Do you want to improve your chess skills?
Here are some easy ways…
Play more games. Play against: school friends, brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, cousins. If nobody in your family can play then teach them the basics. It won’t take long.
Investigate the world of chess apps and websites. There are a lot of them. Find a couple you enjoy and play games online or solve some chess problems and puzzles.
Before the Internet, websites and apps were invented chess players used books to help them to prepare. Imagine that! Amazingly, chess books have survived despite competition from the digital revolution.
We will take a look at some recommended books in a future blog post.
Join your local chess club. You don’t have to be a top player; chess clubs need new members, more then ever before. An online search for your local chess clubs will not take long. Find out if they accept junior members and if they do just go to the club and play some games. There may even be a junior chess club in your area. Some areas have introduced weekly sessions in librarires. Investigate!
Play in more tournaments. You will improve faster if you gain experience against stronger players or even against a greater variety of players who are at the same level as yourself. Every player has some good ideas and will have plans and moves you have never seen before. If you challenge yourself by seeking out stronger opponents you will lose more games until you learn how to counter their moves.
Don’t worry – and don’t give up.
Everybody loses games of chess – and that includes the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen.
If you are strong enough to suffer a few chess defeats and still keep going then you will eventually become a champion.