I want to become a serious player

here is my advice if your older than 25 give up, but if your not then study the endgame first then two to three solid openings (so you dont loose out of the opening) and then go to real rated tournements. 😉

I became a more serious player after I stopped wearing clown makeup for important matches. That may work for you. 😀

Originally posted by alexstclaire
i agree with the above statement, truly, if you have to ask these questions you totally suck, and will never be good...never ever, just give up

Originally posted by sh76
Not that I'm a great player that you want to emulate, but my advice is...

Buy Chessmaster- GM Edition and listen to every word that Josh Waitzkin has to say in the order the program presents it.

Then, play "match the masters" which is a great game they have on CM as well.

Then, play a lot on RHP, but keep your game load down. For every game, think car ...[text shortened]... 0 here faster than you can say "zugzwang" (if you can say it at all).

Good luck! 🙂

I basically agree with Tony but to reiterate.

1. Learn your basic endgame (K + 2R vrs K; K+Q vrs K; K +R vrs K; K+ 1P vrs K; K + 2B vrs K).
2. Learn basic tactics - forks, pins & skewers are a must.
3. Buy an opening encylopedia (you could probably find everything on Wikipedia) and learn 4-5 moves in a couple of openings and play some blitz games from that position.
4. Analyze your games afterwords, there are some free programs online that can do this. This will show you where you dropped material.
5. Initially play to win material. Avoid losing material and take any free pieces your opponent offers.
6. Know the generally accepted piece values: Q - 9; R - 5; B - 3; K -3; P -1
7. This is really basic, but some kids I teach just don't get it. Exchanging equal value pieces isn't a loss. Some kids always retreat their defended knight when I attack it with my bishop.There are other factors to consider here, but equal exchanges initially should be worried about too much.
8. Know basic opening strategy: Control the center (d4, d5, e4, e5), develop your pieces, protect your king (usually castling).

AND you HAVE to get a COACH. It is so much easier.

just give up

Originally posted by alexstclaire
just give up

Originally posted by Basciano
How is everyone doing - iv known the basics to chess for many years and have played from time to time but have never put in any time to play and take it seriously - now is the time that i want to take it seriously.

Im currently reading and re reading Teach Yourself Chess by William Hartson and im playing around with a copy of Fritz 9 that i picked up. I ...[text shortened]... ge in my chess playing or should i just read more books.


Many thanks

Regards

Basciano

Originally posted by sonhouse
I think you will get a better perspective on this dude if you look at his profile and the games 'underway'. All with Badwater, kind of strange if you ask me.

Yes, only about 60-65 of my games are rated. The rest are PCT studies.

Originally posted by thadeusman
here is my advice if your older than 25 give up, but if your not then study the endgame first then two to three solid openings (so you dont loose out of the opening) and then go to real rated tournements. 😉

Lots of blitz games with 10 minutes at least is good, because you will see thousands of positions if you play a lot of games. Also playing online helps you to play better, but you have to make sure you are taking your time each move or it is pointless. Reading is very important and if I were to do it all over again I'd read a lot and play less games. You'll learn more from reading books for the most part than playing the game. Its like a speaking another language. you cant just read about it you have to do it too.

Originally posted by kmac27
Lots of blitz games with 10 minutes at least is good, because you will see thousands of positions if you play a lot of games. Also playing online helps you to play better, but you have to make sure you are taking your time each move or it is pointless. Reading is very important and if I were to do it all over again I'd read a lot and play less games. You'll l ...[text shortened]... game. Its like a speaking another language. you cant just read about it you have to do it too.

Originally posted by wormwood
funny, if I'd start over I'd read less than I did. and I think beginners greatly overestimate the importance of reading. more training, less reading about it. 🙂



about all the 'quit it while you can' posts, I hope the guy gets that they're all just kidding about it. that's what we do here.