Just Google "Basic tactic concept chess". You must first learn the basic tactical concepts, of which there are many. This category should really be reserved for when one is already a better rounded player. I am not talking about "opening tactics" which belong to the "magic-bullet" theology of lesser chess players who are looking for quick ways to improve their ratings. This is probably the subject whose study will provide the greatest dividends for the time investment. Just stick to the simpler and more common endgames.Ĭ-Tactics.
Best chess tactics books free#
An excellent use of your time will be studying Theoryhack's magnificent free book "Basic Engames" on or any of the free "endgame booklets" available on that site. Though it is a classic, you aren't quite ready to summit Everest. Having said that, books like "Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual" are definitely to be avoided. Understanding what is a favourable endgame will allow you to work towards it in the middlegame. You will also understand how the King becomes an attacking piece and how vitally important it usually is to centralize it. It is much easier to understand the power of pawns and pieces when only a few of them are on the board rather than 32. An excellent use of your time will be studying SmithyQ's magnificent free book "Smithy's Opening Fundamentals" on ī- Endgame study. You are much better off getting a firm grasp of opening principles and fundamentals in general, as well as ideas behind openings in particular, than trying to learn "opening theory" related to specific openings.
Unless one is already a very good player, the return is not at all commensurate with the investment. Opening study is the biggest "resource-sink" (time, effort and money) on the vast majority of serious yet often misguided students of the game. Do not spend countless hours with specialized books trying to learn or memorize each in depth, in all their multitudinous variations. Find model annotated games and get the hang of the ideas and plans associated to these openings. Experiment with a few openings, both as White and Black, and choose one as White and a couple as Black that seem to suit your style. So, here are my suggestions:Ī- Opening study. The problem is, unless you are a prodigy or still young and living with your parents or independently wealthy and without work and family obligations, time is a very finite resource and you want to allocate it as optimally as possible. Just as importantly, this knowledge must translate into real-world skill.
Identifying these behavioural components and adressing these issues will go a long way towards improving your game.Ģ- Knowledge: a well-rounded chess player must develop a good knowledge of all three (opening, middlegame and endgame) phases of the game as well as become tactically proficient and capable of evaluating positions to understand how he stands relative to his opponent, in all phases of the game. For example, you may realize that you very frequently hang a piece or a pawn in the opening, simply because you haven't developed the habit of guarding them.Or perhaps you are absent-minded, have difficulty sustaining focus throughout an entire game, only have partial board vision, lack impulse control, etc. You can then analyze each of your games with the sole and specific purpose of identifying occurences of these types of blunders and developing a methodology to reduce their occurences in your games. Now, there are all types of mistakes and blunders so you would do well to Google the subject to at least develop an awareness of simple and frequent types of blunders. And the main reason is because games at this level are replete with egregious mistakes and blunders. PixelatedParcel edited as an older guy who learned the rules as a kid, played off and on again as an adult though never studied the game prior to returning to it one year ago after a 20 year hiatus, I believe you can most usefully breakdown your "improvement" project into two broad and interrelated categories.ġ-Behaviour: at your level, games are generally "lost" rather than won.