07-27-2006
Chess - Advice for the beginner player
In Chess as in many other games there is nothing that will improve you so much as playing with good players. Never refuse an offer of a game with a more proficient chess player, the benefit gained from losing to a good player is the best that can be gained.
Never allow your hand to hover over the board, or indeed to come near to it, until you have completely made up your mind what piece to move. Allowing yourslef to move to the board leads to a feeling of indecision that is fatal to success.
Always play according to the rules of chess, never take back a move yourself, nor allow your opponent to recall one. Do not show impatience when your opoonent takes a long time to make his move. His slowness is a tacit compliment to your skill, and enables you to play with proportionate quickness, because while he is thinking about his next step you can take advantage of the time to consider what shall be your reply, besides, it is absolutely necessary for every one wishing to play well at chess to play slowly. A fine player examines occasionally from five to twenty or more moves on each side; this can not be done in a few seconds. It is easy enough to play fast against inferior play; but against equal and better play one cannot play quickly without losing.
Learn to play with either with the white or black men. Do not play too many games at one time—and never allow the loss of a game to upset you. Think of how many thousands of games a Kasparov must have lost before he reached his peak; besides, the loss of one well-fought game with a good player will do more towards your improvement than the gain of ten easy matches with chess players weaker than yourself. Try to play all your pieces equally well. Many beginng players have a preference for a particular piece, such as the Knight or the Queen, and lose both time and position in trying to prevent exchanges of their favorites. In opening your game, endeavor to bring your superior officers into action rapidly but avoid all premature attacks. Take care not to play a piece to a square where it gets in the way of another, and beware of venturing an unsupported Piece in the adversary’s game.
If subjected to a violent attack, you may often put off your opponent by forcing the exchange of two or three pieces. When, however, you are about to exchange officers, you must calculate not only their ordinary value, but their worth in the situation in question; for example, a Rook is generally more valuable than a Knight or a Bishop; but it will happen, that by exchanging a Rook for one of the latter you may greatly improve your position.
It is mostly good play to exchange the pieces off when you are superior in power, so that when you have the odds of a piece given to you by a finished player, you should endeavor to exchange as often as you can consistently with safety.
When an exchange of two or more Pieces appears unavoidable, look closely to see whether it is better for you to take first or to force your opponent to do so. When one of the enemy is completely in your power, do not be too eager to make the capture—there may perhaps be a move of importance which you can make before you take him. Be careful of snatching hastily a proffered man, it may be only given as a bait to catch a more important advantage from you later in the game.
If at the end of a chess game you remain with Pawns against a Knight and find it difficult to evade his repeated checks, remember that by placing your King on the same diagonal as the Knight, with but one intervening square between them, you cannot again be checked under three moves.
When you have lost a game which has cost you great effort, it is a good practice to play it over afterwards in private, and try to discover where the error occurred through which your opponent gained his first advantage. This custom will improve both your memory and your play.
Tags: General Articles, Fun Stuff, Hobbies