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Beginner's Chess - Where to Start

Welcome to my beginning chess page. Did you just learn the rules to chess and are wondering where to begin studying?

Some Lesser Known Chess Rules

First of all, let's get started with some lesser known rules of chess:

A pawn in its initial position can move either one or two squares.
The "en passant" rule.
If a king has moved and then moved back to its original square, it can no longer castle.
A king cannot castle when in check.
A king cannot castle kingside if there is an enemy piece controlling the f1 or g1 squares. Note that is doesn't matter if an enemy piece is attacking the rook on h1.
A king cannot castle queenside if there is an enemy piece controlling the d1 or c1 squares. An enemy piece controlling b1 or attacking the rook on a1 doesn't matter.

Using an Adequate Chessboard

I recommend you purchase a tournament chessboard. From where I live, a standard chessboard is a plastic black-and-white chessboard (preferably foldable instead of rolled up) with coordinates a-h along the back rank and numbers 1-8 going up. Alternatively, just use the chessboard on your computer. I hardly ever use a physical chessboard at home any more. If you have a version of Fritz, your can use that, otherwise you can download ChessBase Light, which has a great-looking chessboard with coordinates you can turn on. I suggest you turn on the board coordinates. Once you play enough games, you will instinctively know them by heart and it will be a lot easier to communicate chess moves with others.

Study the Endgame!

Let's get on to business. "In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame." - José Raúl Capablanca, World Champion 1921-1927

The most agreed upon method upon the world's best players is to begin studying chess with the endgame. Chess is split into three phases - opening, middlegame and endgame. Sometimes games finish in the middlegame or even the opening without reaching the endgame. My suggestion may sound a little strange to you, as the endgame is the last part of the game. Why should you begin studying there?

The purpose is so that chess players can study single pieces in isolation. You can study the pieces with their full motion (as many of them are hindered in the opening). By studying the chess pieces in isolation, chess players get a feel for their potential. There are a couple of differences in the endgame compared to other parts of the game - pawns become more crucial as they have the ability to become queens and the king, normally tucked away safely behind pawns in other phases of the game, suddenly finds it can unleash all sorts of mayhem. A player can find a guide to the endgame in many places, for example in Pandolfini's Endgame Course by Bruce Pandolfini or The Complete Book of Chess Strategy by Jeremy Silman (click here to see my review of the latter book). Click here to see the endgame section of this website.

The Opening

What about the opening? Of course, one should also know something about the opening. It is my opinion that beginners learn best by experimenting with the double e-pawn openings. Such as the following:

White - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4

Black - 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5/Nf6 or 3.Nc3 Nf6

Here are some general opening rules to follow:

1. Play 1.d4 or 1.e4 on the first move. Other moves are perfectly adequate for better players, but it is generally accepted that these moves provide the widest variety of strategically and tactically complex positions.

2. Develop knights before bishops.

3. Don't move a piece twice in an opening.

4. Don't move your queen out early.

5. Castle early.

6. Move your queen and connect your rooks.

7. Remember to control the centre.

8. The ideal setup for White from the opening is pawns on d4 and e4, knights on c3 and f3, bishops on f4 and c4, queen on d2, rooks on e1 and d1, and a castled king on g1.

Remember: This is only a general guide, it is advisable that beginners follow them most of the time. There are often specific circumstances in which these rules don't apply.

For a more advanced look at openings, see my chess opening repertoire guide.

To see video introductions to certain openings, take a look at my Chess Openings series.

How to Win at Chess

In beginner's chess, it is adequate simply to wait for your opponent's mistakes. Protect all your pieces and try to avoid losing any as even a pawn could be decisive. Trading pieces is obviously fine. Keep an eye out and capture all pieces the other side leaves "en prise" or unprotected. Just as a note, even though knights and bishops are technically worth the same, generally, knights are more useful (and hence worth more) when the position is closed, whilst bishops are more powerful when the position is open. Two bishops are favoured over two knights in most situations.

Opening Manuals

When a player starts reaching a level when openings start to become important, you can pick up openings manuals. These are books, written by high-level players, which detail certain openings with variations and more importantly, with words (e.g. a book on the Sicilian Dragon). Perhaps an "opening repertoire" book (e.g. Starting Out: 1 d4 by John Cox) would be the most useful for improving players, as these detail complete systems which often complement each other and can be played against any White or Black opening.

Where to Play - Start Playing Chess Online

Where should you go to continue developing your chess? I suggest playing online at the Internet Chess Club. There, you can test your ability against other players before moving on to a real-world chess club. New players can try a free 7-day trial. Membership to this chess club requires payment so it may not be to everyone's preference. A good alternative then is FICS, the Free Internet Chess Server. Both of these internet chess clubs have comfortable interfaces where you can play chess without being pestered by advertisements. See my introduction to the Internet Chess Club.

Developing Your Chess Openings

You will find useful chess videos regarding certain opening lines on the Internet Chess Club. They can by found under the ChessFM archive or simply under the events tab. Another way to develop your opening prowess is simply to pick up a chess book regarding your favourite openings, preferably written by a titled player.

Chess Etiquette

Once you move to a real-world chess club, there is some basic chess etiquette you need to know.

Typically, playing halls are silent - you shouldn't talk at the board.
This is not really etiquette, but coming late to a tournament game now results in an automatic forfeit at certain chess tournaments, particularly international ones.
Mobile phones are not to be turned on during a game. If yours is accidentally turned on and it rings, you normally forfeit the game automatically.
The correct way to offer a draw is to make your move first (without pressing the clock), verbally offer the draw and then press your clock.

It is notable that in real-world tournaments, there are the touch-move and touch-take rules. Any piece of yours that you touch must be moved. Any piece of your opponent's that you touch that can be captured by one of your pieces must be captured. To avoid touch-move, players normally say "adjust" or "j'adoube" before touching this pieces.

Chess Politics

I recommend you stay away from this! Since chess players are often highly intellectual, they are argumentative too.

Concluding Notes

I hope I have given you good guidance in how to develop your chess further. Good luck on your chess endeavours!

Wholesale Chess provides the highest quality chess products at the lowest prices (especially for US and Canadian players). They even offer to match prices with other chess websites! Even though I live overseas, this is where I choose to purchase chess products.

For chess opening training and repertoire maintenance, I highly recommend the software I use, Chess Openings Wizard. This software was approved by Grandmaster Peter Svidler (FIDE rating 2744 as of January 2010) many years ago.

Posted by Webmaster on Saturday, October 3, 2009 (edited 21/05/10).