Are you new to chess and you want to learn how to play? That is very common because chess is more popular than ever. Maybe you just watched The Queen's Gambit on Netflix and want to start to learn the game of chess. This I understand, so where do you begin?
I want to teach you a few easy ways to begin learning about chess, which will all be free.
Where to play
Make an account on Chess.com this is the main place to play chess online with people from all over the world or your friends. Another popular website is Lichess.org. You can also very well create two accounts, but I would start by creating one.
How to play
To learn the beginnings of chess, I would strongly recommend this video by GothamChess on YouTube. He explains all the different pieces and how they work and then explains some concepts of chess. For example, vision, attacking and defending, simple opening and some basic tactics.
If this video is too fast for you, you can start by watching this playlist with short videos by Howcast.
A very popular way of learning chess and studying it is by reading books. However, if you are just trying to learn how to play the game, I would suggest starting with these simple videos.
Openings
Now you know what all the pieces do, but how do you start a game? The video I recommended already covers some basic opening strategy, so this will get you started. If you want to learn a bit further, you can learn a couple of openings with both colors. You should not go out and learn all openings possible, but begin with just a few. Learn a couple of white openings and a couple of black openings.
I am not a chess master, so I will not try and teach you. I just want to point you in the right direction.
A quick couple of recommendations would be:
White: Vienna & London System.
Black: Caro Kann, Kings Indian & Dutch Defense.
If you learn these openings you will have a basic understanding of what to do at the beginning of a match.
Improve
The main way to improve is to play and analyses your games. This is a lesson on the analysis on Chess.com.
And you should play puzzles. On Chess.com you can play 10 puzzles per day. The best thing is to think hard and succeed in most of the puzzles, instead of completing them quickly. If you want to do more puzzles, Lichess has more free puzzles and you can also try Chesspuzzle.net which has unlimited computer-generated puzzles.
Conclusion
This is one of the easiest and a free way to start learning the game of chess. Welcome to the world of chess.
If you have any questions or remarks, I will try to answer them in the comments. I am not a great chess player, just for fun, but I can give you more resources to learn the game.
Good luck and thank you for reading!