To Decide Your Next Chess Move.
Learn more about chess endings.
King and pawn ending #5
King and pawn ending #6
King and pawn ending #7
King and pawn ending #8
Learn how to checkmate with the King and two bishops.
This endgame happens so rarely that I haven't bothered to practice
it much, but it is important to know it because it can help you develop
better bishop pattern recognition. This video gives a good summary.
Do your daily chess tactics study.
Also study: Chess Level 1.
Review tactical positions.
Tactical positions #03
Tactical positions #04
Study instructive chess games.
Caro-Kann Defense #1
Sicilian Delayed Alapin #1
Sicilian Dragon Levenfish Attack #1
Sicilian Dragon Levenfish Attack #2
Learn more about chess endings.
King and pawn ending #9
King and pawn ending #10
King and pawn ending #11
King and pawn ending #12
King and pawn ending #13
King and pawn ending #14
Learn more about Tactical ideas
Tactical Motifs Defined.
Keep doing your daily tactics study.
Aslo study: Chess Level 2.
Also study: Chess.com puzzles.
Also study: Lichess.org puzzles.
Review tactical positions.
Tactical positions #05
Tactical positions #06
Study instructive chess games.
Albin Counter Gambit #1
Four Knights #2
Sicilian Dragon #1
French Advance Variation #1
Learn more about chess endings.
King and pawn ending #15
King and pawn ending #16
King and pawn ending #17
Review tactical positions.
Tactical positions #07
Tactical positions #08
Study instructive chess games.
Sicilian Alapin #2
Sicilian Alapin #3
Colle System #1
Sicilian Delayed Alapin #2
From's Gambit #1
Learn more about chess endings.
King and pawn ending #18
King and pawn ending #19
King and pawn ending #20
King and pawn ending #21
Play in tournaments and review your games.
A very important part of becoming a better player is competing in
tournaments and trying to learn from the experience. Every chess game
is a potential lesson. Take the games that you recorded in tournaments
and analyze them with a computer program like Fritz or Houdini. Rather
than analyze every move in great detail which could take a long time,
find 2 to 3 positions per game where you could have made better moves.
This can include the opening. Find a way to be able to go back and
review these positions, either by keeping them in some sort of database
or print diagrams of these positions (using your chess program) and
keep the printed diagrams in a folder so that you can go back and
review the positions later.
Keep doing your daily tactics study.
Aslo study Chess Level 3.
Review tactical positions.
Tactical positions #09
Tactical positions #10
Study instructive chess games.
Slav Defense #1
Smith-Morra Gambit
Symmetrical English #2
Semi-Slav Defense #1
Learn more about chess endings.
King and pawn ending #22
King and pawn ending #23
King and queen versus pawn #1
King and queen versus pawn #2
Learn more about chess tactics.
To raise my rating from 1800 to 1900, Sharpen Your Tactics was
immensely helpful. I focussed on just the first 550 problems and
did them so many times that I could go through them very quickly.
Start a Memorization List
On this web page I give you a great deal of information to learn. It
could be difficult to retain all this information unless you have a
systematic way of reviewing the items so that those things you know
well get reviewed less often than the things that you are still learning.
To this end I recommend keeping a Memorization List.
Review tactical positions.
Tactical positions #11
Tactical positions #12
Study instructive chess games.
Tactical Slav Defense
Bad Chigorin Defense
Queen's Gambit Declined, Marshall Defense
From's Gambit #1
Learn more about chess endings.
King and queen versus pawn #3
King and queen versus pawn #4
King, Rook and pawn ending #1
King, Rook and pawn ending #2
Learn more about chess tactics/strategy.
Chess Training Pocket Book, 300 Most Important Positions and Ideas
is a strategy book disguised as a tactics book. It presents 300 positions,
some of which are tactical but most are positional in nature. I studied this
book for around 10 minutes per day without fail for a year. Shortly after
this, I had some great tournament results.
Keep doing your daily tactics study.
Aslo study Chess Level 4.
Review tactical positions.
Tactical positions #13
Tactical positions #14
Study instructive chess games.
Sicilian Delayed Alapin #3
From's Gambit #2
Ruy Lopez (Instructive!)
Philidor Defense
Learn more about chess endings.
King, Rook and pawn ending #3
King, Rook and pawn ending #4
Queen versus Knight
Mixed endings #1
Learn more about chess tactics.
Shredder Chess on iOS and Android has 1,000 tactics problems
that really helped me go from 1900 to 2000 rating, although I
have gone through all 1,000 problems maybe as many as 18 times.
If you don't have a smart phone, then consider
The Complete Chess Workout. If you don't mind a hefty tome,
this might be the only tactics book you will ever need with
1200 moderately difficult problems.
Study instructive chess games.
Queen Pawn Opening
(Bad) Semi-Slav Defense #2
King's Indian #1
Semi-Slav Defense #3
Learn more about chess endings.
Mixed endings #2
Mixed endings #3
Mixed endings #4
Mixed endings #5
Learn more about chess tactics/strategy.
Practical Chess Exercises is a very instructive book. The
catch is that the majority of the problems are positional in nature.
So like in a real game, you don't know if you are trying to achieve
a tactical gain or a positional gain. You have to figure it out.
This is like a more advanced version of Chess Training Pocket Book
in the sense that it covers a wide range of ideas, but it has twice
as many problems for about the same price. This is by no means an
easy book. I don't recommend it for players rated under 1700. This
book is ideal for strong A players who want to become an Expert or
Master. The problems are difficult enough that you will have to go
over them many times. It has taken me at least a couple hundred
hours to get the full benefit from the book.
Keep doing your daily tactics study.
Aslo study Chess Level 5.
Study instructive chess games.
Queen's Gambit Accepted
French McCutcheon
Semi-Slav Defense #4
Symmetrical English #3
Also look at The most common mistake and
Win Easily - Part 1 by GM Igor Smirnov.
Learn more about strategy
If you are already at least 1800, then chances are you are a pretty
good tactical player, but you might need more refinement
strategically.
If you haven't already, buy Silman's book The Amateur's Mind
and go through it. One caveat to be aware of is that
although the book is a pretty fun read, it can take months
to learn to apply the ideas to your own game. After reading
the book, my initial results were worse, but over the long
term I became a much better positional player.
Learn more about chess endings.
Related square problems are rare, but the Expert level player
should be aware of them.
King and pawn ending #24.
King and pawn ending #25.
Like many chess players, I have more books and training apps than I
need, so I am recommending just the first three and the rest are optional.
Sharpen Your Tactics is so far my all time favorite tactics book. It
almost singlehandedly helped me raise my rating from 1800 to 1900. I
focussed on just the first 550 problems and did them so many times that
I could go through them very quickly. I am undecided as to whether
to do the more difficult second half the book, so I leave that decision
up to the reader.
Practical Chess Exercises is a very instructive book. The
catch is that the majority of the problems are positional in nature.
So like in a real game, you don't know if you are trying to achieve
a tactical gain or a positional gain. You have to figure it out.
This is like a more advanced version of Chess Training Pocket Book
in the sense that it covers a wide range of ideas, but it has twice
as many problems for about the same price. This is by no means an
easy book. I don't recommend it for players rated under 1700. This
book is ideal for strong A players who want to become an Expert or
Master. The problems are difficult enough that you will have to go
over them many times. It has taken me at least a couple hundred
hours to get the full benefit from the book.
I bought Shredder Chess on iOS just for the 1,000 tactics problems that
helped me go from a 1900 to a 2000 rating. I have done all the problems
at least 18 times. I really do think that these problems are a joy to
go through and very instructive for increasing your tactical vision, so
the $8 price tag is not a major concern. The app is also available on
Amazon and Android.
Consider The Complete Chess Workout as an alternative if you don't have
an iOS or Android device. This is a pretty big and heavy book, but it
might be the only tactics book you will ever need with 1200 moderately
difficult problems. Winning Chess Tactics for Juniors is a more condensed
version of this book, so I like it better, but it is misnamed because it
should be called "Chess Tactics for Experts", because the problems are
fairly difficult. It is not a big book, but it is good.
Chess Training Pocket Book, 300 Most Important Positions and Ideas
is a strategy book disguised as a tactics book. It presents 300 positions,
some of which are tactical, but most are positional in nature. I studied this
book 10 minutes per day without fail for a year. Shortly after this,
I had my best tournament results ever. If you want more books than what I
have listed above, then I suggest getting this one.
Chess Tactics Free Strategy Trainer are
similar to each other iOS tactics training apps that are useful.
The first one has over 25,000 problems that can be surprisingly
difficult. The other free app is fun because the problems are user
created, but that also makes the quality of the problems uneven.
303 Tricky Chess Checkmates is more fun than instructive, but it is still
instructive and I recommend making it part of your chess study. I feel
exactly the same way about 303 Tricky Chess Tactics.
Chess was a book that I used to study and recommend, but I now
think that it is impractical on many levels. Not only is it is a big
heavy unwieldy book with 5,000+ chess problems, but its exclusive focus
on mate and composed problems means that it won't help you build your
pattern recognition.
Imagination in Chess is a moderately difficult tactics book and
Forcing Chess Moves is full of brilliant chess combinations. I haven't
studied either book enough to recommend them, but these could be books
that advanced players would want to study.
Here are some sites where you can study tactics:
Chess.com
Chess Tempo
A very important part of becoming a better player is competing in
tournaments and trying to learn from the experience. Every chess game
is a potential lesson. Take the games that you recorded in tournaments
and analyze them with a computer program like Fritz or Houdini. Rather
than analyze every move in great detail, which could take a long time,
find 3 to 5 positions per game where you could have made better moves.
This can include the opening. Find a way to be able to go back and
review these positions, either by keeping them in some sort of database,
or print diagrams of these positions (using your chess program) and
keep the printed diagrams in a folder so that you can go back and
review the positions later.
Master the first two positions and you will win king and pawn endgames against
almost everybody rated below 1800 and maybe the majority of Class A players
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14
King and queen versus pawn #1 #2 #3 #4
King, Rook and pawn ending #1 #2 #3 #4
Queen versus Knight #1
Mixed endings #1 #2 #3 #4 #5
I have not yet had time to thoroughly go through Secrets of Rook Endings,
nor Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual, so I cannot offically recommend them
yet, but aspiring chess masters might want to consider them.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Nimzo Indian: Move by Move.
If you want to play the Nimzo Indian, which I recommend you do,
then get this book! It is loaded with detail, but the material
is presented in a question and answer format that makes it very
readable.
Keep in mind that the Nimzo is a subtle positional opening, and
it may take much effort to get really good at it.
Good strategy books deal with a level of sophistication far above
the level of club players, who usually win or lose over simple
attacks and tactics. This is why most club players get their
"strategy" by studying specific openings, usually minimally, and
then practicing those openings by playing them. Some people can
do really well in specific openings that they have thoroughly
practiced, but they lack a deeper understanding of the strategy
behind those openings.
So what is great about Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide is
that it explains most common pawn formations and what the plans are
for both sides. Those plans it demonstrates with games and examples,
which are grouped by opening type.
With around 150 games and many other examples, the challenge for the
club player is that there are around 450 pages of material to go
through. Not only are we looking at months of study, the dilemma
for the club player is how to retain this massive amount of
information? I suggest first going through the games using a board,
and then later go back through the book just reading the comments and
looking at the diagrams. Since the book is grouped by opening type,
i.e. French, Sicilian, King's Indian, I suggest focussing on only one
opening at a time. That will make learning easier.
I like how thorough the book is. If you want a master understanding
of chess strategy, then this might be the book for you.
I wish that there was a simpler guide, but I am still looking into
that. If you are rated below 1700, then you are not yet ready for
this book. First focus on the instructive games on this web page.
How to Reassess Your Chess 4th Edition is considered Jeremy Silman's
masterpiece, which supersedes his previous editions and other books
on strategy. I have not read it yet, so I can't recommend it, but
here is what I wrote about one if his previous books ...
"If you are already at least 1800, then chances are you are
a pretty good tactical player, but you might need more
refinement strategically.
If you haven't already, buy Silman's book The Amateur's Mind
and go through it. One caveat to be aware of is that
although the book is a pretty fun read, it can take months
to learn to apply the ideas to your own game. After reading
the book, my initial results were worse, but over the long
term I became a much better positional player."
Silman talks about general strategic concepts, but my concern is that
most openings have strategy specific to those openings. For this
reason, I am wondering if Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide is a
better choice?
Can You Become a Positional Chess Genius? argues that rather than
study specific openings, you should get a broad understanding of
positional play. I have only barely begun to study the book and
find it interesting. It is arranged like a tactics book, which
makes it easier to follow, although some of the solutions are too
complex to follow from the diagram. I also find most of the
problems too difficult for me to solve, so my approach will be
just to commit the answers to memory. (The author's recommended
study method is to take the ten quizzes and see if your score
improves from one quiz to the next.) So maybe this is a good
book for Expert level players and above.
