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Hobby guide
Chess
Openings, tactics and endgames — the fastest game to improve at with practice.
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The basics
- 1Piece values and how each piece moves; castling, en passant, promotion.
- 2Opening principles: control the centre, develop pieces, castle early, don't move one piece twice.
- 3Tactics are 90% of improvement below 1600: pins, forks, skewers, discovered attacks.
- 4Basic endgames: king + rook mate, king + pawn opposition.
Free resources
- Lichess
Completely free play, puzzles, and interactive lessons.
- Chess.com Lessons
Structured beginner path with rated puzzles.
- GothamChess (YouTube)
Beginner-friendly openings and game reviews.
- ChessTempo
Tactics training with spaced repetition.
How to progress
- Solve 10 puzzles a day and analyse every loss with the engine after playing.
- Pick one opening as White and two replies as Black; stick with them.
- Play rated classical games rather than only bullet.
- Join your college chess club and enter FIDE-rated open tournaments for a rating.