Rook's Recommendations - Chess Articles at Wikipedia.com

There is a great wealth of chess material at Wikipedia that is worth exploring. Thanks to the "categories" feature you can explore areas of interest. Here are some of the categories I think you'll find useful and interesting:

• Chess books A short list of the most famous books on chess.


• Chess checkmates Links to articles on checkmate patterns that are so common they have names.


• Chess games A short list of the most famous games of chess.


• Chess magazines A list of chess magazines.


• Chess openings A comprehensive listing of the articles pertaining to chess openings.


• Chess organizations A list of the major chess organizations.


• Chess players A list of well-known chess players.


• Chess tactics A good summary list common chess tactics.


• Chess traps A list of the most notorious chess traps.


• Chess terms Links to articles covering a large variety of chess terms.


• Timeline of chess A fascinating chronological list of chess history.


• World records in chess Another interesting short list of chess records.

If you need a master index look here:

• List of chess topics Something in this list from the incredible amount of chess material at Wikipedia will catch your eye.

Wikipedia is a great chess resource - use it to learn and improve.

Rook's Recommendations - Chess Tactics Server

No one will argue that a mastery of chess tactics is essential to improving your game. So one of my goals is to set aside time each day to practice tactics (see Chess Improvement Plan - Part One: Goals).

There are many chess puzzle books and chess tactic computer programs you can buy, but before spending too much money on those, Rook recommends (as always) looking for the most bang for your buck - and better yet - not parting with those bucks at all. Which brings us to today's recommendation: The fabulous (and free!) Chess Tactics Server website.

By working through the problems you establish a rating to track your progress and with 23,803 (!) tactical chess problems to solve ranging from novice to Master level you're not going to run out of challenges any time soon. The site registration is free so don't hesitate to try it out. With great Internet chess resources like this, improving your game has never been so easy - or so cheap ;-)

Rave - WorldChessLinks.net

I just came across a chess web site today and thought it was so good it required immediate mention:

WorldChessLinks.net - "Best collection of chess links and free chess online resources."

That tag line is no lie! This is a very clean and uncluttered site collecting together links to some of the best chess sites on the web. Links are superbly organized into the following categories:

• Online Chess Where playing online chess is possible and what are the best graphic interfaces to connect free of charge or to payment to the best worldwide chess servers.


• Chess Programs The best freeware programs and commercial ones to play chess, databases, graphic interfaces and chess engines, game viewers, utilities and much other.


• Theory Selection of the best traceable sites in net which propose free of charge changing analyses of the openings and the single ones, of the middle and endgame.


• Chess Games Database Our runable archive of matches drawn by the greater chess events worldwide, recent and past, consultable online or free of charge in pgn format.


• Online Databases Online chess databases, national databases, game collections of many of the best players and tournaments.


• Chess Archeology Historical analysis of the writers, players and chess schools of the last centuries.


• Chess Links Collection, regularly up-to-date, of the best links for connecting to the leading and the most interesting chess sites of the web.


• Chess Books A comprehensive review of chess books and magazines of the leading publishing houses that are specialized in this sector.

The Chess Books section is how I arrived at the site. It is incredible - it is organized by publisher, and then within each publisher books are listed according to subject matter and even by ECO opening classifications! If you are looking for a chess book on a particular topic I can think of no better place to begin.

And the chess goodness at this site doesn't end there - each section is meticulously organized by subject and thoroughly documented with summary comments. This site is SO GOOD I'd pay money for it! Wait - you can. Using PayPal you can make a contribution to the site (PayPal recipient: infotiscali@worldchesslinks.net). I think I'll do just that - you should too!

Rook gives this 5 out of 5 stars - you must check this site out! Why have I not heard about it before this?

Rook's Rudimentary Resources - Online Chess Databases

"Chess is an aesthetic experience – the more you understand, the more you enjoy the beauty of this game."

One of the best ways to appreciate the "aesthetic experience" AND improve at chess is by studying the games of great players. Here are several FREE Internet chess database collections which will give you a wealth of great chess games to explore:

• ChessGames.com. ChessGames.com is a web-based chess database and community. It contains over 400,000 searchable chess games and offers daily features, such as a "Game of the Day" and a "Puzzle of the Day", taken from games in the database. There is also a "Premium Membership" ($25 annually) which adds access to numerous features including a "Guess-the-Move" chess training tool and the Opening Explorer, Endgame Explorer, and Sacrifice Explorer.
• ChessLab.com. A collection of "two million interactive chess games online (1485 - 2006)" which you can search and analyze online. Also included is a puzzle section which includes things like "find mate in 2" and "find the best move."
• ChessBase Online. This is a high quality database of 2.4 million unannotated chess games that is kept updated with new and historic games on a weekly basis.
• NICBase Online. Sponsored by New in Chess, this online database features "over 1.25 million chess games." Online consists of 4 major functions: Searching for a game, Classifying a game, Browsing through NIC-Key Tree, and Viewing a game.
• MonRoi World Databank of Chess Free database of recent tournament games.

If you have a PGN file viewer or a chess database program for managing games (e.g. ChessBase or Chess Assitant) you can also download complete collections of chess games in a PGN file format to your PC. For more recent games, Convetka has a good collection here.

Advice for the Chess Novice - Improve Your Game for Free!

In today's Thursday series, Rook's Recommendations for Raising Ratings, I'm going to suggest you save some cash (at least for now) by taking some free advice rather than spending your money on all the enticing chess books, videos, software, and paid services (like hiring a chess coach or enrolling in an on-line tutorial subscription service) out there.

So here are three things you can do to improve your game that won't cost a penny:

1. Play Chess! My first recommendation is the most obvious -but surprisingly often overlooked. Play chess. Play more chess. Play everyday. Like a musician learning to play an instrument, without regular practice you are not going to be very good. Fortunately we live in the age of the Internet, so finding an opponent to play (for free) is a piece of cake. Read Starting out with Online Chess Play to get started. And don't forget the Internet is not the only place to play - there are other excellent options: Where to Play Chess : Introduction. And don't make excuses for not playing chess.

2. Record All Your Games Assuming you have learned chess notation, you should be recording all your games. It's important to learn from your mistakes - you need to be able analyze your games in order to determine what you did right or what you did wrong. The other great reason to record all your games is that you'll be able to revisit them years later so you can appreciate just how much you have improved or to wistfully reflect on that win over your opponent who was rated 300 points higher than you.

3. Use the free chess resources on the web. There is a mind-boggling amount of chess improvement stuff on the Internet, which you can easily find using a Google search. Finding chess resources is not the problem- picking a few select sites to begin with is (Rook Van Winkle's Chess Blog being a given, of course). Start with these three chess sites and explore them thoroughly before going further afield looking for all the other wonderful and useful chess improvement sites out there:

• Mark Week's About Chess. If you are totally new to chess begin with the "Essentials" section (top left) or better yet, click here to start directly at the beginner's page. Next step, proceed to the Improve Your Game Section.
• Novice Nook. After you have a little experience under your belt it's time to head off to Dan Heisman's "Novice Nook" site. Again, there is the ever present danger of being overwhelmed with too much of a good thing. Fortunately Dan addresses this problem with his First NNs to Read - a list, in chronological order, of the first 12 Novice Nook columns to read.
• ChessVideos.TV. Register at this site and get some free video training, starting with the Beginner's section. There's no easier way to learn than watching.

Rook's Rudimentary Resources - ChessVideos.tv

Josh Specht called my attention to his excellent ChessVideos.TV site back in February of this year (at that time it was called ChessVideos.com). What is ChessVideos.TV, you ask? Josh explains:

ChessVideos.TV is a community driven site where anybody can record and upload and videos of themselves playing chess or analyzing games. Of course, our resident chess expert, Josh Specht is always there to provide his expert analysis whether in the forum or through his videos.

Did I mention everything on the site is FREE! All you need to do is register for access to the discussion forums and from there you can view the entire collection of videos - which are organized into the following categories:

• Beginner's Videos


• Int/Advanced Videos


• Game Analysis Videos


• Endgame Lesson Videos


• Chess Puzzle Videos

In the realms of education (I'm a former teacher) we had the saying "Tell me I forget, show me I remember, involve me I understand." Well, the "show me" part is definitely here, but what's even better is the "involve me" part is also present thanks to this neat little twist:

Our secret is to embed the videos directly in the forum, so you can conveniently view and discuss the videos at the same time!

There is a lot of interesting stuff here. Of course, the quality of the material varies quite a bit (both the presentation and the information) but this is to be expected given the "community' nature of the site. Even so, you are bound to find some items that will not only entertain you, but educate you at the same time. With the recently added live "chat room" and the ability to search for a particular video the site keeps getting better.

In addition to the videos, you'll also find a "puzzle of the day" and a set of very useful chess blogging tools:

• Puzzle of the Day - An interactive chess puzzle (you can make the moves right on the board). Currently, there are over 100 "Past Puzzles of the Day" you can also try.


• Diagram Generator - Simply set up the pieces on the board (or generate them from FEN) to create a Chess Diagram which you can add to your blog (the resulting chess diagram is hosted on the ChessVideos.tv server and you then link to it).


• Game Replayer - Paste your PGN chess game into the text box and your are given a link to play back your game using their replayer, or you can post the game in their forums, or you can grab some code to display the game on your blog or website (Like the diagrams, the games are hosted on their servers permanently - the won't be deleted unless you ask.)


• Puzzle Creator - Uses a wizard to set up and generate a chess puzzle - complete with hints. You can replay the puzzle from their link or grab the code to use in your blog or website.


• Qoute of the Day - "Every day we will pick a new chess quote, which you can insert right into your web page or blog. Inserting it is simple and every day it will update automatically with a fresh quote!" Cool - I'm using it now - look in the upper left of this blog page.

Overall, because of the usefullness of this site and that fact that it is free, I would rate ChessVideos.TV a definite 4-out-of-4 stars!

Look for the next installment of the series Rook's Rudimentary Resources each Monday.

Chess Blogging in Search of Improvement

Today's entry in my weekly series, Rook's Recommendations for Raising Ratings, concerns using one of the best resources on the web for improving your game - personal chess improvement blogs.

When I decided to get back into chess last year, naturally I searched the Internet to find advice on how to improve my game. Lucky for me I came across this:

The Chess Of Edwin ‘dutchdefence’ Meyer
Checks, captures, threats, combinations… Weblog of an amateur chess player determined to improve.

Part of the appeal Edwin Meyer's website was that he, like me, was taking on the task of improving his game later in his life - having first learned to play chess between the age of 29 and 30.

I read several of his blog entries. They were really interesting and very helpful - so helpful in fact that I went back to his very first entry (and to his original blog And Then There Was Chess) and read everything from the beginning!

There was (and is) a tremendous amount of useful information at both his blogs. I can give it no higher recommendation than to say it served as an inspiration for my own.

Since then I have come across several other excellent personal improvement chess blogs. Here are some other great ones:

• Begin Chess - A beginner's journey into the complex world of chess... A superbly designed and organized web site - everything is categorized so it is easy to explore a topic of interest. Like Edwin Meyer's blog, this was one of the first to catch my eye - since the writer of it is on a journey very similar to that of yours truly, Rook Van Winkle. If you too have decided it's time to give chess a try I think you'll find a lot of interesting reading here and lots links to good information.


• Confessions of a Chess Novice - Chess is too serious to enjoy, and too frivolous to take seriously. Eric Thomson is a member of the Knights Errant, a group of chess enthusiasts blogging about their quest to improve at the game. He started playing chess in 2005 and says "After six weeks of playing chess, I entered a tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina and lost 3/4 games, ending up with a provisional rating of 900. That puts me in the F class, which is the bottom 10% of all rated chess players." Form there Eric chronicles his chess improvement with an astounding amount of thoughtful and very useful chess improvement material that could keep you occupied for weeks!


• Steve Learns Chess - Never enough time, but trying to improve my chess game anyway! Steve Eddins says "I’m a borderline class C / D player with a USCF rating fluctuating around 1400. I’m an adult player who’s trying to study and improve my game in between devoting time to my family and my job." That sounds familiar to must of us! This is a good blog to visit once your chess improvement plan is under way to see what life is like in the trenches.


• SquirrelChess.com - A journey into the world of chess. Squirrel says "This website is about learning to play chess, random things I discover on the long way to chess mastery, and the game of chess itself." Another must see site with all kinds of content: articles, reviews, annotated games, a chess glossary, and more.


• Chess Tales - Chess, chess players and tournaments worldwide, online and in the media. Roger, by his own admission is "probably quite a good player" and there is a lot of interesting material on his site. In particular, for advice on improving your chess, start with his Chess Improvement Tips
  
  Finally, although not a personal chess blog, I want to end this post with an absolutely essential resource for the chess novice:
  
  
• Dan Heisman's Chess Page. Dan is a National Master, full-time chess instructor, hosts a regular chess broadcast as "Phillytutor" on the Internet Chess Club and (best of all) is the award-winning Novice Nook columnist over at the Chess Cafe. Whew! I've mentioned Dan before in my blog (here and here) and I cannot recommend highly enough the fabulous advice he has for the chess beginner and novice.

I'll end with this bit of advice: "When in the same boat we should all pull together." :-) Thanks to the great chess improvement blogs out there, we are "pulling together"!

Learn to Play Chess (and Practice Basic Checkmates!) for Free on the Internet

Here is a great free service offered by Chess Magnet School in conjunction with the U.S. Chess Federation and sponsoring chess coaches. Using this website you can "learn to play chess according to the official rules, to play against the computer, and to practice your checkmates."

Here are the details courtesy of the United States Chess Federation (USCF) website:

Learn to Play Chess Interactively!

In conjunction with the USCF, Chess Magnet School is offering an interactive program to teach you chess. Practice until you're good enough to play a real game! Discounts for more advanced chessmagnetschool programs are also avaliable for USCF members. Learn the Rules of Chess on chessmagnetschool.com.

Note: "Rules of Chess" requires Java 1.3 or above. Be patient- It may take a full minute to load. If you get a white screen, visit Java.com and upgrade your version of Java (which is free), and/or check your browser settings to make sure Java is enabled.

Also be sure to check out (pun intentional) the USCF's "New to Chess" section for more great information on learning about the "Game of Kings."

A Great New Chess Website

Can't get enough chess news and information? Check this web site out! http://www.chesszilla.com/

Knight-time Practice

These two free on-line computer "knight" games were mentioned at Susan Polgar's magnificent chess blog. Personally, I can't really play them for more than a minute or two because of some painful RSI conditions, but from what I have seen of them they look like fun and could actually help your children (or yourself for that matter) learn to move and more effectively use the knight in an actual game of chess. I suspect they are also highly addictive - so you've been warned.

Crazy Chess - Chess comes to life, in this original, highly addictive real-time chess game by 2DPlay. Play as the White Knight, engaged in a fierce battle of skill against the dreaded army of Black Pawns. Defend your castle against their merciless onslaught by moving in the knight's 'L' move to kill the pawns. But here's where it gets a gazillion times more exciting - it's not turn-based! Move your Knight as fast as you can, across the board, taking out the black pawns and halting their attack march towards your castle. There are also some really neat power-ups of speed, stealth, freeze and destruction to name a few. This is a game like no other - it's Crazy Chess!

Play here at www.2dPlay.com or from Susan's original link at www.filebomb.com play here.


Troyis - The Chess Knight Puzzle Game. Welcome to Troyis, probably the most original and addictive puzzle game since Tetris! The funniest way to train your brain in minutes a day! How to play: Paint all the white cells on the board as quickly as possible, by way of the chess knight movement rule (L-shape). The faster you are, the more points and better world ranking you will get. Easy to start, but difficult to master...

USA TODAY from United States says: This clever online game utilizes the knight's movement from chess. It sounds simple; trust us on that and we'll let you figure out for yourself that it's also insanely addictive. — AG

Play here at http://www.troyis.com.

Chess on the Web - Installment One

Bill Gates once said [at least I think he did] the ultimate goal of technology would be to have all the world's "information at your fingertips." We seem to be getting there at an alarming pace, especially as concerns information on the Internet. The exponential growth of this information is mind boggling.

Which brings me to the topic of chess resources on the web. Where do I begin? There are so many great resources it is impossible even to list them all. What's worse is that nearly every site leads you on to another and another and another… so I will show some much needed restraint here and limit myself to mentioning (every so often) several fantastic Internet chess destinations you definitely must visit.

Today I would like to mention three "chess blogs":

• Getting into Chess "A beginner's Journey into the complex world of chess."
  
  This blog was one of the first to catch my eye - since the writer of this blog is on a journey very similar to that of yours truly, Rook Van Winkle. If you too have decided it's time to give chess a try I think you'll find a lot of interesting reading here and lots of links to good information.
  
  
• Chessola - "The David Moody Chess LiveJournal."
  
  I just recently discovered this site by a fellow Michigander. It appears to have an incredible list of very interesting games of all types and at all levels of play. David provides a lot of entertaining commentary on each of the games. In fact, he is on a mission to preserve thousands of chess games "from average players" played in Michigan tournaments over the last 20 or 30 years. Amazingly he has built up a database of 27,000 of these games! I wonder if he has any score sheets from "The 2nd Annual Pontiac Open - Unrated Section" held in Rochester, Michigan in December of 1979? As you can read in an earlier post, that's was the only chess tournament I had ever played in until just this past July. I am fortunate to have score sheets from the first and last of my games, but not the second and third.
  
  
• Susan Polgar's Chess Blog "The Official Chess Blog of Susan Polger - The #1 female player in the US and #2 rated in the world."
  
  This is one incredibly good chess blog. Susan has it constantly updated with recent chess news, recent events and games, chess problems and puzzles. She also includes a lot of inspirational articles about young players and has published a number of student written essays. It is worth checking every day because there is always something new. In fact, she is so up-to-date she seems to have the scoop on all the latest events in the chess world before any other of the "chess news" sites get around to publishing them. She is also one of our greatest American "chess ambassadors" promoting the game as a very worthwhile activity, not only for women and girls, but for young and old alike.

There are dozens of other very interesting chess blogs you should check out. Thanks to the incredible work of Mark Weeks at http://www.about.chess.com/ I can simply refer you to his list Chess Blogs - First Posts. And while you are there, be sure to check out the rest of his site for great advice, articles, chess resources, and hundreds of chess related links….