Very common beginners mistake

The biggest mistake I noticed when I was first learning chess, was I kept moving my queen out really early in the game.

I though it being the most powerful piece, it would be wise to bring her into play as quickly as possible.

What really happens is she gets chased about the board. And you waste time keeping her safe instead of developing your pieces.

So my advice to beginners is to keep that queen tucked away until the middle game.

That's good advice. One bit of advice I heard in High School is don't help your opponent improve their position.

I agree in general with what cheesy_girl is saying, but what about the Scandinavian Opening which starts with the moves 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 this is an opening that has been played for many years and even by some of the top Grandmasters, therefore the Scandinavian opening is the exception to the rule of moving your Queen out early in the game.

That is not very smart to have the Queen in the center. The scandinavian opening is a good opening but don´t have you´re queen in the center too long time only if you can take a piece or some and the other one can´t take back. In the scandinavian the top players play. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 (Nf6) 3.Nc3 Qa5 and move away the queen from the center. i will also show you some situation to rember how dangerous it is to have the queen in the center. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qf6 3.Bc4 (maybe Nc3 is better) Qg6 (now black can take e4 or g2. 4.0-0 Qxe4 6.Bxf7 Kxf7 8.Ng5+ and white can´t save the queen. white can also move 4.d3 Qxg2 5.Rg1 Qh3 (only move) 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Ng5+ and white can´t save the queen again. I know more example but i don´t have more time to show it now.

Greetings!

"The ideas behind the openings" by Reuben Fine has several good general rules in it.

Another beginner mistake often seen here is too much moves with pawns at the opening and not developing the real pieces.

One piece of advice to newcomers to the game would be "When you see a good move,look for a better one". If l took this advice I wouldn't loose so many games.
Most important, DO NOT TAKE MOVES FOR GRANTED.

I was a terrible player for many years when I started. I'm still not a great player, but there on book by Bobby Fisher which I found to be very helpful. I forget the name, but in essence it presented positions and asked you to flip to different pages depending on what you thought the best move was. There you would find explanations of why that was or was not a good move.

Whether or not I got this from the book, I noted that afterwards I found myself to be less timid on the board. You shouldn't be over-afraid of losing pieces. It's part of the game. An early sacrifice of a knight can, in some cases, irretrievably weaken the opponent's possition, and by remaining on the offensive you may be able to win.

The book is titled Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

I think actually what most beginners need (including myself) is a better tactical vision. You can't try to solve too many exercices for that purpose It's just a matter of time and work. Then you start getting patterns, and you can learn with a few good books. Rowson's are quite good, if usually a bit advanced. Zurich '53 by Bronstein is a great one to get love for the game and learn a lot by the way. I also learnt a lot in some kind of positional games with Botvinnink's best games and also with Fischer's 60 games book.
Hope this helps

alezflute

Similar book to the Fischer one is called 'Chess' by Edward Lasker - i found this very good and it goes to a good level of analysis

Hey guy's and gal's (sorry, a very popular band in the 1970's)
This is a beginners question site, is it not ?
Referring to stategic play by previous GM's written into books will not help the new starter !

For those who want to improve (their position on this Chess Site) here's my advice ....,,

Always play as White if you can, it gives you the initiative from the very first move

Block any advance by an opening 2 square pawn regardless of any other plan, a pawn advanced on the 5th Rank (on the second move) becomes an immediate problem

Play to Castle before the 9th move, after this it is often too late !

If you do not know how to STOP either Fool's or Scholars mate, then write to me.

Understand that Black can Check Mate in two moves, if White opens poorly

The opening 5 moves can be found in a book, as can the counter moves

Don't throw your pawn's away (yes you have 8) but 1 can make a big difference, defend them.

Look for FORKS and PINS, if you don't know what i am talking about, please contact me

A Bishop in the end game s worth 3.5 pointsand not 3 that everyone else will tell you

You can not Check Mate with just a minor piece and a king, a pawn is NOT a piece

Play aggressively from the start, this game was designed to anticipate the outcome of WARS !

Be prepared to lose, you won't get stronger by ony playing those you can already beat

Never block a check with your Queen, you will lose your Queen !!!!!!!!

Keep an eye on the points differential (once you have 20 points) you should win, 25 points and you are a MUG if you then lose !

Willing to help anyone starting up, but there are stronger players than me in this league, the difference is I will help you if you ask (but don't ever cheat on me)

Might do another - help the begginers article) if this draws any responses

white-pawn

Hey you TOP 10 players out there, got any TIPS for ME ?

My advice is not to play chess like draughts that is just considering one move at a time. Instead try to work out 2,3,4 or more moves ahead and this will help you to plan ahead.
At the sametime you need to consider what move your opponent might make and a good tip is to reverse the board so you play as your opponent. You will need to "study board" to do this. Good luck!

When Fischer was asked he said: "Study Modern Chess Openings including the footnotes, then, when you are finished, do it again". Finis