Tips To Get Better At Chess

People played board games for thousands of years now. The history of an amazing game called chess can be traced back to ancient times. It originated in India around 600 A.D. and at the time was called “chaturanga”. Today, the game is being played all over the world and becoming extremely popular. One of the main reasons why chess gained such popularity is in its total mobility. You can just grab a chessboard and play chess anywhere, anytime, with anybody. Another reason it is a great tool to teach and master strategic thinking as well as tactics. 

According to recent statistics, more than 700 million people play chess tournaments regularly. Many of chess clubs were organized all around the globe. People enjoy watching international chess competitions, which are just as popular as other sports. This article can be useful for both beginners and those who have been playing chess for a while now. If you’re looking for more hints on improving skills to become better at chess, read through the tips we found and put them into practice.

How to boost chess skills

Chess skills just like any other need lots of practice and repetitive work. Luckily, with new technologies on hand, you can play chess by simply downloading an app. Before starting, don’t just jump into it and try to do some homework first. Learn some basic chess moves and effective tactics. 

You watch videos or can take online courses to get more information on playing chess. Look for any chance to practice. You’ll see that after awhile your skill will advance.

Here are some basic tips on how to develop chess skills:

• Play and practice by yourself (download apps like DecodeChess, Arena, Fritz, or Stockfish and learn by practicing);
• Try chess puzzles (find them online and go through real-life situations);
• Use basic endgames drills (play after having left with just a few pawns because the goal here is in promotion of the queen);
• Learn good opening principles. No need in wasting much time on it, just spend more time trying to master basic principles first;
• Always check twice (just to be safe) before moving forward.

How to progress in your chess strategies 

An actual strategic concept is in the smart arranging of figures. It is important to take control over the entire game. In other words, you must control the entire chessboard after the first move you make. When you get better at playing chess, you’ll see that there is no such thing as granite rules or solid principles in strategies in chess openings. The good move would be to collect a set of nice tips that work for you.

Here is an outline of some strategies used by chess players: 

• Keep open pathways for chess pieces. Do it by getting them off the back rank for the fight for the central squares. Move the e-pawn or d-pawn first, then advance two squares.
• By moving pawns too much, you can lose strength in defense. When proceeding in the opening, don’t move many of your pawns around like crazy (once the pawn was moved, this action can not be undone). You’ll have the advantage of developing your pieces faster and obtaining just enough strategic maneuvering.
• Once it was decided to proceed quickly by striving for an attack or defense of the center, start with each piece one time to proceed to the best square. Develop all of them step by step. Then get them off the starting squares.
• Always put lots of effort into keeping your King in the most advantageous and safe position. Do it with early castling and keep him behind the wing pawns. It will develop one of your Rooks during the game and will protect your King from unexpected tactics. Your King should also be moved away from the center.
• Acquire one of the most popular chess strategies called “initiative”. This takes control dictating the course of the game. Achieve it by a threat while advancing the pieces, so that way freedom of choice in the maneuvering of your adversary will be much more limited.

How to learn chess tactics better

Learn different tactics with many websites available on the Internet. Lifestyle online courses also can help you with this. One of such helpful websites for beginners was created by Dan Heisman’s, a popular chess player. He emphasizes the tactics of piece’s safety and makes a point on proven approaches acquired from playing long games. 

There is also a chess tactics server at chess.emrald.net, so check it out. This resource has lots of puzzles for playing chess for daily practice. It keeps track of mistakes you made but don’t omit achievements. The system constantly evaluates the progression you made so far and then offers puzzles in accordance with your current level. Don’t be discouraged at the beginning because the first puzzles you’ll try to get through are usually more complicated. The registration is free. 

Go slowly and don’t be in a hurry. You need to get a clear picture of everything and go over mistakes before moving on. Don’t feel embarrassed in case you are having a hard time figuring out solutions. Go ahead and review it on the website instead of wasting time trying to figure it out by yourself. After a while patterns will get imprinted into the brain. You won’t have any problems with memorizing them later.

How to get experience from your chess games

Some basic tips on how you can learn from playing chess games:

• Go ahead and find a nice local chess club in your area. It’s a good idea because you will not only be playing but also having lots of fun socializing and meeting like-minded people (just make sure that you won’t get into a habit of competing against people with lesser experience);
• Pick the style which works the best (players use either aggressive style where players attack or do gambits or more quiet style taking time before they proceed with the next move);
• Don’t be afraid of tournament participation (participate without stressing out about scores or rates);
• Find a mentor for yourself (choose somebody knowledgeable to follow, so you will have a chance to learn all you can about their techniques and styles);
• Try blindfold chess games (this technique is great for memorizing patterns and if you practice enough, there is a chance that you’ll be better at recognizing complex patterns in future games);

Grinfer offers a hands-on online course “Learn to Play Chess Openings Like a Master” for less than $20. This course was created by Greg Vanderford, who is a chess teacher and business consultant. During this course, you’ll start building basic ideas moving up to more advanced levels of various chess strategies like Sicilian defense, Spanish game white, Spanish game black, Evans gambit, and much more. You will learn everything you need about traditional chess positions while using cutting-edge software.