How long does it take to get decent at chess? - Page 2

meccaNES · #11 06-04-2006, 08:44 AM

i have an idea

Anyone who wants to play me just pick a room in yahoo

we can play a game maybe G/10 or G/15 then review it and i can possibly help you see some of your errors or try to understand why certain tactical positions exist (underprotected piece, overworked piece, decoy sacrifice etc...), make opening considerations, determine your style (defensive, natural, aggressive etc...)

Anyone down PM me or post here...

And if you want good books the first one i read was chess for dummies...made me a little better since it gives a basic understanding of the groundwork.

From there read something like "The Complete Book of Chess Strategy by Jeremy Silman...pretty good

and get Rapid Improvement for the Adult Tournament Player by some guy i forgot - this book is all tactics it's an in depth personal study course that some guy invented that just focuses on tacitcs because anything under the 2000ish level is usually just a game decided by tactics...prophylaxis and positional understanding etc is good to have and will make you better but it's mostly found correctly implimented in the higher play. if anyone's down lemme know....i'm bored and have an hour or two to kill...

nyc999 · #12 06-04-2006, 09:12 AM

Gameknot has a database that includes thousands of games of players with 1600+ ratings (site rating - not real). You can make a move and review the 2-3 most popular moves that follow. Play around with it for a while to develop a good starting strategy.

FlyWf · #13 06-04-2006, 03:13 PM

STUPID QUESTION FOLLOWS:

How can you earn your rating? I'm a very casual chess player, but I tend to beat everyone I play, including some people who claim they were on chess teams and the like. I see people throw around numbers and I want one too.

meccaNES · #14 06-04-2006, 04:19 PM

uschess.org

UATrewqaz · #15 06-04-2006, 04:50 PM

You could get "decent" in like 2 weeks.

Very similiar to pkoer, 90%+ of people who "play" chess play very poorly, they normally just know the rules and how the pieces move.

If you got a book on the basic tactics (pins, forks, skewers, etc.) and also studied the most common openings a few moves deep and basic endgame ideas, you would be instantly better than all casual players.

And you can get alot of experience relatively quickly online.

You would also put yourself into a position where if you played well you could beat a superior player who makes a blunder, and even really good players (who aren't professionals) make blunders (online especially, due to time constraints)

MyTurn2Raise · #16 06-04-2006, 04:54 PM

i played rated games on the World Chess Network online and received a rating according to some recognized standard guidelines that they used.

Etric · #17 06-04-2006, 05:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
STUPID QUESTION FOLLOWS:

How can you earn your rating? I'm a very casual chess player, but I tend to beat everyone I play, including some people who claim they were on chess teams and the like. I see people throw around numbers and I want one too.

[/ QUOTE ]

Once you get a rating you'll be depressed by the amount of people who are vastly better than you.

MrTrik · #18 06-04-2006, 05:05 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Basically I play with friends who know how to play, but not at any type of good level. How can I learn to beat them in a short time, and is it worth getting any good? It seems like there will be tons of people who take this game way more seriously than I would, but I enjoy playing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Playing any tournaments, once you are registered with us chess, will start working on your rating. This could be a once a year tourney, or a local school or chess club that might hold tournaments weekly. It's much like a golf handicap where the local pro or whover reports your scores to someone who updates your rating.

When I was active online reportings weren't available, but they may be now but I doubt it since verifying who actually played the game would be impossible.

cbloom · #19 06-04-2006, 06:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Basically I play with friends who know how to play, but not at any type of good level. How can I learn to beat them in a short time, and is it worth getting any good?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you want to beat them in the shortest time possible :

Learn the basics, learn how to read notation, practice a lot.
Learn basic strategy and position, some basic moves, etc.

Learn one opening for white and practice it a lot. I'm not sure what the best option is. Ruy Lopez is very common and easy to learn, but you might be better off with something they're not so used to like an English opening.

Learn one defense and practice it against standard beginner openings. Sicilian would be a good choice.

Practice online.

If you work hard you should be able to beat them in 2-3 weeks.

To get actually good takes 2-3 years of study & practice.

This web site seems pretty good :

http://www.chesscorner.com/tutorial/learn.htm

gusmahler · #20 06-05-2006, 01:45 PM

A similar subject came a few months ago. After following the links in the thread, recommended books were:

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess

and

Everyone's 2nd Chess Book

I haven't bought either book yet, but if I do decide to play chess, they are what I will buy. (Apparently the Complete Idiot book is much better than the Dummies book).