Chess tactics for beginners
will come from analyzing your games and going over grandmaster games. Your knowledge of openings, endgame, middlegame, etc. The tl dr of this training plan is, play a lot and primarily study tactics. But otherwise, your time would be better spent analyzing your games and studying tactics. I.e., if you keep getting outplayed positionally over and over again, then open Reassess. Study broader topics, like strategy in Reassess or endgame only when you feel like that topic is causing you to lose. I hear the Mammoth Book of Chess Games is pretty good too, but I can't personally vouch for it. A good annotated game book is Winning Chess Brilliancies by Seirawan. Study the appropriate section based on your rating, and only come back to it if it's clear that you keep messing up endgames. Silman's Complete Endgame Course is the only book you need. Once you hit that level, I recommend Silman's The Amateur's Mind, and once you hit 1800, Silman's Reassess Your Chess, 4th Edition. Until you hit 1400-1500 or so, you should be picking up strategic play from analyzing your games and going over annotated games. I teach my beginning students the London System as white, since it is simple, solid, and can be played against virtually anything. Obviously this depends on your opening preferences. d4! (I also have Starting Out: 1.e4! and do not recommend it). Some good books here are Chess Openings for Black, Explained by Alburt (I hear Chess Openings for White, Explained is pretty good but I've never used it), and Starting Out: 1. Once you hit around 1600, get a good opening book that gives you both specific moves and the ideas behind the opening. Use the analysis phase to brush up on your openings and endgames and practice your strategic play.ĭon't bother spending any time studying openings outside of analyzing your games. I kept all of these puzzles in a binder and would go over them from time to time.Īnalyze your games using the method outline in this article. Another thing I would do is find tactics I missed in my games (usually with the help of a computer) and turn them into tactics puzzles. I'll admit, there is a bit of a leap between solving tactics puzzles and applying it to real games-obviously nobody's going to tell you when a tactics is available, and you won't be "primed" to find tactics the way you would be when you're solving a bunch of puzzles. If it becomes too easy for you, use it as a refresher from time to time and get Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players. Trust me, paying $15 for CTB is worth it. Online tactics sites usually don't cut it, because they aren't structured so that you learn based off previous ideas and many don't incorporate the pedagogical features of Chess Tactics for Beginners. I used the first edition, which had about 1300 puzzles, so it took me seven months to do the whole thing seven times. I would do 50 puzzles per day, every day, and once I finished the entire CD I repeated the process six more times. If you only buy one thing to help your chess game, this should be it. My primary method of tactics training was using Chess Tactics for Beginners, which is absolutely fantastic. I did these exercises every day for two weeks initially, and then would do them the day of a tournament and once in a while as a refresher. It may sound stupid, but it really does work. The first was "Chess Vision" exercises, as described in this article. Plus, OTB chess is a lot of fun! Use online games (G/15 or slower) to practice openings or for practice if there is no tournament for a while. Play as many over the board tournaments as you can without getting burned out. But really, OTB chess is leaps and bounds better for improving your play than online play is. It's a bit intense, so if you want something more low key I suggest 15-30 minutes of tactics puzzles daily and playing a G/15 game or slower online. I'm copying a previous comment I made about training below if you are serious about improving. For most people it doesn't help their game and it ends up being a major time suck. Please continue to give us your feedback and suggestions on how we can help make /r/chess better for everyone.ĭo you want to seriously improve? Stop playing blitz/bullet. Use the message the moderators link if your posts or comments don't appear, or for help with any administrative matters. Twitter/Facebook posts must contain a direct link to the tweet/post, and include the author's nameĬhess Spoiler format for problem answers etc., Instructions for /r/chess PGN addon ( Chrome, Firefox)ĭon’t engage in abusive, discriminatory, or bigoted behavior.ĭon't ask for advice about ongoing games.ĭon’t spoil tournament results in submission titlesĭo not use /r/chess exclusively to promote your own content. News Puzzles Games Strategy Twitch Other Resources