So, if you’ve wanted to teach yourself to play chess and if you have been searching for chess books that you can read to learn chess – then you are in the right place.
To give you the basic ideas when teaching yourself to play chess, first, you need to learn who makes the first move, second is how to set up a chessboard, and third is learn about chess strategies.
You can start with that to teach yourself how to play chess, and if you want to learn more, then continue reading.
How can I learn faster and teach myself to play chess?
If you want to learn how to play the masterful, tactical game of chess, you have a lot of options. Your first option is a book that offers the essential insights into playing the game, like your usual Beginner's guide or Chess for Dummy's types of books.
There is a lot of material online as well. You can use numerous websites, blogs, and youtube channels that are full of material on chess.
In addition to that, there are also a lot of online courses, and some are free, some you have to pay. Those courses can give you a great headstart when it comes to learning chess.
Finally, once you have mastered the rules, the pieces, and some basic strategy, you need to start analyzing your games, every single game, win or loss.
Best Books For Chess Beginners
Let's Play Chess by Bruce Pandolfini – Simply a classic. There have been numerous chess generations and great chess players who have started learning chess with this guide.
This is your best bet to understand the fundamental principles of chess, as well as all the rules. It also has some of the best advice a beginner can get, which will help you greatly to expand your game.
Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer – The late great Bobby Fischer, one of the best chess players ever, as well as one of the most extravagant personalities, was also a great thinker of chess. His book is a great choice to improve and work on the most important aspect of chess, tactics.
This is by far the best introduction a beginner can have to the world of chess tactics.
Best Online Chess Courses
Masterclass with Garry Kasparov – To be great at something, you have to learn from the greatest. Masterclass knows that, and that is precisely the reason why they picked Garry Kasparov.
For those unfamiliar, Kasparov is one of the best, if not the best chess player that has ever lived. He held the title of world champion for over 20 years. In this course, you will learn everything you need to know to be fully immersed in the world of chess.
He has distilled all of his knowledge into 29 lessons. Each lesson is, on average, 12 minutes long. The lesson's cost on masterclass.com is 100 dollars, but if you subscribe to the masterclass, you can enjoy this chess course for just 17 dollars a month.
The Chess Class on Udemy.com – Udemy is one of the best and most famous platforms for learning everything. They claim to have more than 30 million students.
If chess is not the only thing that interested you, and you want to expand your knowledge in many more areas and not just chess, this could be the option for you. Most courses cost 20 dollars.
How Can I Teach Myself to Play Chess Well?
To make the jump from an average chess player, or beginner, to a more advanced player, you need to learn a couple of things. It would help if you started thinking analytically about the game and every match.
What does that mean? You need to be able to predict how and what your opponent will do. Once you become able to do that, you need to calculate as many moves ahead as you can.
If you play chess online, on one of the many excellent chess sites, be sure to analyze your matches. You can learn equally from a win and a loss.
But the most significant jump you can make is by teaching yourself a few standard chess openings, for both white and black.
This will enable you to play much better and win a lot more matches.
Chess Openings with White for Beginners
The Italian Game – This chess opening begins with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4. The idea behind this opening is to control the center of the board right away. It also positions your bishop on a very dangerous, if not the most dangerous square.
And, if your opponent doesn't do anything weird, you can castle and bring your king to safety after just a few moves.
The Ruy-Lopez – Named after a Spanish bishop he invented many years ago, the Ruy Lopez, also known as the Spanish opening, is one of the oldest chess openings that we have. The mainline of this chess opening is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4.
The idea behind this opening is to attack the pawn on e5 right away. By doing this, you can put a lot of pressure on the black army center right away.
Chess Openings with Black for Beginners
The Sicilian Defense – Being black does not automatically mean that you have to be on the back foot and defend, defend, defend. The Sicilian defense, also one of the older chess openings, is an aggressive opening with black. The mainline is 1.e4 c5, out of which many variations spring.
The French Defense – This chess opening is one of the first the vast majority of chess players learn. But it is not without its problems. If you play this opening, you will notice that black's white bishop is hard to develop, especially if you are up against an impatient attacker. But, nonetheless, it is a great opening if you like having a stable, fortified pawn structure.
How Can I Teach Myself to Play Chess Like a Grandmaster?
To reach such a high level, you need to study a lot and play a lot of chess. The best players know all the chess theory that is out there.
They spend all their time or as much of their time playing, analyzing, and thinking about chess.
It takes years of studying and practice to be great at chess. In addition to that, you need to have an excellent memory to remember specific matches, openings, and end games.
The majority of the best chess players on the planet can easily riff off a particular game they played, from beginning to end, no matter how many years ago they played it.
Of course, hard work can defeat talent, with enough time, but it is hard to play like a grandmaster when your memory isn't great.
Wrapping Up
Books and courses help teach yourself to play chess – you can follow the recommendations above and learn at your own pace.
I like to watch online chess courses and practice what they teach; having a membership account with chess.com is what I find the easiest way to learn and play simultaneously.
I can study chess openings from different Grandmasters online; it’s true that we can watch chess lessons on Youtube as well, but premium lessons can only be accessed by members of chess.com!
You can choose different membership plans here. Have fun, and enjoy learning chess!
