Learning Chess: Avoid These Beginner Mistakes

Learning chess can seem like a daunting task. It’s like learning a new language and sport all at once. If you are like me when I first started learning as an adult, you might be diving in headfirst and immersing yourself in as much chess as you can. This is a great way to learn quickly, but you have to watch out for some common mistakes and blunders along the way, not just on the chessboard, but in your learning process as well.

Where to Start Learning Chess

Learning chess can feel overwhelming, and figuring out where to start can be difficult. I will provide you with three tips and starting points for learning chess.

Tip #1

First, you have to learn how the pieces move. Learning how the pieces move is like learning how to dribble a basketball, swing a tennis racquet, or kick a soccer ball, it is the very beginning of learning the game. There are many excellent resources available, including books, that can teach you how the pieces move, but they will all cover the same fundamental concepts.

• Mistake to avoid: Don’t move on until you have mastered all the pieces! Just learning two or three of the pieces is not enough in chess. You must build a solid foundation to play the game.

Tip #2

Once you understand how the pieces move, you need to grasp the concepts of check and checkmate. The king is the essence of the game, and understanding what it means when your king is in danger and how the game ends is vital to playing any full game of chess. Not only that, but most advanced tactics and strategies revolve around check and king safety.

• Mistake to avoid: Don’t forget that the king never gets captured! Often, when teaching new players, especially when they are playing against each other, beginners will try to capture the king. If this happens, it means an illegal move has been played, and you should return to the point where that move was made.

Tip #3

After learning how the pieces move, and about check and checkmate, you should start playing games. There are other rules that you should learn, like castling, stalemate, and others, but at this point, you are ready to get the experience of what an actual game of chess feels like to play.

• Mistake to avoid: Don’t play only against computers! Bots can be a helpful way to get some low-stress practice, but train yourself against other people whenever possible.

How and Where to Play Chess

If you are new to chess, you may not know where is best to play. There are two ways to play chess: in person, also called Over The Board (OTB), and online. Even in those two categories, there are different ways to play. Let's talk about how to play OTB chess.

Finding Other Chess Players

Playing OTB chess is all about finding other chess players in real life. In all likelihood, your city has groups of chess players who meet up and play casually or in official tournaments. Look online for Facebook groups, MeetUp groups, or check with other local groups to see if there are any established chess clubs or groups that play. Many of these groups will meet at local coffee shops, colleges, or even bars for fun chess hangouts. Some of these groups may even offer official chess tournaments, but most of the groups will have mostly casual play events. Making friends who play chess and playing regularly will help you improve.

Playing Chess Online For Chess Beginners

Luckily for us, meeting up in person is not the only way to play chess. You can play a game of chess at any hour of the day against another real person by playing online. Using websites like Lichess.org or chess.com, you can seek a game and find one almost instantly. Lichess offers free options not only for playing games, but also for solving endless puzzles, as well as other useful study and learning features. If you really are brand new to the game, their learn page is one of the best ways to learn the game from the ground up.

Beginner Mistakes in Online Chess

I have compiled five of the most common mistakes I see students make when playing online chess. Playing games is vital to your improvement, but as my dad always says, practice doesn’t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect. Therefore, be sure to avoid these mistakes as you begin playing online chess.

Playing too Fast!

1. This is a mistake I also see in OTB tournament play from beginners. I recently had a student who lost all four games, simply because he played too fast and made early mistakes. It is stressful, suddenly playing in games with a clock and an opponent, but you have to take your time and ask yourself two questions: Did my opponent move to a safe square, and am I moving to a safe square?

Giving Away Material!

2. The second biggest mistake I see comes from not asking that question. Giving away material! Material in chess means your pieces, and if you give your pieces away to your opponent for free, it becomes tough to win games of chess. Instead, look at your move and ask yourself what your opponent is going to play.

Tunnel Vision

3. Not capitalizing on your opponent’s mistakes because of tunnel vision! Tunnel vision means you are so focused on the move or moves that you wanted to play that you aren’t even thinking about what your opponent is doing. That means they might have made an enormous blunder that you missed, or they may be threatening checkmate, and you completely missed it. Board vision is vital for good play. 

Distractions

4. Getting distracted! One of the most significant problems with playing online versus playing OTB is how difficult it is to stay focused. Anyone playing chess online today is just one click or phone buzz away from being distracted by social media or something else. If you are playing a game of chess, try to spend your time calculating, not looking at whatever else might be on your phone.

Wrong Time Controls

5. Playing the wrong time control. If you are new to chess, you may not even know what a time control is, but every time you play a game of chess, you are using one. A time control is the amount of time that you have to play the game. One problem that beginners often encounter is playing games with time controls that are too short. Instead of playing a one-minute or even three-minute match, I recommend playing much longer time controls so that you have time to think through your moves, ask yourself the questions that I mentioned, and really calculate without fear of running out of time too quickly.  

How to Train: Blunders in Training

Once you have learned how the pieces move and understand the rules, you should have started playing full games. Now the question is, how do you improve? Playing games is the number one way to improve at chess, but there are some common mistakes that new players make when trying to enhance their skills.

Focusing on Openings

One common mistake is that beginners tend to focus excessively on openings and opening theory. They may spend hours learning lines for an opening that they will rarely see. Some opening study is appropriate even for beginners, unlike some coaches. Losing out of the opening is one of the most discouraging things that can happen in a chess game, and being uncomfortable in the opening can be something that stops beginners from playing. I recommend learning sound opening principles, and whenever you lose a game out of the opening, examine that line and learn a response that you can use. What you don’t want to do is spend all kinds of money and time on opening books and courses when you still can’t find a fork.

Tactics for Chess Players

After learning the basics, you start to study tactics and practice using chess puzzles. Puzzles are a good way to understand the patterns of chess tactics. Just as you need to learn how the chess pieces move before playing, and before finding tactics, you also need to understand the different types of tactics. Many good beginner books can teach you basic tactical patterns like forks, pins, skewers, and more. The most common mistake when learning patterns is not repeating them enough! You won’t reliably be able to find tactics unless you become familiar with the pattern. 

Endgames? Do You Need Them?

As a beginner, the main endgame principles and study that you need to do is learning your basic checkmate techniques and patterns. The biggest mistake a beginner can make is not learning how to get a checkmate with just a queen and king, or just two rooks. These basic endgame patterns and checkmates are essential for a chess player to learn. I have seen many beginner games end in a draw just because one player, who is clearly winning, does not know how to complete the game with a basic checkmate. Drill these endgames online or with a friend until you are comfortable in winning with those pieces. 

The Biggest Mistake a Beginner Chess Player Can Make

If you are not having fun with chess, then you need to figure out why. When I first started playing, I hated losing to some opening trap, so I spent more time than others might recommend studying basic openings. That’s what made me more comfortable playing chess. Whatever makes you have fun with chess is the best way to play and improve.