I thought I was pretty good at chess. Now, picking it up again, it turns out I suck terribly. I mean I play like I just learned how to move the pieces. I’m unable to think ahead, as it turns out, and get fooled by the most simple tricks.
Please recommend me a free (or real cheap) chess game, to download and practice by myself, just to get into my old amateurish shape.
Note that it obviously doesn’t have to be very challenging, it’s more important that i looks nice and has a pleasant pace.
I’ve googled around myself, but can’t find any I really like.
Here are two free games.
The first is pretty to look at and the other will give you more of a challenge (you can tell it to ‘move instantly’ if you want to weaken it).
I also play chess to a reasonable standard and find the best site online is www.internetchessclub.com
M/ship is fairly cheap and you can also get some of the higher graded players to give you hints
What should I do if I am white and the opening moves go:
White: Pawn E2-E4
Black: Pawn C7-C5
Every time this happens to me I sit there and say “Derr, what now?”. I know that I don’t really want to trade my “D” pawn for his “C” pawn. What I usually end up doing is bringing out my Knights and eventually move D2-D3. The problem with that is that it kills my freedom of movement. My white Bishop gets stuck, and often my Queen does too.
There’s nothing inherently “wrong” with fitting d2-d3 into this plan, if it comes to that. Mostly you will try to fit this into a “King’s Indian Attack” kind of formation (where you’ll also play g2-g3 and Bg2 fairly soon). If it was good enough for Fischer, it shouldn’t let you down.
I’m not in glee’s league - it’s about 13 years since I last played regularly and I was about ~125 - good enough once to pinch a game off a county player but not really up to that standard generally.
From your description, you’re a beginner.
Although what Trunk and Malacandra said is fine for experienced players, it’s better if you just use basic principles for now:
check each move isn’t a simple blunder (not by keeping hold of the piece, but by thinking about the position)
try to work out if your opponent’s last move threatens anything
in the opening, develop your pieces, control the centre and castle early
don’t be afraid to exchange pieces or pawns
After 1. e2-e4 c7-c5, it is true as you say that Black is aiming to swap the c pawn for the d pawn. However practice shows that after 2, Ng1-f3 d7-d6 (or e7-e6 or Nb8-c6) White can continue 3. d2-d4 c7xc5 4. Nf3xd4, because White’s slight space advantage and lead in development more than compensate for Black’s extra pawn in the centre.
I am the reason Bobby Fisher lives in exile. Its a shame really because I can’t earn easy lunch money anymore since Kasparov blocked me from his IM. Deep Blue wasn’t actually a real computer. It was me hiding in a box.
I play online at www.freechess.org, using the free Babaschess interface.
For chess against the computer, I recommend Chessmaster 9, which in my opinion has a more convenient interface than Chessmaster X, good learning tools and can be easily picked up for under $10.
