How long does it take to get decent at chess?

[d-baggery]

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.

[Andrew Karpinski]

To beat them, maybe a few weeks of serious study.

To become decent, anywhere from a year to a life time depending on how hard you work.

I think it's very much worth it but I've never done it.

[MyTurn2Raise]

i got upto 1600 rating in about 3 months of playing roughly 20 hours per week

This would be good enough to pwn your friends

There are plenty of books to skim
lots of free internet sites as well

i found the unspoken game while looking for a book to improve my chess and never went back

it seemed quite difficult to reach the top levels and there just isn't the same amount of cash involved

[GrandmaStabone]

D-bag,

I was in a similar situation last year when some friends and I picked up chess as a hobby. We attracted a few other players who were mid-level beginners and consistently dominated us. I started reading some books and playing online and within a month I was crushing these players.

With beginning players (i would define this as casual players or even "experienced" players who have never attempted to look into successful chess strategies), all it takes is a rudimentary knowledge of how to play strategically to be a big winner. In a game with inexperienced players, it tends to be a series of traded pieces and accidental losses until one players side is so decimated that a checkmate is glaringly obvious. There is little planning, just a "get all his pieces" mentality.

With any even low-grade experienced players, it will take quite awhile. Basically, even the "bad" players who are aware of correct chess openings, defenses, and concepts will probably beat you for quite awhile.

A great book to pick up is "Winning Chess" series from Everyman Chess. Read the first book in the series and you will beat all of your friends.

As a side note, I enjoy Chess as a side-hobby to poker because of the sharp contrast. There is absolutely NO luck in chess. The player who plays better wins everytime, period. If you lose, its because you played incorrectly. Its a nice palatte cleanser after a session of bad beats.

[d-baggery]

GS,

I firmly agree. In fact, I avoided poker for a long time for exactly this reason: the best player does not always win. What I am looking for is the tools to break into an understanding of the game. For example, I cannot decipher the moves in a text format (i.e. 1) e4 c6), thus I am not able to see what makes game strategies work. If there was the right bridge for someone who basically understands the moves, has played a few games, is intelligent, but doesn't know enough to get into real strategy, that would the my aim. When I play, I feel like I am making OK moves but it's just a matter of time until I make a pretty big error, which naturally I don't like.

[GrandmaStabone]

DB, I highly, highly recommend starting with this book and continuing through the series (from the same author).

Play Winning Chess

Also, most beginners to intermediate books (including this one), have a pre-chapter devoted to explaining chess notation. What I did to become fluent in this was use a sharpie to label my board. This way, whenever I play I can look at the grids and see the notation in my head as the game progresses.

[d-baggery]

do you find it harder if you are the black pieces? I tried to think of the notation this evening, but got confused when the board was turned around. I dunno, this is probably a noob thing.

[GrandmaStabone]

the same thing still confuses me.

[AAAA]

i am totally far from being a good chess player, but a friend who tried to teach me a bit emphasized that it was a game of conquering territory, and that the middle of the board was very valuable turf.

i think what he was trying to get across was to visualize the board and where the pieces can control as a whole, rather than individually.

[Reef]

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I got upto 1700 rating in about 9 months of playing roughly 12 hours per week

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