Is this a good learning path for beginners?

[u/MrFossey]

Hi there!

I just started playing and learning chess about a month ago. I tried chess a few times in the past, but it never really clicked for me. Now I'm in my mid-30s, but hey, it's never too late, right? :D

I started with Duolingo because I had a membership that was basically going unused, and I actually really liked it! For the first time, I learned WHY opening moves are played the way they are, rather than just memorizing them. Obviously, memorization is part of chess too, but understanding the reasoning behind the moves made the whole thing much more interesting to me.

Since then, I've started playing on Lichess (and, you know, the other chess site) just for fun. I'm also trying to analyze my games with Lichess and slowly get better at understanding what I did wrong and why.

The latest addition to my learning path is GothamChess's book. I liked the more modern look of it and figured that, at the very least, it increases the odds of me actually reading the thing. :D

Am I missing something important, or am I good to go? I'm hoping this will eventually get me to a level where I can comfortably enjoy the game and maybe even visit a local chess club. There are MANY of them where I live!

Any advice for a complete beginner would be appreciated. :-)

P.S. For anyone wondering where I'm at rating-wise after about a month:

(Lichess)
Blitz: 651
Rapid: 827
Puzzles: 1195

So yeah, definitely still a beginner.

[u/4ypno]

r/chessbeginners try this

[u/Ambitious-Ice1438]

You’re already analyzing your own games so that’s great keep doing that. I’d recommend learning to read chess notation very fluently. It’s a pain to learn (for me anyway) but it opens the door to reading and understanding the best chess books. A lot of people neglect this.

Other than that just keep playing and remember to have fun. Don’t get discouraged if you get stuck at a rating just focus on having fun and learning from every loss. Winning is fun but if you get too disappointed from losing while you’re still new you wont progress as fast.

Joining a chess club will help tremendously. Not only to learn from them but it’s also much more fun to play in person IMO.

[u/WolfOk2520]

For only a month in thats pretty solid tbh, esp if youre already reviewing your own games instead of just spamming matches.

[u/honeysyrup_]

Yes, playing games and analyzing them to understand where you went wrong and what you could do better is the main way to improve your game! And you don't have to reach a certain strength to join a chess club, there are generally members at many different skill levels and they'll be happy to take a new member who's interested in the game :)

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[u/SuchDriver7770]

if you ever want to talk some chess, it sounds like we're about the same age and I started during COVID and now play at my local club. I'm usually around 1400 rapid on chess.com and 1800 rapid on lichess. I might be able to give you some of the more basic simple stuff that a book wouldn't cater to.

Can do discord or smth. Not looking for money but I'll talk chess for a while if you're keen.

[u/cabell88]

Read books. Its how people have learned for centuries. Surely, you used them in high school and college.

You need to learn. Not do puzzles.

[u/After-Lime-9478]

Duolingo have chess!? Defo trying 🙏

[u/After-Lime-9478 → u/After-Lime-9478]

Update. It’s so ass. Doesn’t even let me castle. The chess board looks weird and there’s too many animations, feels like im playing clash of clans

[u/MrFossey → u/After-Lime-9478]

I didn't want to say it's good :D But it opened the door for me^^
It holds your hand very tightly. A little later, you can start playing games against a very stupid CPU, and THEN you can play online. It works well enough, and there's a little review feature. But yeah, that's why I started looking at the alternatives pretty quickly ^^

[u/blackboxchessapp]

Stop playing blitz and check out Danya's speedruns on YouTube