I am a chess beginner but I have been playing the game for many years without being very serious about it. I would like to improve a bit now though but I am having difficulty with many of the sites....I like the sites that provide problems to be solved but the main issue I have with them is when you make a wrong move it says...wrong move!! I would like it to be a bit more specific than that and tell me why it was a wrong move as sometimes it looks like the right move to me!!! (That's why I'm still a beginner of course....) But I think it would be extremely helpful to know this. Is there any sites out there that provide that sort of service?
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3 Answers
It's hard to find resources like that. Beyond the basics or how to move, you can look at
Beginner Study Plan - I'd recommend having a look at this guide so you know what to study. Then I would advise you look at Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Series. For beginners, look at
- Play Winning Chess
Then when you progress, you can look at
- Winning Chess Tactics
and later you can look at
- Winning Chess Endgames
- Winning Chess Openings
These books are easy to read and provide lots of examples with very clear explanations from one of the best chess authors out there.
You should definitely learn all the tactical motifs that exist. By knowing what they are, you can try to find them in real games, and over time they will start to become second nature. I recommend Attacking Chess by Josh Waitzkin, which is a really good book for beginners learning tactical puzzles. You can probably find a PDF of the book online if you want, but I'd advise buying it.
Tactical Motifs - This website has tens of thousands of tactical puzzles and will show you the solution if you get the puzzle wrong. Each puzzle has a tag which lets you know what tactical motif was used. For a beginner, you should know forks, pins, skewers, double check, back-rank mate and x-rays. There are plenty more tactical ideas, but these will help most.
I read your question as asking for sites, and I don't know any. But I do have a book recommendation. I started playing chess in the 1960s and had many books, but it was only when I found "Winning Chess: How To See Three Moves Ahead by Chernev and Reinfeld" that I really thought my middle-game tactics improved. It's old, but truly excellent. The contrast to many other books is profound. They actually did a study of tactics, and focus on the most important ones in order. Pins, forks, double attacks, skewers, discovered check and a number of others. Highly recommended.
I'm in a somewhat similar situation and have found a few excellent resources. Mainly, I am in a club, in which the teachers/higher-level players can be quite useful for suggestion. However, if such is not an option, I have heard from other players that apps can be a useful resource. If you have an app with a AI that can consistently beat you, I would recommend copying down the situation and putting it in the game later, but with roles swapped. I've personally tried this with a basic engine and have had good success. For a free such engine, I would recommend https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/2737104/ for a lower level player, which has the disadvantage of not easily setting up games.
