How do you become a good chess player?

[Dis]

Or is it just one of those skills that is inherant and cannot be learned. I play strategy games, but I admit, I'm not the greatest strategist. Chess has never been my strong point. But I was thinking maybe I should improve my game. Any tips?

[Whoha]

maybe by playing the crap out of the game and learning from your mistakes, watching what other people do, thinking about moves,etc. I'm fairly crappy at chess as well so maybe it is just a chess gene that they missed..

[duke o' york]

Play games, and then once you have learned from your various opponents, read relevant books. If you're weak in opening play, then there's a book for it. If you're weak anywhere else, then there'll be a book for that too. If you're not planning several moves ahead with each move of your own, then you should think about giving up. If you are, then start planning even more moves ahead.
Are there chess threads at 'poly? Or were they deemed too spammy? Or is that Diss' intention?

[Urban Ranger]

Read chess books. Learn to think ahead.

[Grumbold]

Its been a long time since I had any interest in playing chess but I did find a couple of books very useful for improving my game. The same applies to Bridge. One book really clicked with me and significantly improved my gameplay in a very short time. A couple of hours browsing a bookshop for a text that speaks on your level is probably time well spent.

[Dis]

that's where I'm weak at. Planning moves in advance. I can do a couple turns in advance, but more than that just confuses me. I have a bad memory, and I cannot remember all the possible moves my opponent can make with every single one of his pieces for each individual turn.

[Dis]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Play games, and then once you have learned from your various opponents, read relevant books. If you're weak in opening play, then there's a book for it. If you're weak anywhere else, then there'll be a book for that too. If you're not planning several moves ahead with each move of your own, then you should think about giving up. If you are, then start planning even more moves ahead.
Are there chess threads at 'poly? Or were they deemed too spammy? Or is that Diss' intention?

feel free to turn this into a chess thread (that's what it is after all). I don't care.

[duke o' york]

Go and stay at DrSpike's house for a while. He claims to be quite good, and has a small pile of books to prove it.
He has got a very nice chess set though, so wash your hands before you go or he won't let you in. Who knows, maybe some of the other Other Games fools might turn up for a meet again.

* duke laughs as he invites everyone to Spike's house without informing him first.

[Theben]

I had no idea you were so cruel, duke.

I approve.

[DrSpike]

Nah, after last time I wont be so stupid as to invite dodgy 'Polytoners to my house.

As for chess I can recommend a few good books to start with. For instance any of the Jeremy Silman books are excellent. Also, join ICC (Internet chess club - you can get a 1 week free trial) and play lots of 30 12 games or something close.

[LDiCesare]

Here's what works for me:
1) Don't play chess when you're tired.
2) Look for stupid moves. You must not let your opponent have a mate in one move that you can easily counter, or give a piece to your opponent in one move. This means always look at each of your pieces every turn to see if they are protected, how many times and by what, and if they are threatened.
3) If you're bad at planning in advance, use some strategic thinking: Don't plan 10 moves in the opening/mid game, just try to get your pieces out, and to get your knights in a strong position. If you don't klnow what that means, read a book or find a teacher that'll explain it (roughly a position which the opponent will never be able to threaten with a pawn).

Of course, I play when I'm tired, thus I don't see that my pieces are going to be taken by silly pawns on the next move, and end up having no knight to put in a strong position.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Dissident
that's where I'm weak at. Planning moves in advance. I can do a couple turns in advance, but more than that just confuses me. I have a bad memory, and I cannot remember all the possible moves my opponent can make with every single one of his pieces for each individual turn.

You don't need to. There should be a reason for every one of your moves, and the same thing applies to your opponent. This is what you need to look at. Suppose your opponent moves a knight up. You need to figure out why.

[BustaMike]

Originally posted by Dissident
that's where I'm weak at. Planning moves in advance. I can do a couple turns in advance, but more than that just confuses me. I have a bad memory, and I cannot remember all the possible moves my opponent can make with every single one of his pieces for each individual turn.

Building on what UR said...

Planning moves many turns ahead is ok, but more likely than not, trying to think that way will probably hurt your game because you simply can't see all the possibilities 10 turns down the road.

You need to learn why placing pieces in certain positions relative to the board and other pieces is advantageous, compared to other positions. This way, you don't have to think tons of turns ahead, but you can understand that this piece will control this portion of the board until x happens.

Try to control the center of the board and try and think about how to best position your pieces to do this, based on how they interact with each other. If you can do this, you'll be successful.

Personally, I haven't played chess in a couple years, but when I did play I managed to beat my Grandpa (ex state chess champion of New Jersey), so I have a feeling that I'm at least pretty decent.

[Flip McWho]

What UR said is true, you don't necessarily need to plan far ahead, just be able to read thy enemy. Don't be afraid to sacrifice pieces (even important pieces) for large gains. It's amazing how people can get suckered into a juicy piece apparently just sitting there, of course the reverse works too, if its a juicy take its probably boobie trapped.

[Kuciwalker]

Play like the AI on my dad's chess game - when a piece puts your king in check, knock it off the board, and when you get into checkmate randomly move your king to a different square.