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© A.J. Goldsby, 2015.
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to see my
Chess Items.
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(And help me out as well!)
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Click HERE
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to see a list of the businesses that help to sponsor all of
my chess efforts.
Click HERE to return to my Training Page.
Click HERE to return to my HOME Page.
(This course was first created by me - for the Internet - in 1999. But I did not begin posting it on my web-site until 2000.)
Read the very first UN-solicited e-mail ... that I felt was good enough to use as a testimonial!!
Instructions: These web pages are meant to be read by scrolling down the page. As soon as you open the page, grab the "slide bar" at the bottom of the page and slide it ALL THE WAY to the right. Then the page is most easily read by scrolling. {Down.} Place your mouse cursor over the black arrow at the bottom of the slide/scroll bar to the far right. Read. When you are ready to read some more text, simply click your mouse a few times.
---> I have deliberately kept the fonts a bit larger than normal for the elderly ... and the visually impaired.
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In
addition to this, I have attempted to gather together links to all the sites
that
have information that would be helpful for the average and beginning players.
(This was requested by many of the visitors to my chess pages.)
Other
sites with (great) help for the beginner.
(Plus lots of other goodies too!)
***
Click
HERE
to go to another site (Chess Lab);
where the basics are covered.
(It may help to read this web-site first,
then come back to any others. Almost none of the other web-sites I
have
found go into great detail or offer many diagrams and graphics to illustrate
their points. The above link will take you to Game Colony's website on chess,
and the rules for raw novices/beginners.)
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Click HERE to go to the World Chess Academy.
***
Click
HERE to go
to another site with some of the BEST overall coverage for beginners.
(From "The Home" network on "About-dot-com.")
Not as much detail maybe as I have, but still some of the best chess
coverage for beginners.
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Click HERE to go to the U.S. Chess Federation's [section of their] web site for Beginners! (Page / link revised: July, 2011.)
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Click HERE to go to the YAHOO web page for chess improvement [Beginner's Guides.] Here you will find links for coaching, chess rules, and many other categories aimed at the novice. Lots of good stuff here, and links to other sites.
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Click
HERE
to go to a web page on chess rules. This is a nice page by "The
Conservative Bookstore."
(Lots of information and nicely laid out.
Highly recommended.)
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Need an on-line Chess Coach?
Here I am going to
have a list of some of the better on-line chess coaches and their web-sites.
(Of course, I am available too! See my "Services I Offer" Page.)
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IM Igor Khmelnitsky's "I am Coach" website. A good site with plenty to see and do. (Pictures, news, chess activities, etc.) Plus you can download his FREE chess test. Recommended.
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Chess-dot-com has a nice website, HERE is their page on learning chess.
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Get the program, "Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess." This is the single best training tool I can recommend. Its inexpensive and VERY good. For information on how you can get some good software for you computer, (& lots of other good advice) please click HERE.
Welcome to my chess course for beginners'!!
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(In my life I have taught an untold number of people how to actually play the game.
Now thanks to the power of the Now thanks to the power of the Internet, ... I can teach many more!!!)
"Learning Chess"
Getting Acquainted
(The starting position.)
(March 04, 2001. - I just bought like 6 beginner books, and also reviewed several different computer programs that teach chess; just to make sure that I get several different viewpoints on teaching the game. I also have read literally DOZENS of beginners books in my life. I am currently 44, and have been playing chess since I was four. As a youngster, I taught my brother and sisters the game of chess. I taught all the kids in my neighborhood that wanted to learn. I have taught the game to HUNDREDS of people.
[During one local <"fun"> event, I taught dozens - if
not hundreds of people to play chess - in like 5 - 10 minutes. {I used
flashcards I made out of poster board.} Many have come up to me years later and
said that they learned chess ... and remembered it! ...
during one of
these events. ]
I think this gives me a very unique perspective on what should and should
not be taught in learning the game of chess.)
It has always been my thought that the first steps in chess - the actual learning of the game for the very first time - is much too painful. Most teachers and writers make it way too complicated.
(Usually
you are given TOO MUCH information, - or worse yet! -
not enough information to properly learn the game.)
I have always thought it was possible to teach the basics of chess in around five minutes. And I have done this many times! (A rather simplified version of what you will learn here.) When this is finished, I will take you through the game, step-by-step. You will learn chess the correct way, with emphasis on proven teaching techniques and the *** actual (only 3 to 5) ways that scientist's have proven how humans learn!! ***
Sit back, relax. This is simple, easy and totally painless.
Take your time.
You may go through this as slowly (Or Quickly!!) as you like.
If
I have done my job, you should learn the basic mechanics if the game of chess
fairly quickly. From experience, the average adult should be able to complete
all the pages and remember ALL of this material in approximately 30
minutes.
---> I also advise you to try this with a real chess set.
It will make things MUCH easier! (BUT ... Its NOT absolutely necessary.)
Chess is a very old game, thought to be at least 1,500 years old. The game probably originated in Persia, although no one knows for sure.
Chess is an extremely fun game - but also a very complex one. Mathematicians tell us there are more possible moves in one game of chess then there are stars, (Or even molecules!!); in the universe!!
Take a close look at the diagram above. This is a picture - nothing more than a representation - of a Staunton-style chess set.
The pieces are set up in the standard, starting position!
This is the beginning position of every
chess game!!
Try to remember it.
(Notice the squares on the chess board. The White King always sits on the e1-square at the start of the game. Find the a5-square before you move on. Is it a light-colored square or a dark-colored square?)
<< Notice there is a (very simple) grid system. The White King starts on e1 every game. If you push your pawn in front of your King two squares to start the game, this is recorded as e2 - e4, or simply 1. e4.
I have taught 3 and 4 year-old children to record a game of chess, so its not something I am going to spend a lot of time on.
(The
little picture below shows how each square
is nothing but a grid co-ordinate.)
[With
this grid system, its very easy to record a game of chess. Let's
say
you had a Bishop on the e1-square. If you moved it to the d2-square, that
would be recorded as: "B/e1-d2," {Long notation}; or simply
"Bd2."
If you CAPTURED another piece on the d2 square, this would be
recorded as: "Bxd2."
{The little "x"
means that a capture
was involved.} ]
***
(If you
would like more information on the subject
of chess notation,
I'd advise you to consult any beginners' chess
book.) >>
***
[See also some of the sites I have links to at the top of the page. I found one which has some very simple exercises for learning chess notation.]
***
You have two armies in chess. One is called White, one is called Black.
No racism is involved. Think of it as a struggle between Good and Evil, the forces of Lightness and Dark, two neighboring countries ... whatever. Chess IS a board game, and one that is a representation of classical warfare.
(You will hear me draw many analogies between chess and battle if you ever hear me teach in person.)
So many of the principles that apply to warfare, apply to chess!
The first thing to learn is how to set up the board and the pieces.
Two things to MEMORIZE first are:
***
# 1.) A LIGHT-colored square always goes on the right-hand corner. (Light and right, it rhymes and is easy to remember.)
# 2.) The Queen holds her own! (That is the Queen of the White pieces goes on a light-colored square, and the Queen of the Black pieces goes on a dark-colored square.)
***
The next thing to learn is that the King and Queen go in the center. Since the Queen, "Holds her own," there is only one square left for the King. The next thing you should notice is a King always faces a King, a Queen always faces a Queen, ... (On the other side of the chess-board.); a Bishop faces a Bishop, and so on.
Your
pieces always go on your first row.
The Pawns, (there are 8 of them); always go on your
second row.
These are your infantry, the foot-soldiers of chess.
There are sixteen total men for each side, a total of 32 men (or units), altogether. You have two of the Rooks, Bishops and Knights, One King, and one Queen. (To start off with.)
White ALWAYS moves first.
The basic idea of the game is to beat the other army into submission. You can capture a lot of your opponent's pieces, leading to an overwhelming material advantage. Or, the easiest way to do this is to checkmate the enemy King. [You can also quit, (OR "Resign."); at any time that you feel your position to be hopeless.] (More on this subject later.)
You
should also learn the basic 'lines'
of the chessboard!
(This will make the learning of the rest of the pieces MUCH easier!)
There
are a grand total of 64 squares. 32 light -colored squares,
and 32 dark-colored
squares. The straight rows of squares,
(connected by the sides); that
go "up - and - down,"
(From the top of the chess-board to the bottom
of the chessboard,
or vertically.); are called "files."
The
straight rows of squares, (connected by the sides); that go from
side-to-side or right to left; (Horizontally.) are called "ranks."
A
row
of squares, in a straight line, that are
connected ONLY by the corners;
are called "diagonals."
(An example of a diagonal
is the line of
squares
from the first rank to the sixth rank. [From the squares,
c1 to h6.]
Find this row of
squares before proceeding any further.)
***
During the game, you may move ANY piece to ANY empty square, as long as you move that piece in the correct manner, or the way you are taught here is the correct movement pattern for that piece. OR: You may CAPTURE any of your opponent's pieces by moving YOUR piece to the square occupied by an enemy piece, completely removing that piece from the board, and placing your piece on the square that was just occupied by your opponent's piece.
{Again, the piece moved must be moved in the correct movement pattern that you will learn here.}
***
That's it. This completes your introduction to chess. So now you know how to set up the position, the basics of the board, and a little history.
Pretty easy so far, huh?
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby I; © 1975-2014; © A.J. Goldsby, 2015.
(Page last updated: Monday; May 31st, 2004. Last edit or save on: 02/12/2015 13:19 .)
Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2015. All rights reserved.
DOWNLOAD this course ... courtesy of the "World Chess Academy." (Click here.)
Click HERE to go to the next page, on "The Pawns" in Chess.
