I have been pretty interested in chess for about 8 months now. I know the rules and basic moves.
I'm looking right now for a place where I can start learning chess strategies, tactics etc. When doing a web search, I only get an unordered list of articles, books or videos out of order, which don't really help me to get an organized start.
What learning resources would you recommend?
I believe it helps to focus more on enjoying the game rather than learning. If you enjoy the game, you learn a lot in the process.
So, my advice would be to enjoy your chess. Find players that are roughly your skill level and play many games. Once you've played a few dozen games, you will gain some experience and then you will be ready to start learning chess in a formal way - reading books, articles, listening to video lectures, etc.
As of today, I am about as strong as a Candidate Master. I will tell you how I learned the game. At first, as a kid, me and my dad would just play for fun. My dad would often let me win and I would enjoy it. Then, when I was about 9 or 10, my dad took me to a few tournaments (no age group) and I was surprised that I could beat a few players who were older than me. Up until this point, I had no formal training (my dad was just an amateur player), but then one of the arbiters of the tournament offered to help me learn and then I would go to his place quite often and play a few games with him. After each game, he would show me the mistakes I made and what I needed to learn from that game. He told me about general opening principles, but his main focus was the endgame. He told me that it's very important to know the endgame. After that, I also learned a few openings, mostly by going over the games of stronger players and observing the types of moves they made. I didn't simply copy their openings, but I tried to play like them and incorporate their ideas into my game, as I understood them.
Then, I continued playing in tournaments and gradually my playing strength improved because my tactics improved, my endgame knowledge improved, my knowledge of chess strategy improved and so on. I also began to analyze my own games with the help of a computer. Before I had a computer, I would analyze them by myself (believe me, this helps you become a better player even if your analysis is actually wrong!). Overall, I enjoyed the game and in the process I learned quite a bit and now I'm aspiring to be a FIDE Master in the near future.
Here are a few books I recommend that you get hold of (this is after you have first played a lot of games and gained some experience)-
Understanding Chess Endgames by John Nunn
Winning Chess Openings by Bill Robertie
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev
Good luck to you!
I recommend you learn a system and go with it. Play the same opening with white and black, with time you will learn how to avoid common pitfalls, effectively defend yourself, where its safe to put your pieces, where to attack, test your system against a strong engine, and improve your strategy.
I joined lichess, onlinechess/strategy. You can play on your browser or download the app on android. There are puzzles and different types of game play, with other players or AI. Rules, strategy, practice, watch others play. It's pretty cool, might be worth your time to check it out.
At the beginning, you should play more. Reading stuff cannot teach you as much as actually playing more games. After playing a game you have to go through it to find out what mistakes have been made. You need to purchase at least one chess book which covers all the major openings.
