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I need help with chess
I have only played about ten times in my life. It's really confusing. I have heard of open, middle, and end moves. Do they really play a key role? I am so bad I lose or draw on level 1 on my computer. I have won once. I am not the planning ahead type thinker. How do you build fortresses based on possible moves down the line? I am always many steps behind. Please help.
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Maybe give some free advice about: Random Weirdos?
Giving you specific advice when you have only played 10 times is going to be very tricky. So let me just start by saying that the first thing you should do is play a lot more.
Ok, first off, yes chess has an opening, middle, and end game.
Basically in the opening stage each player chooses his strategy (influenced heavily by the opening that white selected). You can use books or online resources to learn about the different openings.
In the opening phase you need to think about piece development. The idea is to bring as many pieces as possible into a favourable position and to do so faster than your opponent. Remember chess is all about controlling the four centre squares
A few opening tips include (these are general tips, not etched in stone):
- Develop pieces that can exert influence on the four centre squares (e.g. developing your knight to c3 is a lot better than to a3)
- Develop knights before bishops
- If possible, try to develop with a threat (e.g. if your knight threatens a piece, your opponent might be forced to move it, slowing his development)
- Do not charge out early with your queen (she becomes a target for your opponent and way for him to develop while forcing you to move her around)
- Castle early
One thing to consider is that some lead to more open positions and some to more closed positions. Closed positions lead to slower, more tactical games, without many opportunities for combination play.
The middle and end game is very hard to talk about because there are virtually endless possibilities. In the middle game there is normally less space and the game is more cluttered. The opening that you have selected will usually come with a strategy of where to focus your efforts.
The end game is characterised by fewer pieces and open lines. This is where rooks truly become effective and where bishops are better than knights (knights being somewhat more effective in the middle game where they can jump around over the clutter of pieces).
Ok, let me try to give you a few general tips and see how that goes:
- First, you have to learn to think ahead. Chess players use a tree structure. You split the possibilities into branches in your mind and you take each one individually. How far you take it depends on your ability. Make the move in your mind, picture the board as it would look then, and ask yourself what possible counter-moves could my opponent have? Then take each one (like a separate branch) and see where it would lead.
You should be able to exclude very bad moves right away and focus on the ones where there is some potential.
The trick is to learn when to pursue a branch deeper and when to discard it. Its also very important to be methodic. Beginners often jump back and forth, consider one option in one branch then get another idea and look at that instead, etc. Its ok if you cannot thing very far, just
learn to be calm and structured.
- Read about chess openings. There are countless resources online and a google or perhaps youtube search will do wonders. Stick to basic strategies and common openings.
- Practice until you have understood the basics and then you can start looking into specific openings and what they mean to the game (right now I doubt it would make much sense).
Good luck :)
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