Hello to the US chess community. I have loved chess all of my life, but mostly from a distance. I have had boards and sets about, but lacked anyone to play with. So the sets sat around and mostly collected dust as decorations. This last Christmas I decided to try to really play and get better. I asked my wife for a millennium chess genius m810, I hoped it would give me someone to play with, and it has. As well as knocking me around the board. I would later find online chess in the form of the internet chess club, where I have played 115 games since February and won a dismal 13. I joined us chess a couple of months ago, but have not played anything there yet. I am tired of getting slapped around. I stopped by our local chess club thursday, the leader said attendance is down in the summer. I have tried the online tools for training but most of it is over my head. I have several books I have bought. Most from a used book store, I also purchased a chess class from great courses given by Jeremy Silman, but I still spend more time looking than anything else. I am 50 and probably should have started earlier in life. But here I am and I am tired of loosing , I know it Is part of learning,but the old marine in me really hates getting stomped. All advise is welcome. Be gentle on the newcomer
Don’t take losing against the computer personally. Use it more as a training tool. Even the online games themselves might not be indicative of your actual playing strength. At this point in time I would think your local club is the best option. Even if attendance is down there will hopefully be some over the board activity. And see if you can’t find some local weekend tournaments to play some rated games in.
The normal US Chess tournament starts by pairing the top half against the bottom half of the field. Round two then takes all the winners and pairs the top half of the 1 points against the bottom half of the 1 points. Then the half points and zero points get paired similarly. So if you win you get harder opponents but if you lose you in theory get weaker opponents.
So you will find your level so to speak. But even if you fall all the way to the bottom and lose all four games you have acquired playing experience. So don’t simply give up. That experience will add up and you will increase your winning.
And realize that maybe you aren’t going to be world champion, but you can be dangerous enough that your opponent has to respect the fact that you are there.
And then have fun with it.
Good Luck
Practice. Go to the local club. North Carolina is densely populated with tournaments. Play in some of them. Expect to get stomped, but also expect to meet people who will be interested in chess. Go over your games with your opponents in the skittles room. Make friends that way, and maybe even a coach/mentor who is 200-400 points higher than you. Depending how closely you’ve looked, you might have noticed that most tournaments have several sections, so generally you should be able to find events where you can be competitive. Don’t expect the GM title, but do expect to have a lot of fun and maybe even make a few friends.
Also, remember that there is no shame in losing to a nine-year-old girl. A local GM did that four years ago.
Alex Relyea
There are tournaments called “Rated Beginners Opens”. These are open only to players who have not played tournaments before, or those rated under 1200, meaning not too terribly good. One of these might be a good place for you to start playing rated chess. You likely won’t get kicked around too badly.
If you can’t find one of these, most tournaments break into sections by rating (ability level), and usually players who haven’t played rated chess before are grouped into the bottom section. Again, not overly stiff competition.
If you don’t think you’re ready for rated chess just yet, that’s fine, too. Go down to your local club and play. Summer is about over, and attendance should pick up. Hopefully there will be a few people around who you can play and learn from. You might also try your local senior center. If you’re 50, you can get in. Most senior centers are looking for ways to stimulate “oldsters” brains, and chess is one way. You might also contact your state chess association. Most of them will have listings of local clubs. There might be a different club you could go to more suited to your needs.
And don’t worry too much about losing. It’s tough on the ego, I know, but it’s part of the learning process. Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov was once asked what the best way to become a chess master was. He answered, “Go down to your local club and lose thousands of games.” Hang in there!
Silman may be too advanced for you. You should start with the basics, like simple tactics (pins, forks, removing the defender, checkmating patterns, etc.) and endgames (king and queen vs. king, king and rook vs. king, king and pawn vs. king, pawn promotion, exchanging down to a won endgame), and opening principles (fast development, control of the center, finding a safe place for your king). Don’t be too proud to buy books written for children!
Speaking of children, if you play in the bottom sections of open tournaments you can expect to play a lot of them. Don’t be discouraged if you lose to little kids. Many of them have been playing longer than you have, and they’re quick learners. Look at your losses as opportunities to learn.
One thing I’ve found helpful is to keep a record of your games and play over them afterwards, figuring out where you went wrong and how you could have played better. After you’ve gone through a game let your computer analyze it.
I see that you live in North Carolina. The North Carolina Chess Association’s tournament calendar is posted at http://www.ncchess.org/open_list.html and the US Chess Federation listing is at http://www.uschess.org/tlas/upcoming.php. The North Carolina Open is next weekend, but unfortunately the lowest section open to adults is Under 1400. If you don’t mind traveling to Arlington, Virginia, a better fit for you would be the Under 1000 section of the Atlantic Open. The following weekend there is an Under 1200 section at the Lipkin/Pfefferkorn Open in Winston-Salem, NC.
And then there is the Net. Pretend you are a newbie kid–I know you are not but just pretend. There are some nice sites out there that not only apply to kids but also to new chess players in general (It is the same skill set that needs to be learned either way). Below is a list (some free stuff and some $$$ stuff). I have nothing to do with any of these sites.
ChessKid.com’s
https://www.chessmagnetschool.com/lesson_guide.php
https://chess4life.com/
https://www.chess.com/
For adult beginners, I like the following book, “How to Beat Your Kids at Chess.” It will answer some basic questions about chess and about tournament play. After perusing that, go find a chess club with real live people to play. Put the computer away. Chess is not only a game but a social activity, too. Play. Discuss your games with your opponents when you finish. Ask questions. Ask for advice. Chess players tend to love showing others what they know.
Playing chess with friends is different from playing in tournaments. The use of the clock, following rules, writing your moves down, dealing with time pressure, having your emotions rocked by a surprise move, are all distractors from enjoying the play of the game. If you feel that tournament play is too much for you, then go back to your chess club and play. Play some more. Learn to laugh at the surprises, mistakes, and blunders that you make. Over time you will make less of them. It is better to be a bad player and have friends than to be a good player and have none. Surprise and discovery is fun when you are starting out. Most novices have more fun than professionals. Enjoy yourself.
Adults tend to take losses too hard and miss out on the experience of learning new things. No one is perfect. It is how you adapt to your mistakes and failures that make you a player. Picking yourself up again and again is what life and chess is all about.
This is very good advice.
Re endgames: I discovered a wonderful book by Bruce Pandolfini on the remainder table at the US Open: Endgame Workshop: Principles for the Practical Player (Russell Enterprises, 2009). I’d quibble a bit with the order of the material: mating with two rooks is Lesson 3, mating with bishop and knight (Delétang method) is Lesson 6. But if it worked for Caruana, who am I to argue? The point is that I’ve never seen these basic endgames explained to an ADULT audience in such patient detail. Interesting resource for teachers!
Karsten Müller’s Chess Endgames for Kids (Gambit, 2015) is also very good for adults.
Frankly, I would skip the chapter on mating with Bishop and Knight for now. It’s not simple; even GM’s have been known to mess it up. And it comes up so rarely that you can go many years without running into it no matter how much you play. Learn to mate with K+Q vs. K, and then K+R vs. K. Don’t worry about the mates with only minor pieces at this point in your chess development.
This all sounds very logical, but … when I was getting started, I read “Chess Made Simple” (lamentably now out of print) basically cover to cover, including the part about mate with Bishop and Knight. Did I ever have to mate with Bishop and Knight? Not for a number of years after that. But I knew what a bishop and knight could do, and how they could work together. Also, hey, these are very beautiful variations, if you like that kind of thing. A guy wants to get stronger, but he may also want to see what chess has to offer, and playing over some of these endgames is part of that.
Playing over these endgames is OK. Just don’t get too bent out of shape if you can’t do it on your own just now.