Help a chess noob

[econophile]

DMBFan23,

I've also taken a renewed interest in chess. I say renewed, because I played a little chess in middle and high school, but never on a team or anything.

When I began playing again, I was also overwhelmed by the amount of information on the internet and the sheer number of books about chess. Here's what I've found. Most sources I've read recommend beginners spend a lot of time studying tactics. Yassir Seirawan's "Winning Chess Tactics" is a good book for this since it explains how each tactic works and offers a good number of puzzles to test how much you've learned. After that, you may also want to buy a book full of chess problems. There are lots of these, just check out reviews at Amazon to see what people think of them.

For longer term plans, I looked at several "So You'd Like To" pages on amazon. Some of these list which books are appropriate for different level chessplayers. One that seems reasonable and doesn't list a million books is "So You'd Like to Train to Become a Strong Chess Player."

BTW, is there a chess forum equivalent of 2+2? I've Googled chess forums, but most of the ones I found had low traffic.

edit: Library is a good option. Also look at used book stores.

[amplify]

I think the 2+2 of chess is on usenet, rec.games.chess.misc

[DMBFan23]

so on the recommendation of a couple posters, I figured I'd start with tactics...I had looked at openers a little, but found that I was getting manipulated into making huge errors through tactical moves once the openings had developed.

I found this site, http://www.chesstactics.org/, , and it seems to be a good one as far as a quick free basic resource. I'll post updates as I play more or get better or give up or whatever.

P.S. I did get to SCHOOL someone with the danish gambit one time, which was completely worth the 20 times it completely blew up in my face

[amplify]

[ QUOTE ]
so on the recommendation of a couple posters, I figured I'd start with tactics...I had looked at openers a little, but found that I was getting manipulated into making huge errors through tactical moves once the openings had developed.

I found this site, http://www.chesstactics.org/, , and it seems to be a good one as far as a quick free basic resource. I'll post updates as I play more or get better or give up or whatever.

P.S. I did get to SCHOOL someone with the danish gambit one time, which was completely worth the 20 times it completely blew up in my face

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Cool, I like to bust out the Fried Liver Attack whenever I can.

[DMBFan23]

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[ QUOTE ]
so on the recommendation of a couple posters, I figured I'd start with tactics...I had looked at openers a little, but found that I was getting manipulated into making huge errors through tactical moves once the openings had developed.

I found this site, http://www.chesstactics.org/, , and it seems to be a good one as far as a quick free basic resource. I'll post updates as I play more or get better or give up or whatever.

P.S. I did get to SCHOOL someone with the danish gambit one time, which was completely worth the 20 times it completely blew up in my face

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Cool, I like to bust out the Fried Liver Attack whenever I can.

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well now I have a new thing to try for 20 games until I own [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[checkmate36]

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I must say, I have been feeling the need to pretty much start all over again and relearn the game as I am so out of practice that it hurts.

I am going through How to Reassess Your Chess and am finding it to be quite awesome.

There is a .pgn database available here.

Which you can load for free into chessbase light from here.

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Thanks amplify for posting that link with the pgn databases. I just dug out a bunch of chessbooks from my closet now that they will be easy to read. Just click chessbase and your on it. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[FifthAndRiver]

"Play Winning Chess" by Yasser Seirawan. "World Champions guide to Chess" and "Chess Tactics for Champions" both by Susan Polgar - great books on tactics. Then the other books by Seirawan

[graydot]

DMB,

I recommend ChessMaster 10th or which ever is the latest. It is a great program that has voice + interactive lessons, 100+ of these, along with tips from pros, quizes, e.t.c Plus a powerfull chess engine that can analyze. Its $20 (or "free" if you look around) http://www.amazon.com/Ubi-Soft-Chessmast...9290304?ie=UTF8

[David Ottosen]

The Seirawan/Silman series of "Winning Ches X" books are very good for starting to study. Easy to read, fairly well laid out and written, and good.

"My System" is a bit more advanced and I'd probably hold off for a while. If you want an introductory version of the same thing, pick up "Weapons of chess" by Pandolfini.

My personal favorite books are:

60 memorable games, by Fischer (original, not the bastard Nunn version)
Road to chess improvement, by Yermolinksy
Grandmaster Achievement, by Polugaevsky
My great predecessors (all 5 volumes), by Kasparov

[checkmate36]

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60 memorable games, by Fischer (original, not the bastard Nunn version)


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LOL, whats wrong with Nunn? I have a few of his books and they seem pretty good. Does he rewrite older books and mess them up or something?