Chess is a game that has been played for over 800 years. This makes the game one of the longest-played board games ever. The only game that has been played longer than chess is GO, another strategy game that is widely practised across Asia and has been around for over 2000 years.
Both games teach concepts of game theory, strategy, evaluation and decision-making and are incorporated into school curriculums across the globe.
Over the past few years, there have been rapid advancements in chess as it has shifted towards the digital realm. While online chess will never replace the physical game or ‘over the board’ chess. It presents new heights for the board game, making it more accessible for players. Now anyone with an internet connection can play the game.
The most effective way to play and improve at chess is by practising online. Chess players of various skill levels, from beginners to Grandmasters can be found playing on the web. A great way to improve is by studying the chess games you play online and analysing each of the moves you make. Thankfully, there are many websites where you can play online chess for free, many of which provide evaluation features to learn from your mistakes once you have finished playing.
What's more, is that you can also learn from the games of others! Online chess game databases are another useful resource for your chess matches.
Whether you already know how to play chess or you are entirely unfamiliar with the chess rules you will find value in this article. Once you know the proper chess set-up and have searched chess rules for beginners you will be well on your way! You don’t even need a board you can play chess online for free.
Don’t worry the online chess board has the same number of pieces, squares, players and rules as the physical game. Once you find an opponent you will be able to play the game. Remember to keep an eye on your time and to keep your pieces safe, especially your king!
Chess is a complex game, get started with the basics today!
Your online ranking or ELO
ELO is a term used to describe the skill or level of players relevant to the entire population that plays the game. It is used across many other games and is by no means exclusive to chess.
For every win you earn against another player, you will be awarded points and for every loss you will lose points. Your score will indicate how strong you are at the game. Your ELO will also be used in the match-making process so that you are paired with players of a similar ability.
At a higher level, you might wish to practice using a chess engine. This will help you to see the best possible move in each position and explore tactics that you might have missed in your games.
Professional-level chess is both educational and exciting to watch.
Nowadays there are different programs and chess software known as engines that incorporate artificial intelligence to play the game of chess. The software is known as an engine and has enhanced our understanding of the game and presented new ways to think about strategy.
Professional chess players at the highest level have adopted chess engines in their study of the game in order to find the best moves and perfect their tactics. Perhaps the most well-renowned chess engine is the stockfish engine.
With the rapid advancements in technology over the past decade, chess engines have incorporated self-learning systems to simulate thousands of games in a matter of seconds to find the best move in any given position.
In fact, the systems got so advanced that they began to challenge the top players in the world. Fast forward to today where the calculations that these engines are capable of, far exceed that of the best players of all time.
This makes chess engines one of the most exciting prospects to come from the realm of online chess and a valuable learning resource for players of an intermediate level and beyond!
You should go back to your old games and learn from your mistakes. This is one of the best resources that you can use to improve your ability on the chessboard!
Online chess also makes it easier for beginners to arrive at an approximate ELO score for their level of play. This provides a useful metric for improvement that for otherwise be impossible if you were only playing over the board.
Here is some advice on where to find your first chess tutor.
The world of chess streaming
Another valuable product of online chess is the streaming side of the chess world. Nowadays some players make a full-time living streaming across platforms such as Twitch. This has contributed to the growth of the game in recent years and provides a great educational tool for players of a variety of different levels.
Now you can log on to your preferred streaming platform and jump right into an educational stream or a competitive game with informative commentary from an advanced-level player.
Hearing the thought process and getting an insight into the evaluation of a player on each of their moves will teach you principles and tactics that you can then implement in your own games.
Streaming also hosts a community of chess fans that you can interact with and even challenge and grow with on your journey of improvement. Having a partner of a similar level to you can be one of the fastest ways to progress in your ability to play the game.
Whether you choose to play chess in person with an opponent or with online players you will still have all of the same pieces, your king, queen, bishop, knight, rook and all the pawns. If you are playing over the board make sure that you set up all the chess pieces correctly and that both you and your opponent know all of the rules and moves!
Knowing what resources to learn from is also important.
Playing chess online against a computer
Start playing chess right away against a computer on one of the many difficulty levels, from beginner to master. Simply click the Start button to begin playing the computerized chess game. The time control can be adjusted when your new game is set up, which implies that thinking time will also be constrained.
Since the machine calculates its moves swiftly and executes them on the chessboard right after your move, the status "It's your move" will typically show during an active game. You will get the notice "Checkmate.
In this case, you will have the option to play another chess player or request a rematch if the computer program defeats you or you checkmate it using the white pieces.
By playing chess online the site will also save your game in the chess database and it can be viewed or analysed at any time by you or by other players. If a player is watching the game you are currently playing, he/she will appear anonymous or as a user, displayed by the spectator logo.
This adds an interesting dynamic to the game and allows you to learn from the mistakes of your friends or take some tactics that worked for them in the game and try to implement them yourself.
Having the option to play against a computer enables you to select a wide variety of different skill levels to practice against. This allows you to practice your strategy and perfect it before jumping into a game with a real chess player.
This is a great option for beginners who can ensure that they are battle-tested before challenging their friends right away. This might just save you the embarrassment of getting crushed by a high-level player and potentially damaging your confidence in playing the game.
If you’d like to take the first step and get started playing chess then read this guide.
Looking at the advantages of online chess
Online chess has done so much good for the game of chess. Just think about how long it would take you to play through ten games using a physical chess board.
You would first need to find ten separate opponents of a similar ability and set up the board again after each game. You would also need to invest in an analogue chess clock which can be quite expensive!
By playing online chess, you can instantly jump from game to game after you finish and through their algorithms and ELO scoring system you will be paired with players across the world that have an almost identical level of skill to you.
By increasing the amount of games that you are able to play in an hour or a day, online chess dramatically increases the rate at which a player can progress not to mention the amount of useful teaching material and educational tools that are available across the internet since its introduction to the game.
You should look to develop your pieces in the early game. Moving pieces such as your rook or queen can put your opponent’s king in danger from across the board. Moving a pawn could take some pressure off of your other pieces. Remember that once the pan reaches the end of the board, that player will get a new piece such as a queen.
When looking at the game and what moves you can make to threaten the pieces of your opponent, you should take time and look if your pieces could put the king of your opponent in check!
The world of online chess certainly adds exciting prospects to what is an age-old board game, though despite the opportunities which stem from the internet it will never fully replace over-the-board chess. This is why at the top level, classical chess is still played in this fashion and always will be!
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
