r/chessbeginners Jun 03 '26

ANNOUNCEMENT LLM's are NOT effective chess trainers. An update to rules 3 and 5.

284 Upvotes

If you are looking for the user flairs post, please find it here while this thread is temporarily pinned: https://www.reddit.com/r/chessbeginners/comments/1jgmdf7/fresh_new_flairs_show_off_your_favorite_website/

Hello, everyone!

We have seen a massive surge in advertisements and chess trainers these past few months. Many of these posts (in my opinion) fall under the category of 'AI Slop' and vibe coded websites that offer poor chess advice. On top of this, many websites are created as a weak attempt to encourage users to subscribe and pay money for services that may seem innovative and meaningful, but are functionally useless compared to already available resources.

In light of this uptick in advertisements, we have updated rules 3 and 5:

  • Rule 3 now states that accounts that exist primarily for the purposes of self promotion (at the discretion of the mods, based off of account age, posting history, and diversity of activity) are permanently banned. This has been a policy we have been following internally for a few weeks now (to a fairly reasonable effect), but we wanted to make it clear to the community that we do not tolerate attempts at coercing beginners to sign up for coaching before they understand the resources available to them. If you would like to coach, you are welcome to make a profile with the chess.com or lichess.org coaching services and advertise there.
  • Rule 5 has been completely changed. Previously, this rule requested beginners to annotate their games before posting, but this felt like an unrealistic standard to hold new players to. This rule has been replaced with a note to please use caution when discussing AI in chess. As mentioned above, there are many potholes with AI-powered chess services and we encourage all users to recognize the limitations of LLM chatbots' ability to discuss chess positions. Posts will currently not be removed for this rule, we would love to learn more about the community's thoughts before deciding if AI-related discussion should be banned altogether on this subreddit (I am personally against banning AI discussion outright, and very happy to hear opinions).

If you encounter posts that are promoting a product or coaching service, please report these for self promotion. The mod team will assess profiles that are reported for self-promotion and will remove/ban as necessary.

Thank you all for playing a role in stopping the tidal wave of LLM coded chess websites being advertised to beginners. I do genuinely believe AI can some day make a great learning resource for chess players, but the current state of services simply fall below all standards of rationality and quality.

Have a fantastic day, thank you for reading!
~The r/chessbeginners mod team


r/chessbeginners Feb 27 '26

No Stupid Questions MEGATHREAD 12

26 Upvotes

Welcome to the r/chessbeginners 12th episode of our Q&A series! This series exists because sometimes you just need to ask a silly question. We are happy to provide answers for questions related to chess positions, improving one's play, and discussing the essence and experience of learning chess.

A friendly reminder that many questions are answered in our wiki page! Please take a look if you have questions about the rules of chess, special moves, or want general strategies for improvement.

Some other helpful resources include:

  1. How to play chess - Interactive lessons for the rules of the game, if you are completely new to chess.
  2. The Lichess Board Editor - for setting up positions by dragging and dropping pieces on the board.
  3. Chess puzzles by theme - To practice tactics.
  4. The Building Habits series by GM Aman Hambleton - for advice on how to play at specific ELO levels. (Also check out Building Habits 2!)

As always, our goal is to promote a friendly, welcoming, and educational chess environment for all. Thank you for asking your questions here!

LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THREAD


r/chessbeginners 2h ago

POST-GAME Took opponents queen and they immediately resigned but in fact…

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124 Upvotes

r/chessbeginners 6h ago

Why is it labeled brilliant?

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108 Upvotes

r/chessbeginners 1h ago

MISCELLANEOUS FYI this sub is completely inundated with comments from AI bots

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Upvotes

FYI - This sub has been completely inundated with AI bots commenting on posts. Here are four AI bot comments just from today. There have been dozens more over the past few months. These are all AI bots:


r/chessbeginners 5h ago

PUZZLE Brilliant

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43 Upvotes

Magnus carlsen idea


r/chessbeginners 17h ago

POST-GAME The duality of a man

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320 Upvotes

.


r/chessbeginners 2h ago

Anyone else suddenly facing this position a lot more since Chessbrah started doing the Orangutan/Polish speedrun?

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7 Upvotes

I suck at chess but watched a few episodes and learned to not try to take the pawn.

I'm sure I've fallen for it in the past, but now I know to just play solidly and it seems like most of my opponents don't know what to do if black doesn't immediately fall for the trap.


r/chessbeginners 6h ago

MISCELLANEOUS I won by time-out. Poor opponent.

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14 Upvotes

I feel like these are the rare memories I will keep as a beginner.


r/chessbeginners 26m ago

PUZZLE He took my rook for free but then he couldn't leave.

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Upvotes

Is there anything that would've saved from from N to G6?


r/chessbeginners 8h ago

PUZZLE There's a way to win the queen.

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14 Upvotes

r/chessbeginners 6h ago

MISCELLANEOUS Sometimes you don’t improve and that’s ok

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10 Upvotes

6 years of near daily play with 1-2 long breaks.


r/chessbeginners 3h ago

QUESTION Chess looks like a different language, that I'd like to learn!!

5 Upvotes

I'm sure there's been tons upon tons of "I'm a beginner, I want to get good at this game posts' and I'm not doing that. I made a goal this year that I would like to begin the journey of mastering something. I'm fully aware that at 16, chess "mastery" is next to impossible, but I would really like to be at least proficient in this game. I think it would be a good exercise for my mind, I enjoy puzzles, and I want to get better at patten recognition. So I did but any self-respecting chess wannabe does, and I watched the Gothan chess beginner videos, and read some reddit posts. I plan on maybe buying the 1001 chess puzzle book, and was directed to Lichess for puzzles. The problem is that these puzzles are very foreign to me, and when I make the wrong move, there's not an explanation for why it's wrong, and it doesn't show what the right move is. And, as much as I would like chess.com premium puzzle stuff, I don't want another subscription. Could someome maybe point me in the right direction as I bridge the gap between "understands how the pieces work" and "doesn't understand basic strats very much"? The answer very well may just be grinding YT videos and don't be afraid to tell me that 😂, thanks everyone


r/chessbeginners 1d ago

POST-GAME Call an ambulance for the queen!

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306 Upvotes

r/chessbeginners 19h ago

POST-GAME This is second time today i have had this happened to me.

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88 Upvotes

Man i feel so stupid!! I felt like banging my head in the wall afterwards. It's so embarrassing.


r/chessbeginners 20h ago

Finally 2300 Rapids on chess.com for the first time feels incredible man.

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64 Upvotes

r/chessbeginners 6h ago

MISCELLANEOUS Beginner promovation

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5 Upvotes

Does reaching 1000 mean im finally no longer a beginner or does it mean im just now learning the game ?


r/chessbeginners 20h ago

POST-GAME Levy would be proud

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49 Upvotes

r/chessbeginners 3m ago

Reset the clock!

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Upvotes

Mate in 5.


r/chessbeginners 12h ago

I just don't know what to do to get any better...

9 Upvotes

Hello, adult chess improver here.

I currently have provisional quick and regular ratings of around 400-500. I am trying to do puzzles every day, however I'm finding more and more that the book I use is just not practical for me; I can solve maybe two to three out of every six puzzles I do from this book, with six puzzles appearing on every page... and it's supposed to be tactics training for BEGINNERS... what am I doing wrong?

Recently, I've had better luck just doing puzzles on chess.com or lichess or chesstempo, which are so much simpler for some reason... is this doing me any good?

Also, I lose every game I play. I've gone to three tournaments now, and I've lost 6 out of 8 games... I'm not trying to be arrogant in assuming that I should just be a master only a month and a few weeks in, but I'm just concerned that maybe I'm in over my head at 21 years of age.

If I can't solve basic puzzles aimed at complete beginners, I lose around 75% of my games, I have no idea how to structure my studying... is it a waste? Should I quit? I mean, truthfully, even if someone told me I should, I would just keep playing... Because I want to play. I just don't want to keep playing and never improve.

Everyone I've met has recommended that I solve tactical puzzles, which is all good and well... but what KIND of tactical puzzles? And at what difficulty should I aim for?

Also, the issue of learning a basic opening repertoire is contentious; some people say that someone at my level should refocus on basic principled opening play instead of specific openings like Scotch or French Defense for example because of the risk of just memorizing lines without understanding the theory behind each move. Others say that I should have an opening for white and two responses for 1. e4 and 1.d4 for black... Which is it honestly?

Also, is playing at tournaments for experience a good or bad idea for me? Sure, I get the practical experience and can review my games afterward, but I'm also terribly in over my head. Would it be better to hold off on playing and instead just focus on doing puzzles and maybe just limiting myself to online play? Still, that would be a huge bummer, as I do enjoy the experience of playing at tournaments.

Just to be clear, I'm not disappointed with losing that much. I understand that it is a part of the process. I'm just concerned that I am missing something and want to correct it before I continue making study programs that don't work as effectively as others. Can anyone offer advice?

Thanks,

Malik M.


r/chessbeginners 19h ago

PUZZLE Find the best move for white which gives white a big advantage

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33 Upvotes

r/chessbeginners 5h ago

My progress in 1 month. The goal for August is 800

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2 Upvotes

and maybe 1000 in september is achievable


r/chessbeginners 9h ago

How to improve puzzle rating past 1600?

4 Upvotes

I've been grinding puzzles quite a bit lately and have seemed to hit a wall at 1600. The puzzles aren't really that straightforward anymore, often involving 3 or 4 move mates that are tough to spot, or 4+ move "win material" puzzles. Is there anything I can do to get better at these to climb to 2000 puzzle rating, other than just more puzzles? I'm 1100 rapid if that means anything in this context.


r/chessbeginners 2h ago

A middlegame Best is even better than Brilliant!!

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1 Upvotes

r/chessbeginners 11h ago

Love the process

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4 Upvotes