Play better chess!

For those of you who are not familiar with the rating system in chess, I will start out by telling you that the International Master and the International Grandmaster titles both fall under the aegis of the International Chess Federation -aka-
FIDE (the acronym is based upon the French rendering). They use a system of weights and balances that was developed by a mathematician by the name of Professor Arpad Elo. This system is incidentally the same one used by the United States Table Tennis Association.

In the United States the rating categories are these:



2400 + = Senior Master

2200 - 2399 = Master

2000 - 2199 = Expert

1800 - 1999 = Class A

1600 - 1799 = Class B

1400 - 1599 = Class C

1200 - 1399 = Class D

1000 - 1199 = Class E


The rating system referenced above is managed by the United States Chess Federation (USCF) and you can get more information about them (and learn to play!) here: www.uschess.org

In addition to being able to play in nationally rated events, you also get a monthly magazine entitled Chess Life. If you are serious about improving at chess then I recommend that you get started in playing tournaments right away. It is the best way to learn provided that you carefully record the moves of your game and then find a stronger player to go over your game with you. Chess players are very kind to beginners and at any tournament you will find people who don't even know you that are willing to go over your game with you (after its completion of course) and give you some pointers for the future.

Many people think that a tournament is a big formal affair, but at the amateur level it is not like that. If you are a rank beginner, they even have a section just for you! As long as you know the basic rules of the game and how to record your moves with a pen or pencil then you are ready for tournament play.

However, be prepared to lose! If you have this attitude, you WILL have fun and it will be a great learning experience! You will have to lose dozens of games before you start to get good, so just be mentally prepared for that. Even if you consider yourself a decent or rather strong player - if you've never played in a rated tournament before you should be prepared for a shock! But that is the great thing about chess, it's often more profound than we imagine it to be.

My book recommendations would be anything by Susan Polgar, Reuben Fine, Lev Alburt or John Watson - in no particular order. Bruce Pandolfini and Jeremy Silman are also good, but I don't think that they are as good as the aforementioned. Here's the best way to decide for yourself - Read an excerpt from one of their books (just click on the link and 'look inside') and see which teaching style you like best.