Hello!
I'm a beginning chess player looking to expand my knowledge of the game. Currently have 6weeks off until i have to go back to the university and I would like to read/play a lot.

I usually just play games vs my friends (all amateurs). Sometimes I lose/sometimes I win but I would like to constantly beat them I'm a novice but I know some basics like devoloping pieces/controlling the center/castling early. That's about it. I thought of some books I would like to purchase. If anyone has any suggestions please tell me.

Books:
Logical chess (chernev)
Winning chess strategies (Seirawan)
Winning chess tactics (Seirawan)
Silmans complete endgame course

I obviously also want to play a lot of games online, but I don't really know where. I tried some sites but most of them use clocks with something like 10minutes and it kind of makes me nervous. Is there somewhere I can play where I have a bit more time before deciding my move.

Thanks.

J

I'd suggest that you play at FICS: Free Internet Chess Server (FICS)


I play with Winboard: XBoard and WinBoard


You can send out a seek after you log in with any time limits you'd like. For instance if you'd like to play 20 Minutes with 10 Seconds added to the clock after each move you'd type:

seek 20 10

If you'd like to play a 30 minute game you'd type:

seek 30


As for the books, it looks like you've got quite alot to read already, and they are all great books. I'd suggest that you also pick up a tactics puzzle book, one the has you find ways of taking opponent's pieces, not one that has only "find the Checkmate in 3", although I'm sure the book will have some 'find the Checkmate' puzzles. Spend about 20-30 minutes doing these puzzles everyday. You don't want to burn yourself out on them, but you still need to do them.

You'd be surprised at how many opportunities are overlooked because you simply don't know what is really on the board.

Good luck!

You might also want to consider "Chess Master versus Chess Amateur" by Euwe and Meiden, which you can preview at Google Books. The nice thing about Euwe/Meiden is that they discuss issues of concern to beginners. Games in Chernev are played by classical masters such as Rubinstein who would never even consider playing 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6 as Black. Now compare what the two books say about this move, which was played in Game 2 of Euwe/Meiden:

Chernev (p. 13): "Terrible! My f-pawn occupies a square that should be reserved for the knight and it also blocks the queen's path along the diagonal. And I've moved a pawn when I should be developing pieces."

Euwe/Meiden (pp. 11-15) not only convey Chernev's message, but also gives the refutation 3. NxP! followed by enough analysis to convince the reader that White comes out ahead.

The "amateur" gets stronger as you go further into the book. The last game in the book, game 25, ends with a winning R + 2P (doubled g-pawn) vs. R + P endgame. It was not a trivial task for the "master" to get there from a one-pawn advantage in late middlegame.

Both Chernev and Euwe/Meiden are great books.

World Chess Live for Internet Chess - Associated Content

Try checking WCL out, great site, although it isn't free. FICS is nice, I'd go there if you want free, great chess.

I agree with the recommendation for FICS, or if you want to play "correspondence" style, where you have days to make each move, you can head to chess.com or several other free sites.

As for the books, good choices. You'll also want at least one book of tactical puzzles for beginners. I think Susan Polgar's "Chess Tactics for Champions" might be good for this sort of thing, or "Winning Chess Tactics for Juniors" by Hays. Be sure the puzzle book has middle game puzzles to win material, not just "mate in 2" type puzzles.

--Fromper

u can try playing on chess.com. good site for the chess lover.

They are good books, as fromper told, also try the winning chess tactics for champion by polgar, tactical puzzle books like "combinational motif by blok maxim, "more chessercizes- checkmate" by bruce paldolfini's are also good . As fromper have told, solve not only mating problems, but also tactical problem that wins you material.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I purchased Sharpen your tactics and Winning Chess tactics for Juniors.
Should i sholve these puzzles in my head or should I position it on my board and then try to solve it?

I think it will be better exercise if you solve these puzzle by head, after all while playing against an opponent, we are just calculating our moves by head

One thing is don't only focus on tactics, try to study endgame and positional play as well, these is where books like Silmans complete endgame course, Winning chess strategies (Seirawan) and Unbeatable Chess For Juniors by snyder comes in handy.

Books by John Nunn are excellent, try "Understanding Chess Move by Move".

About playing long games, maybe you'd want to purchase a chess playing engine such as Fritz.

When you play against your computer you can set the time of the game and the strength of the opponent.
Of course, playing against a computer is not as much fun as playing against a human for most people, but it's good for learning, and you can play as much as you want, the computer won't get tired...