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A beginner in Chess

Hi everyone ,

I'm a beginner in chess ( or close to that I learned how to play chess when i was a child, maybe 10 years ago).

I (re)discovered chess for 2 weeks, and I would like to know what is, in you own opinion, the best way to enhance in chess for a beginner, the goal to focus on.

Should I play a lot of games ?
or should I Watch many pro games or tutorials before playing more games ?
or should I do both of them ( maybe learn a new opening and then practice it up to I mastered it) ?
Do both! Learn basic opening principles: develop pieces to control the center, don't move pieces twice in the opening, don't bring queen out too early, etc. As for your middle game, practice your tactics. Many beginner games are decided by missing a simple tactic or dropping a piece, which can be avoided with practice and tactical knowledge. Like any other game, simply playing it will help you improve immensely (especially longer time controls). Analyze your games alone and with the computer analysis, and learn from your mistakes! There are plenty of strong players you can watch and learn from, like on chessgames.com or a livestream on twitch.tv. And of course there are books you can read if you are dedicated to improving, but it's better to get a solid foundation of the basics first.

Good luck!
Tal, go home, you're drunk! j/k

Tal has given you some great advice here, but I worry that it might be a little obtuse for an absolute beginner, so I'll break it down for you a bit into something simpler.

Basically, playing a lot of games is the best way to learn, provided you go back and look at them and learn from your mistakes. (But don't rely on the engine to help you, even players at intermediate-to-advanced levels often find the engine to be confusing half the time) - it's best to go back on your own and try to identify the BIG mistakes you made, like losing a piece.

Go backward from there and say "WHY did I lose this piece?" The answer will often be "oh, because nothing was protecting it!" and so you should focus on making moves that support your pieces. For example, if a bishop is out in the center of the board, it should be protected by a pawn, or by another piece. This is where 90% of your losses will come in the beginning stages of learning chess. I still fumble a piece now and again, but I went from 1200 rating to 1400 just from spending a few extra seconds each game checking that my pieces were all protected before I made a move.

And finally, while you are playing these games, learn the principles that guide good chess. Basic opening theory boiled down into a handful of principles that are easy to learn:

1 - control the center by getting pieces there or counterattack it from the flanks
2 - develop a knight before you develop a bishop if possible
3 - develop all your pieces by moving them once before you improve them with a second move, unless you are forced or you can win material by moving the piece twice in the opening
4 - don't develop the queen until there are pieces ready to support her attack
5 - knights on the rim are dim
6 - castle to protect your king
7 - don't move pawns in front of your castled king until you are ready to attack with them, except to give your king an escape square
8 - in fact, don't move too many pawns in the opening at all. One or two in order to get your minor pieces out and guard the center is enough, and from there you should focus on piece development until it's time for the attack.

There are a handful more, maybe. But these 8 principles are probably the most agreed upon. They might be a little over your head, but there are hundreds of videos and books that cover them. I highly recommend looking into Aron Nimzovich's book called "My System" or watching a video series for it on youtube. It's the absolute backbone of all 20th century chess theory, and it begins at the absolute beginning, so even a beginner can value from it.

Cheers!
Thanks for all the tips you gave me ! that's much more clear in my mind for me now ;) .
Hope it will also help others beginners !

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