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So does any of you guys play chess? I recently started playing it 'seriously'. Before I already could play chess and by that I mean I knew the rules. Two months ago I started to deepen myself into this game and I've discovered that this game truly is amazing. The possible moves and scenario's are almost unlimited. Combined with the tactical and positional factors it makes this game just perfect.

I've just closed my chess-openings 'research' and am now deepening myself into the strategies and trying to see the connections between my opponent's moves.

My goal is to eventually beat my father who really is a beast at chess

Such a dreamer.. lulz Well, maybe one day it will happen, Just hold on!

Do not memorize openers, study end game!! End game scenarios is 10293829548293498% more important than openers, start by studying easy end game (king pawn, king rook vs king rook, queen knight king vs king pawn) and get more and more complex. Memorizing openers does absolutely nothing for you mid-game and end game, but learning end game lets you have an appreciation of all the pieces and the traps you can set with them. It's really easy to extrapolate end game scenarios into the early-mid game.

The ONLY thing I'd recommend about learning openers is not losing to the stupid rudimentary gambits, but that's like 1 hour of research. Do not memorize openers until you are extremely comfortable with end game (at least 2+ years), it will not help you in the long run. Have a hazy idea on what to open with, but always always always keep in mind the whole point of opening the game is to get an advantage that you can take with you to end game. However, if you're good at end game scenarios then it doesn't matter if you're at a disadvantage, you'll still win with a weaker opening, and winning is everything.

I was chess champ for my city for 2 years and got 12th and 3rd respectively in state so I was decent before I quit to play Go (better game *cough*). If you want to get good in the long run study end game and more importantly get a good feel on the interactions between the pieces (it's easiest to learn this when all you have is a king and 3 other pieces on the board vs. a king and 3 different pieces on the board). Memorizing openings is the best way to beat bad players, but your dad seems to be above that.

Also, playing 10000000 different people is the best way to get better at the game. Go online and play etc. Oh, and most importantly, do not ever be afraid of losing.

****, ranted again >.> I'll stop ranting in random threads after New Years <.<

I know end-games are more important, but the reason I first studied openings is because I wanted to detect opening-strategies. I thought this would give me more confidence in the beginning of the game when I'm positioning all my pieces. I wanted to keep everything systematic, from openings to mid-game to chess-endings. And I've read alot about which stage is the most important and I'm still trying to find my own style.

I'll study mid-game for now and after that I'll start with the end-games. I'm still a beginner though, but that's what makes it fun. I still have sooo much to learn.

/sigh, study it how you want, but the reason you study end game first is because chess is too complex, no matter how smart you are. By studying openings first when every piece is on the board is simply too hard, same with mid game with the huge amount of pieces and different positions. Detecting an opening doesn't matter, positioning your pieces correctly doesn't even make sense if you don't have an end game scenario your slowly guiding the game towards. 'Correctly' means correct for your game plan, and it's impossible to even have a game plan unless you know the end game. I've seen way too many people who can't checkmate with anything but double rook or rook queen, figuring out how to counter double rook with bishop 2x knight or 2x bishop pawn will win you so many more games than knowing how to bring a closed game to mid game.

Ignore me if you want, but learning opening -> mid game centre control -> end game scenarios is the absolutely worst way to do it. It will take you far longer to get good at the game.

I have loved playing chess ever since my Dad taught me. I was like 7 years old. I learned it quite fast and in few months (well, maybe 6 months) I could easily beat my father at chess Of course he won sometimes but not as much as I did. Anywayz, I don't play that much now. I would like to but, you know, no partners to play with Once I was on a chess tournament (nothin' big of course) but I didn't do well anyway

@cpinney, alright I'll go with your method. A friend of mine also suggested the same idea, but I thought my way would be more logical as the game begins with openings, evolves to mid-game and ends with end-game.

But you convinced me by saying that mid-game has no use if I don't have an end-game scenario in my head. I guess you are right. The thing that made me hesitate is that me and my friend started to deepen ourself into chess simultaneously. He went with end-game after openings and I went with mid-game after openings. And now I'm better, so that's why I thought my method would work better for me. But it's probably him lacking skill.

I've downloaded Chessmaster 10th edition, rented some books and am currently playing everyday atleast 3 or 4 matches against both my friend and my father. I also downloaded an app for my phone which has 10 different levels of difficulty. When I started with chess I couldn't even beat level 2. 3 days ago i beat him at level 5 and am now working on level 6. I love to see that I'm making progress

@Sacro

My dad also taught how to play it, but I never really got into it till now. I know what you mean by no partners to play with. You can always play it online, but imo that's not even half of the fun of playing it in real life. I'm just lucky that my friend started simultaneously with me and that he's also is deepening himself into chess. That's why whenever one of us is in the mood of playing chess, the other one never refuses

I did say:


Same applies to mid game to a lesser extent, you'll win more, but it will stunt your growth. A lot of young chess players are amazing at openers because all the people who beat them beat them with stronger openers and they think "well if only I knew the counter to his opening".

Anyways, good luck, chess is amazingly complex and ridiculously difficult, just don't quit after 3 months.

i <3 chess

I play it once in a while. I'm a fairly decent player but only in casual games, not tourney style.