What you shouldn't do as a chess beginner

It is already more then 20 years since I first started teaching chess. About 12 years ago I obtained a MA degree in philosophy, starting to teach logic and philosophy as well. However, being a philosopher (or doing philosophy) is not that much a profession like any other, as much as way of seeing things, way of dealing with the situations. It profoundly affects ones life. It also affects ones teaching, and it has nothing to do with any specific subject. That‘s because the essense of philosophy is – teaching. It is not done any other way than by discussing things, trying to break into the matter and deliver the same in a more obvious, evident form. No doubt, it helped me a lot in gettin better as a chess coach.

Now there are many resources on how to study chess - Youtube, Lichess, Chessable and many other platforms for playing and studying chess. I‘m affraid it is difficult to say or write anything radically new. What we can do is possibly deliver the same in a more appropriate (approachable) way. And that‘s what makes a difference between two coaches. A difference which shows how well one is able to understand the perspective of another person. To decide what is the content suitable for the student, what should be known first, as well as how that can be implemented in their next game – that‘s already too much for most of the coaches (possibly including myself). Delivering in an interesting fashion is another difficult part of the story, and only talented and inteligent coaches can do that properly (I know I am far from good when it comes to that side of the coin).

However, when it comes to writing and talking about the chess content for a certain audience, especially for beginners, I can say couple of things with a lot of certainty, but feel free to criticize, as I am open to learn and would gladly question my own perspective if there is a good counter-argument.

The following lines are discussing and revealing the worst habits a beginner can develop in their efforts to improve.

For those who don't want to read too much, but to listen and watch, there is a link to the Youtube video I created a few days ago.

https://youtu.be/VQzOGwK1BPM

1 - GOING FOR TRICKS FROM THE FIRST MOVE

Probably you know the names of those openings better then me, as the Internet is full of such recommendations. I don‘t want to discuss commercial motifs of the authors of such sort of a content, but how playing that way affects someone chess development.

A positive side is that, after winning the games thanks to the tricks, one is full of joy which pushes them to play more expecting more joy. (If one would be losing every game, definitely their enthusiasm for chess wouldn‘t last.) This enthusiasm for winning the games quickly and the feeling of being better then another person is going to open other doors for a player to get to know more tricks, and even some more complex strategies. Nothing is wrong with that.

On a negative side, if one is going for tricks, it often means playing unsound opening moves, those that are against the basic opening guidelines (think of an early Queen move to h5 for white, which can lead to a quick win if the opponent blunders the e5-pawn and the rook on h8). Such student is going to be confused by the fact that bringing their Queen out is getting them so many victories, while some coaches are saying it is wrong.

Many openings are going against those known opening and middlegame guidelines, and the one playing them can‘t go further from learning chess, although they may be winning their games at first.

2 - PLAYING THE LONDON SYSTEM

It is happening for years already... when someone applies for me to coach them and sends their chess biography, they say that their favorite opening is the London System. Usually they‘d add it is because it is the simplest, and because someone on Youtube recommends it.

Again, on a positive side, it is really one of the simplest openings out there. Not to mention how simple it is for a coach to recommend it and say – just put the pawns this way, and place your bishop in front, then put the knight on e5, and you are done with the opening.

Exactly that is the worst part of it – being done with the opening, as it is something to be affraid of, instead of a chance. A chance in a sense that you can use your general chess knowledge, and even practise it through this phase of the game. Just care for the activity of pieces! And in order to help your pieces become more active, you‘ll try to fight for the center as well! You‘ll apply your overall chess understanding on the opening phase, and – what is most important here – you‘ll pay attention! Instead of being on an auto-pilot regime, you‘ll engage and try to see the logic behind every move. That‘s the final goal of studying and getting better at chess!

3 - PLAYING BULLET AND BLITZ CHESS

The bad sideffects are self-evident, but there is also a good side. Again, it can provide a quick joy of victory, without really getting into the real chess and showing what you know. Without further psychologizing, it is still chess, but played for a different motif. Winning at bullet (or even worse – ultra-bullet) is just a dopamine injection, but that dopamine – as in the examples above – sometimes pushes the same student/player to explore more about chess itself, and learn something for the sake of getting another dopamine dose.

For a more experienced (advanced) player, there is another good side of playing blitz. That‘s the opportunity for the player to test their opening repertoire: by playing blitz they can, simply, get more games, which later one should analyse in order to get to know the opening better. If the second step of the process never happens, playing games turns into wasting time.

Playing quick games leads to a habit to think less before making a decision in a chess game. For a beginner it is the worst possible habit to develop, and the ultimate enemy of any chess progress. Every coach‘s dream is seeing their student thinking more before each move, and hearing that they play blitz or bullet every day is a sign that there is not going to be much of a progress in the future. It may even get worse.

4 - MEMORIZING OPENING MOVES

There is no single benefit of that effort, while there are many drawbacks. Actually, memorizing openings is possibly the worst thing that a coach can “teach“ a beginner level student.

The main reason is simple – chess should be logical, while memorizing moves means there is no logic behind playing this and that move. It goes that deep that chess becomes repulsive, distant, and possibly brings lack of confidence.

Even if only ONE MOVE in an opening that a coach is trying to teach their student is fully explained/justified, it is already a sign of a bad coach.

5 - NOT ANALYZING OWN GAMES OR TURNING ON THE ENGINE

It works simply like this: if you turn on the engine, there is almost nothing there for a beginner any more. Similarly as if your coach or a professor did your homework, and when you look at the solution, there is not a single letter you understand. Ultimately, you can try to work with that, trying to get behind the data, but a beginner trying to match their chess understanding with the moves produced by the machine rated 4000 is a nonsense.

It is way better for a beginner to work with their own moves, and the moves of their opponent. Many of those are really bad, and they can get their head around those, possibly find a better one move here and there. Exactly that kind of effort is amazingly effective when trying to develop better chess understanding overall.

6 - DOING CHESS PUZZLES RELYING ON INTUITION

Solving puzzles is one of the best ways to get better at chess. It is especially helpful when it comes to improving calculation and visualization skill, at the same time boosting your chess intuition. It can even develop overall better understanding of the game, cause in order to use a tactical strike and win, one can see how their pieces are working together and what number and quality of forces is required for the attack or action to succeed.

However, solving puzzles doesn‘t mean one is really good at chess tactics or anything the puzzles are related to. If there is no calculation done, one can just rely on the puzzle theme and assume what‘s the correct move. Playing out without thinking can even develop a habit of not calculating the lines in key moments of the game.