Published 2/19/2024
In this blog post, I'll be covering a wide range of topics, and introduce you to the game from a player's perspective. Though I'm not a Master of the game, indeed I'm not even internationally ranked, and I've never played in a tournament, but that doesn't mean I'm not experienced or a bad player.
Chess is a great game, keyword game, and it is rather time consuming to play, indeed it requires a lot of focus. Among other things, it's in-depth, strategic, very challenging, and takes many years to get good at it, but that doesn't mean you'll become a master in a few years. (Hardly) Indeed, some people have been playing for decades and have never achieved a Master title of any kind, but it's probably because they didn't take learning the game seriously or they just never took the opportunity to do so.
You can expect to spend at least 2-4 years studying & practicing daily, before you will become good enough to play with anyone over 900 ELO Rating online, those below 1,000 ELO are not really a master of the game yet, and you won't be either unless you can consistently beat 1,400+ ELO rated players which are really good. However, if you play on chess.com, you should take note that masters can play what is known as "Speed Runs", so you may indeed face some of these very difficult opponents who have between a 600-1,200 ELO, though they are truly much higher rated than this, and so you shouldn't get discouraged if you get blown away.
You cannot get better at chess by playing just chess bots alone, because every player makes mistakes, and you will make a lot more mistakes if you play fast games (10 minutes or less). If you are just trying to learn an opening, then it's better to play 5-10 minutes games, and when you want to learn the middle game and late game tactics, it's best to play at least 1 hour games. Longer games give you a chance to learn more, think more, and learn how to play better, you simply cannot do that in short games.
You really need to take the time to self-analyze your games, figure out where you made mistakes, and learn one opening at a time, I don't recommend playing more than 4 openings. You need to master the basics, then learn openings, and then master at least 4 openings, however you will need to learn a lot before you are ready to learn more openings.
The chess game really is about the middle game, the opening largely determines the outcome of the middle game, and whether you will become overwhelmed by your opponent in the middle game, that's because the opening is all about gaining an advantage and building a defensible position. If you just randomly move chess pieces with no clear game plan or tactics, then you are probably going to get annihilated, and often too.
Players who know all of the basic tactics, have learned traps and gambits, and know some devastating combos, will have a decisive advantage over those who do not. Gambits are a game play of attack in the opening, some of them are exceedingly deadly (4 move checkmates), but aren't very good against any experienced player. (They have been owned by them before and know how to properly defend now.)
The game of chess is largely about memorizing openings, tactics, positions, and learning to use tricks, traps, forks, pins, skewers, etc., but don't worry if you don't know what these things are, it's critical that you look at the videos I've linked at the bottom of this article to learn more about chess. Another popular chess site is lichess.org, also you can also play offline by installing any chess game from any of the app stores for your phone, tablet, or PC (Desktop / Laptop), and there are also chess applications that are known as "Chess Gui" apps, which allow you to play offline for free as well.
Popular (Free) Chess GUI Applications (For Desktop / Laptops)
One thing to learn about Chess GUI apps is, you can utilize what is known as PNG files, also you can use them and create them as well on chess.com, and you can also save your games in PNG files for loading into Chess GUI apps. Here is a quick link to quality videos on "How to" with PNG files.
You should also become familiar with Alpha Zero & Stockfish chess engines, because you can load these engines into Nibbler. (This is the actual link to download the Alpha Zero's Engine) Stockfish is by far the most common and best engine, because Alpha Zero requires a quality video card in order for it to work at it's peak performance, the bigger card the better, and Alpha Zero is even better than Stockfish! Also, many Chess GUIs already come with Stockfish and other Chess Engines, but make sure you have the latest Stockfish installed (16 is the current version as of this writing.).
There are also commercial (Pay for use) chess GUIs, but I wouldn't bother paying for those, when you can literally play against bots and even stockfish on chess.com, and though they offer a lot of nice features, they can however help you improve your game significantly if they offer game analysis and a coaching AI. I wouldn't waste my time with puzzles at first, puzzles are more entertainment that real training, but they can help you learn how to think better at chess, and they are helpful for learning difficult tactics. (Things most normal players don't see outright.)
Some chess apps offer a full selection of training, puzzles, and even offer game analysis, which can help you improve your game a lot, those kind of apps are definitely worth the money, paying a yearly subscription however is NOT worth it. I believe you get what you pay for, chess.com offers a yearly subscription and if you are serious about becoming a pro, then I would invest in it long term, but not if you are a beginner, and you should wait till you are indeed 1500+ rated before you invest in a yearly subscription.
All time and money invested in chess is as good as gone, you'll never recover even 1/100th of it, unless you are a chess prodigy, and will some day make Grand Master, that's highly unlikely for 99% of the millions of chess players in the world. Chess is much like a sport, a game of wit, it's also a game of counter attacking, and attrition, even timing matters (Known as Tempo), because making the correct move at the correct time gains you a move advantage. (Your opponent waste a move, but you develop a piece on the board.)
I say you'll never recover the money because, for example, let's say you spend 15 years before you are winning paid tournaments, and the prize is $10,000, that's not much for 15 years of your life. Indeed it actually amounts to about $1.35/hours spent learning, of course if you keep on winning money, well the return on your time investment can indeed become profitable, but that's highly unlikely for most people who play the game. (e.g. the 99+ % of players)
Developing at chess requires serious focus, you cannot take this lightly, and once you have practiced the fundamentals, you can check out my quality Best Chess Strategies blog post. That blog post gives you a quality array of links to videos for openings and all sorts of things, so once you are ready to learn more, be sure to bookmark that post!
Getting Started with the fundamentals:
- How to play Chess
- Full Beginner's Guide
- Basic Chess Openings Explained
- Basic Chess Tactics
- Chess Fundamentals (I'd highly recommend you learn these!)
As a special treat, I'm offering a download of some of the best games by the top Grand Masters of 2024, some of their best games they've ever played. (For Desktop / Laptop Chess GUI Apps) These files are a collection of games grouped into a database of games, you can study these to learn how to play like a grand master! (I use Tarrasch Chess GUI to open these)
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