Cheat Sheet for Chess Players

[auggie]

I am not a crack player by any means, but can hold my own on the board. Thought I would offer some constructive ideas for the players out there.

1. Castle early in the game, it prolongs the life of your king.

2. Open the lines for your bishops, don't entrap them behind pawns and waste their long range powers.

3. Make every move serve a purpose. is it a check to the king or are you setting up a pin or attacking a high value piece such as a rook or queen? dont just move pieces for the sake of moving pieces.

Here are some of the books that have helped me along the journey to become a better player. It helps me to pull out a chess board and walk through the games in the books.

Beginner Books

The Tao of Chess, Peter Kurzdorfer

How to Win Chess Openings, I.A. Horowitz


Intermediate Level Books

How to Reassess Your Chess, Jeremy Silman

Art of Attack in Chess, Vladimir Vokovic


My secret trick for really boosting my game is the Chessmaster 9000 software. I play the computer with my opponent set to a rating of 2000+. Needless to say I get a good thrashing, but when I play Joe Sixpack its makes for some fireworks. Not sure that I can picture Joe Sixpack playing, but you get the picture.

http://www.chessmaster.com

If someone has a better system for improving play, let me know, I am all ears.

[jthorn9]

Not bad, pretty basic things people often forget when playing.

Another key is get rid of those stupid pawn defense setups, a well played player, such as myself, will blow holes in you by trying to play those pawn defense setups. Pawns are just that, pawns, decoys, don't base your entire strategy on what your pawns can, or rather can't, do.

Another key, be aggressive with your queen, keeping the queen in the backfield will make the difference between a quick win or a long drawn out match.

[gvervoren]

I have absolutely no clue on how to play chess!!

[auggie]

Sorry for the delay. I have been swamped with work recently. Here are some links to the basic rules of chess and also a video as well. There are lots of free online game sites where you can play other players or the computer.

US Chess Federation:

Rules

Basic Chess Rules - Chess Objectives and Movements

YouTube - How to Play Chess : Basic Rules of Chess

[govind5540]

Nice post...