Answers.Body: <p>Honestly, chess.com is great. There are free alternatives, though. Such as <a href="https://lichess.org/learn#/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://lichess.org/learn#/</a>.</p>
  <p>There are also so many free instructional YouTube videos, from Grandmasters and IMs. You might start by searching &quot;St. Louis Chess Club&quot; on YouTube and browsing the videos there.</p>
  <p>Lastly, the website <a href="https://chessable.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://chessable.com</a> is quite good, but courses can be quite expensive. It's still a really good resource to keep in mind, though.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-23T00:06:53.770Z
Answers.Text: lichess is not a real alternative to a paying chess.com membership. Not only don't you have the lectures created by masters on lichess, you also don't have their video library, and many other features. 
  
  Furthermore, learning openings from Chessable before having learnt the opening principles etc doesn't make much sense. 
  
  The St Louis Chess Club lectures are more for intermediate and advanced players than total beginners that just learnt the game.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Hauptideal
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-22T15:23:27.030Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-11-22T15:23:27.030Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Matt F.
Answers.Body: <p>if want books you can get the step method <a href="https://www.stappenmethode.nl/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.stappenmethode.nl/</a>
  6 levels great educational value.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-22T16:20:56.007Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-11-22T16:20:56.007Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Wassim Saeed
Answers.Body: <p>The best place to start is by joining a local chess club. There you will find other chess players who will be very happy to help you to learn and improve your chess. Just by going along to the chess club you will receive continuous support for what you are doing from other like-minded people.</p>
  <p>Probably the best single thing you can do is to play over-the-board chess with other human beings. This provides far more feedback and help than playing online.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2024-01-08T20:38:40.603Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2024-01-08T20:38:40.603Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Answers.Body: <p>First of all, congratulations for taking up this great hobby.</p>
  <p>I think, it will be very helpful to have a <em>structured</em> introduction to chess, rather than collecting different materials from many different sources.</p>
  <p>If you choose chess.com as a one stop shop, I can recommend the short <a href="https://www.chess.com/article/view/everything-you-need-to-know" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;Everything you need to know&quot;</a> series by IM Daniel Rensch.
  It is also very important that you understand the <a href="https://www.chess.com/lessons/opening-principles" rel="nofollow noreferrer">opening principles</a> and learn about chess tactics and checkmating patterns.
  Regarding endgames, the first thing you should learn is how to checkmate with a queen or a rook.</p>
  <p>You can start by only learning on chess.com, but you may find it very helpful to additionally buy a good book that gives you a structured introduction to chess.
  You can also consider <a href="https://www.chessfactor.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ChessFactor</a>, a site where you can learn a full chess course with exercises, choosing your own path depending on your level completely for free.</p>
  <h2>General</h2>
  <p>Make it a habit to check your opponent's options! Ask yourself, what your opponent's threat is, especially don't sacrifice/lose material without a good reason. A pawn is worth 1 point of material, a minor piece (bishop/knight) is worth approx. 3, a rook 5 and the queen 9 points of material. Make sure that you don't lose material when trading pieces.</p>
  <p>Before making a move, check that your opponent cannot react in a way that will hurt you (e.g. win material by taking a hanging piece).</p>
  <p>Don't play fast time controls (including Blitz). You'll pick up very bad habits (e.g. not checking your opponents options) that will prevent you from making progress. Start with long games (rapid) where you have enough time to think about your moves and only play Blitz when you've accumulated some experience.</p>
  <p>Analyze each game after you played it and try to figure out what your worst mistake was and how you can prevent it the next time.</p>
  <h2>Opening</h2>
  <p>Learn the opening principles! I can not overemphasize their importance. They allow you to find good moves easily. You can get to at least 1200 with these principles without studying any concrete opening lines.
  Always ask yourself &quot;what is my most efficient move&quot;, i.e. fulfilling most of the principles at the same time. For example, Nf3 is generally a better move than Nh3, even though both develop a piece, because the knight on f3 controls the center.</p>
  <p>Learn what chess players mean by space, time and material.</p>
  <p>You cannot go wrong by this very simple rule for your first opening move: Move your e (King's) pawn 2 squares forward at your first move. If you are Black and you cannot do that because the pawn could be taken, move the Queen's pawn two squares forward instead. This literally works against every first move that White can throw at you! You can learn a bit more opening theory, but total beginners typically invest their time more effectively by improving other parts of their game.</p>
  <h2>Middlegame</h2>
  <ul>
  <li>Learn about candidate moves (checks, captures, threats).</li>
  <li>learn the most important tactics (motifs, such as pin, double attack, skewer, etc.) and practise them by solving chess puzzles</li>
  <li>learn the most important checkmate patterns</li>
  </ul>
  <h2>Endgame</h2>
  <ul>
  <li>learn how to mate with a queen or a rook</li>
  <li>learn how to promote a pawn against a bare king</li>
  </ul>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-23T01:04:53.790Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-11-23T01:37:37.447Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2023-11-23T01:37:37.447Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Hauptideal
Answers.Body: <p>Try the free website <a href="https://korpalskichess.com/?page_id=61138" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://korpalskichess.com/?page_id=61138</a> which starts from the rules of the game and advances to quite complicated combinations.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-23T14:47:45.680Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-11-23T14:47:45.680Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: MichalRyszardWojcik
Answers.Body: <p>These are some resources I think anybody who wants to get into chess should use.</p>
  <p>Good &quot;beginner&quot; chess books to read:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Mammoth Book of Chess</li>
  <li>How to Win at Chess</li>
  <li>Chess for Zebras</li>
  </ul>
  <p>Online resources:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Chessable</li>
  <li>Chess.com lessons</li>
  <li>LearningChess.net</li>
  </ul>
  <p>Puzzles:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess</li>
  <li>Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games</li>
  <li>Chess.com puzzles (should probably get membership if you want to solve a lot)</li>
  <li>ChessPuzzle.net</li>
  </ul>
  <p>Videos:</p>
  <ul>
  <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUTYH3v3HiQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUTYH3v3HiQ</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCSbzArwB10" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCSbzArwB10</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IegDENuxU4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IegDENuxU4</a></li>
  </ul>
  <p>I hope these recommendations help you get better at chess and get more involved in the chess community.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-23T18:38:20.787Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-11-23T18:38:20.787Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: CadenCDC
Body: <p>I'm a complete beginner and would like to ask for advice in finding the best source of learning materials and path to follow. I heard about chess.com as a one stop shop in terms of lessons as well as an online playing platform etc. I'm not young, hence looking for best recommendations. I don't mind paying small monthly membership for convenience of having everything in one place as reference material. I'm starting completely from scratch.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-11-23T14:22:02.927Z
Comments.Text: Related (not duplicate): [Where can one find a complete chess curriculum?](https://chess.stackexchange.com/q/39875/26335)
Comments.UserDisplayName: SecretAgentMan
Tags: <learning><beginner>
Title: I'm Complete Beginner, where to start?
ThreadText: # I'm Complete Beginner, where to start?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-11-22)
  
  I'm a complete beginner and would like to ask for advice in finding the best source of learning materials and path to follow. I heard about chess.com as a one stop shop in terms of lessons as well as an online playing platform etc. I'm not young, hence looking for best recommendations. I don't mind paying small monthly membership for convenience of having everything in one place as reference material. I'm starting completely from scratch.
  
  **Tags:** learning, beginner
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Related (not duplicate): [Where can one find a complete chess curriculum?](https://chess.stackexchange.com/q/39875/26335)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 6 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2023-11-22. Score: 1
  
  Honestly, chess.com is great. There are free alternatives, though. Such as <https://lichess.org/learn#/>.
  
  There are also so many free instructional YouTube videos, from Grandmasters and IMs. You might start by searching "St. Louis Chess Club" on YouTube and browsing the videos there.
  
  Lastly, the website <https://chessable.com> is quite good, but courses can be quite expensive. It's still a really good resource to keep in mind, though.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: lichess is not a real alternative to a paying chess.com membership. Not only don't you have the lectures created by masters on lichess, you also don't have their video library, and many other features.   Furthermore, learning openings from Chessable before having learnt the opening principles etc doesn't make much sense.   The St Louis Chess Club lectures are more for intermediate and advanced players than total beginners that just learnt the game.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2023-11-22. Score: 1
  
  if want books you can get the step method <https://www.stappenmethode.nl/>
  6 levels great educational value.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2024-01-08. Score: 1
  
  The best place to start is by joining a local chess club. There you will find other chess players who will be very happy to help you to learn and improve your chess. Just by going along to the chess club you will receive continuous support for what you are doing from other like-minded people.
  
  Probably the best single thing you can do is to play over-the-board chess with other human beings. This provides far more feedback and help than playing online.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2023-11-23. Score: 1
  
  First of all, congratulations for taking up this great hobby.
  
  I think, it will be very helpful to have a *structured* introduction to chess, rather than collecting different materials from many different sources.
  
  If you choose chess.com as a one stop shop, I can recommend the short ["Everything you need to know"](https://www.chess.com/article/view/everything-you-need-to-know) series by IM Daniel Rensch.
  It is also very important that you understand the [opening principles](https://www.chess.com/lessons/opening-principles) and learn about chess tactics and checkmating patterns.
  Regarding endgames, the first thing you should learn is how to checkmate with a queen or a rook.
  
  You can start by only learning on chess.com, but you may find it very helpful to additionally buy a good book that gives you a structured introduction to chess.
  You can also consider [ChessFactor](https://www.chessfactor.com/), a site where you can learn a full chess course with exercises, choosing your own path depending on your level completely for free.
  
  ## General
  
  Make it a habit to check your opponent's options! Ask yourself, what your opponent's threat is, especially don't sacrifice/lose material without a good reason. A pawn is worth 1 point of material, a minor piece (bishop/knight) is worth approx. 3, a rook 5 and the queen 9 points of material. Make sure that you don't lose material when trading pieces.
  
  Before making a move, check that your opponent cannot react in a way that will hurt you (e.g. win material by taking a hanging piece).
  
  Don't play fast time controls (including Blitz). You'll pick up very bad habits (e.g. not checking your opponents options) that will prevent you from making progress. Start with long games (rapid) where you have enough time to think about your moves and only play Blitz when you've accumulated some experience.
  
  Analyze each game after you played it and try to figure out what your worst mistake was and how you can prevent it the next time.
  
  ## Opening
  
  Learn the opening principles! I can not overemphasize their importance. They allow you to find good moves easily. You can get to at least 1200 with these principles without studying any concrete opening lines.
  Always ask yourself "what is my most efficient move", i.e. fulfilling most of the principles at the same time. For example, Nf3 is generally a better move than Nh3, even though both develop a piece, because the knight on f3 controls the center.
  
  Learn what chess players mean by space, time and material.
  
  You cannot go wrong by this very simple rule for your first opening move: Move your e (King's) pawn 2 squares forward at your first move. If you are Black and you cannot do that because the pawn could be taken, move the Queen's pawn two squares forward instead. This literally works against every first move that White can throw at you! You can learn a bit more opening theory, but total beginners typically invest their time more effectively by improving other parts of their game.
  
  ## Middlegame
  
  * Learn about candidate moves (checks, captures, threats).
  * learn the most important tactics (motifs, such as pin, double attack, skewer, etc.) and practise them by solving chess puzzles
  * learn the most important checkmate patterns
  
  ## Endgame
  
  * learn how to mate with a queen or a rook
  * learn how to promote a pawn against a bare king
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2023-11-23. Score: 0
  
  Try the free website <https://korpalskichess.com/?page_id=61138> which starts from the rules of the game and advances to quite complicated combinations.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2023-11-23. Score: 0
  
  These are some resources I think anybody who wants to get into chess should use.
  
  Good "beginner" chess books to read:
  
  * Mammoth Book of Chess
  * How to Win at Chess
  * Chess for Zebras
  
  Online resources:
  
  * Chessable
  * Chess.com lessons
  * LearningChess.net
  
  Puzzles:
  
  * Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
  * Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games
  * Chess.com puzzles (should probably get membership if you want to solve a lot)
  * ChessPuzzle.net
  
  Videos:
  
  * <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUTYH3v3HiQ>
  * <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCSbzArwB10>
  * <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IegDENuxU4>
  
  I hope these recommendations help you get better at chess and get more involved in the chess community.
  
  
  ---
  
  