HOW TO GET BETTER AT CHESS

IMPROVING YOUR GAME
Chess is a huge, vast, complex, massive game - big enough that you should never get bored with it! To get better you need to do 3 things: play chess, study chess, and get involved in chess. People who get burned out on chess are probably not doing all of these things!

PLAY CHESS
In order to improve at chess you will need to play lots and lots of chess. This means winning games, and losing games. Just remember that you are never losing when you are learning! Learn something from every win and every loss. And never be a poor sport! There are lots of places to play chess. You can play at your local club, online, through email, through regular mail, with friends and family - there is never any excuse not to play!

STUDY CHESS
Along with playing chess, you need to study if you want to get better. First you need to make sure you know all of the rules. Then you should learn the basic principles of the game such as controlling the center, developing your pieces, attacking and defending pieces, piece values, etc. After that you should learn more about tactics and strategies. Don't start studying openings at all until you fully understand all of the elementary tactics and strategies! You will be wasting your time. Learn to play sound and solid chess. Don't get caught up in trying to get cheap-o wins with opening traps. Once you understand tactics and strategies, start learning some opening systems and endgames as well. Make sure you study master and grandmaster games so that you can learn what the best players are thinking and doing when they play! Also, it is a good idea to study with a friend. You might also consider getting a private chess coach at some point to accelerate your learning. Click here to see some recommended chess books for studying the basics and great games of the masters!

GET INVOLVED IN CHESS
If all you do with chess is play online and read books by yourself you are bound to lose interest at some point. Get involved! Teach a friend. Go to your local club. Play in over-the-board tournaments. Teach chess at a school. Get involved somehow and you will see that chess is more than a game - it is a great community as well!