Online Chess

Playing chess is both mentally stimulating and an enjoyable experience. The game involves a dueling of the minds, just as arm wrestling is a dueling of strength. This competition, while challenging, allows for players to improve their game through practice and experience. Unfortunately, there are now only a few places for players to play chess in person. Most people do not have the time or money to join a chess club, and resort to playing with friends on an occasional basis.

Fortunately for these players, they can turn to the Internet to play online chess! The Internet offers millions of player around the world the ability to play against each other instantly, giving them the ability to train against new styles of play and different levels of play. Here are some of the benefits of playing online chess:

1. Free of charge

As is the case with many chess clubs, some online chess servers charge a membership fee. Others, however, offer players the ability to play chess free of charge. A free online chess server combined with the worldwide capabilities of the internet ensures that every player in the world, no matter how rich or how poor, has the ability to play against another human player at any time of their choosing.

2. Practice practice practice!

Competitive chess is considered a sport by the International Olympic Committee. Just like every other competitive sport, improving at chess requires studying, experience, and lots and lots practice! Online chess, as mentioned before, allows players to play chess against millions of other players, at any time. This practice increases a player’s understanding of the game’s many positions and possible situations, improving his or her chess game.

3. Tournaments

Chess tournaments are the backbone of the competitive chess tradition. Thousands of organized chess tournaments are held every year in many countries around the word. Unfortunately, not every chess player has hundreds of dollars to spend on a ticket across the country to play in a tournament. Many online chess servers offer online tournaments, most of which have a prize. The convenience of playing chess tournaments in the comfort of your own home can only be achieved through online chess.

4. Increase knowledge

Playing thousands of games online increases a player’s knowledge of the game tenfold. This knowledge can cover up mistakes that usually occur during chess games, including mistakes coming from frustration or inattentiveness.

5. Fair competition

Another benefit of online chess lies in the ability to play against players of similar skill level. Some players learn the most about their own chess game by playing against players of a similar skill level. Others learn better playing against more advanced players. Online chess gives players the option to choose their opponent and adapt to the learning style that best fits them.

Playing chess online expands the possibilities offered to chess players across the globe. Through an online chess server, players can choose their opponent, learn new positions, practice, and participate in tournaments all while saving themselves some extra pocket money!

Game of Chess

Everyone has heard the phrase “it’s like a game of chess.” This comparison is often used to describe situations defined by a battle of intellect, cunning, and intuition. For example, professional football coaches spend their entire practice week preparing for every possible situation that their competition can throw them. On gameday, they carefully choose the move that gives them the best possible chance to win. This is done over 60 times a game — certainly a stressful experience that can be compared to a chess game.

Chess remains the golden standard for intellectual competitions. Again, using the comparison to football, each move in chess is strategically calculated. An advanced player not only knows each possible situation resulting from a particular move, but can also predict their opponent’s reaction. This competitive banter of the minds is what separates an advanced player from a casual player. Today, many popular games are compared to chess, including football, poker, and many other chess spin-offs.

While many modern games mimic the intellectual competition of chess, the game of chess continues to grow further away from the current and upcoming generations of the United States. In other countries, such as the Phillipines, chess is the most popular game in the country. Letting one of the most educational and intellectually stimulating games fade in the midst of realistic videogames and pointless shoot-em-ups is certaintly a tragedy.

Fortunately, while chess seems to fade in popularity, two websites have taken the extra step in bringing a presence of chess to the internet.

Learning and mastering the game of chess requires repetition and practice, two things that can only be accomplished by playing the game. Unfortunately, many online chess servers require payment and subscription. Chessboss.com and Americachess.com aim to provide a free online chess server that allows players young and old to practice against other, real players from all around the world. This ability to practice against other minds, to play against players that are better and more advanced, allows a player to learn from his or her own mistakes.

The online chess servers offered at both ChessBoss.com and AmericaChess.com provide this service to anybody on the Internet, free of charge. Furthermore, these servers are fully integrated with Facebook, allowing players to invite and challenge their Facebook friends to a chess game. As players play chess, their win-loss record, VIP points, and title are displayed, giving each player something to strive towards. New players enter the server as a “Chess Mouse” and can progress all the way past “Chess Cat”, “Chess Dragon”, and “Chess Bull” to obtain the greatest title: Chess Samurai.

In the near future, ChessBoss.com will be offering tournaments as well, in two different forms. In the first monthly tournament, ChessBoss.com will be offering $500 of prizes to winners of a variant of chess called ChessCube. In the second monthly tournament, the winner will be branded a “Chess Samurai” for a month. These tournaments are free and players of all skill and ages can participate. The server and the tournaments instill a competitive factor in players required to increase skill.

In addition to the services offered by the chess server and chess tournaments, both ChessBoss.com and AmericaChess.com are informational resources on chess. If an individual is seeking information about different variants of chess, types of chess tournaments, or famous chess players, the websites provide them with articles and specific sections for each of those topics and many more. All of the information is free and easily accessible to anybody with an internet connection.

For example, on ChessBoss.com is a section with informative articles on how to learn chess. In the section are articles about chess strategy, tactics, and tips on how to win a chess game. One article offers 5 different tips to players on how to win a game, while others teach players how to keep a chess clock alive or how to properly end a game.

Increasing the popularity of chess should be a priority not only to enthusiasts and believers of chess, but parents and educators around the nation. Chess offers a fresh way to teach friendly competition, thinking, and mental discipline to each person who decides to learn it. This is particularly true for children, as their brains are continually growing and learning. Chess helps educators encourage the intellectual development of the children they aim to educate, allowing the children to learn to make their own decisions, think ahead, and analyze situations.

This goal is pushed forward by both ChessBoss.com and AmericaChess.com with their commitment to bringing a game and sport fading in popularity back to prominence among the youth and online chess community. With enough support, both of these websites can grow to a point where children talk in schools about their ranking and claim bragging rights over chess games.

As mentioned before, chess is the standard for intellectual games. Since it was invented in Europe in the 15th century, billions of people have been influenced by its presence. It is recognized as a sport by the International Olympic Committee. Around the world, there are thousands of chess tournaments, competitions, and clubs and millions of people playing online and in person. As Benjamin Franklin wrote in his article “The Morals of Chess” in 1750, chess teaches foresight, circumspection, and caution, three qualities that prove useful in almost every aspect of life. It is this enlightenment and education that chess provides to the world.

ChessBoss.com and AmericaChess.com hope to provide the game of chess with a revival, especially among youth in the United States. Offering a free online chess server accessible through Facebook, both websites provide players seeking competition and improvement a community in which to do so. Both websites also offer information to people who are seeking it, making them two of the best chess websites on the Internet.

Improving Your Chess Game

Every serious competitor’s goal is to continually improve at their craft. Competitive chess is no exception to this fact. Every serious chess player wants to improve their chess game. There are a number of factors that a chess player can focus on to improve their chess game, ranging from studying chess strategy to playing in as many tournaments as possible.

1. Play as much as possible!

The ability to practice tactics and strategy against real life players is invaluable to a growing chess player. Playing against other players allows an individual to analyze specific situations, allowing them to build their proverbial knowledge base about chess games. Most competitive games become more interesting and fun when the level of skill increases. Chess games, in particular, follow this rule more than any other competitive game.

As such, it is important to continually play against different players. As every player has his or her own playing style, playing against different players allows for more exposure to different situations. A certain move will elicit different reactions from different players as well, allowing you to better understand the efficacy of certain moves. There are a number of ways you can continually play and practice chess games, including:

* Joining a Chess Club: chess clubs gather chess enthusiasts together in one place to offer practice and coaching. While many chess clubs require the purchase of a membership, some chess clubs will offer free services to curious players.

* Playing Online: there are a number of chess servers online that offer the ability to play chess games against players across the world. Again, many of these servers require a membership while others are free of charge. Some are even integrated with Facebook, allowing players to challenge their real life friends in a chess game from anywhere in the world at any time of day.

* Playing in Tournaments: Nothing spurs competitive nature like money! Tournaments are filled with skilled players, each of which have something to teach you. By joining tournaments, your chess game will be filled with real life experience against other players who are playing at their competitive best.

2. Develop a Strategy

Chess games require a certain amount of strategy. Each player has a different play style. That being said, you should aim to develop a strategy that will improve your game. Understanding each chess game as a separate entity will allow you to develop strategy before, during, and towards the end of your game.

3. Learn Tactics

Certain tactics, or sets of moves, are viable in chess games. Using these tactics is more complicated than just learning their anatomy. For a tactic to improve your game, you have to be aware of when it can and cannot be used, as well as the common player reactions to the tactic. Aim to hide the tactic or bait your opponent into falling for it. Developing your own tactics can eliminate the need for trickery; if your opponent has never seen the tactic, they cannot see it coming!

Play Chess

The traditional way to play chess goes as follows: each player is designated a color, either white or black, and 16 chess pieces of that color. They are placed in a specific order opposite each other on a 64 block chess board. Each piece has a specific move set, that is, each piece has a unique way to maneuver around the board. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent’s king piece.

This traditional way of playing chess remains the overwhelming standard for most chess games. It is not, however, the only way to play chess. In fact, there are hundreds of variants of chess, each of which have their own set of rules, board set up, and objective. Chess game variants are a way for players to play chess in a different way, building up their knowledge of chess, stimulating the mental game of chess, and enjoying variety.

1. ChessCube

This new variant of chess allows individuals to play chess in a new way, by introducing luck. In this variant, the board is set up the same as traditional chess. However, in ChessCube, each player possesses a cube with a different piece on each side. Before their turn, each player rolls this cube and is forced to move the piece displayed on the top side of the cube.

For example, if a player rolls a bishop, he or she is required to move one of the bishops to any place of his or her choosing. The other player then takes a turn rolling the dice and moving the displayed piece, and so on. This variant, as mentioned before, introduces luck and forces players to consider new situations by randomizing the piece to be moved.

2. Loser’s Chess

Loser’s chess is one of the most popular variants of chess. This particular variant allows players to play chess with an objective that is the absolute opposite of traditional chess. In Loser’s Chess, each player aims to lose all of his or her pieces or to get checkmated. This backwards way of thinking improves a player’s understanding of the game by forcing a better understanding of the objective, and the steps that can be taken to get there.

3. Bughouse Chess

This variant of chess involves two teams, each consisting of two players. These two teams then face of in one overall game, on two separate chess boards. When one piece is captured on one of the chess boards, it is moved to the partner on the other board.

This is a more complicated way to play chess, forcing players to consider additional situations with the extra pieces and move options. However, this variant works similarly to doing pull-ups with weights around your waist. As you improve in Bughouse Chess, traditional chess becomes seemingly more and more simple.

Keeping an open mind to new ways to improve your chess game is just one way to become an advanced chess player. Most chess variants improve a specific skill required in traditional chess, ranging from visuo-spatial memory to intuition of the opponent. Improving these skills will undoubtedly help the up-and-coming player improve their chess game!

Children and Chess

Chess remains as one of the most educational and intellectually stimulating games in the world. This is reflected in its popularity as one of the most popular games in the entire world. Around the year 1475, old rules of chess were changed in southern Europe to what was essentially the game as we know it today. That same century, intellectuals began to write about the theory of winning chess.

Since then, the game has become a worldwide phenomenon, with thousands of chess tournaments being played every year around the world. There is stiff competition in these tournaments, as well as a ranking system that allows the world-class players to obtain a title indicative of their success in the sport.

Chess presents an opportunity of children of all ages to engage in an active competitive game that stimulates mental activity, discipline, and creativity. The game teaches children how to think, perceive, and predict as well as how to compete in a friendly way with peers.

For example, Adriaan de Groot, a Dutch chess master and psychologist, contributed a doctoral thesis about the psychology of chess. According to de Groot, advanced players have more than just the ability to predict moves. Instead, these players have a certain perception, honed by years of practice and study, that allow them to understand a specific situation. He proved that chess masters also have the ability to memorize the positions of all pieces almost perfectly, showing not only an increase in memory, but the ability to recognize patterns.

Children whose brains are still developing can be pushed in the right direction by playing chess. Recent research of the game showed that it can be used as mental training to improve the qualities of knowledge and intelligence while promoting the importance of preparation and stability. Chess teaches children to be analytical thinkers, curious learners, and problem solvers, all characteristics of proper mental progression.

Chess can also bring families together, especially if parents encourage their children to play. Parents should be excited that the game can give their child the skills they need to excel scholastically. Children that play chess have been found to have an average increase of 10-15% in reading and math scores. There is no doubt that chess improves the thinking and mental skills of a child, but few people understand that it also teaches work ethic, study habits, responsibility, and respect to a child, all qualities that will also help a child to excel socially in our world.

Encouraging children to play the game of chess is encouraging them develop skills and qualities that they will need to succeed in life. For parents and educators, the game can be an educational supplement, leading children to become smart, composed individuals ready to take on the world!

Free Chess Games

Chess is one of the few games in the world with an infinite amount of playback value. That is, chess players can play chess an infinite amount of times and never be bored due to the exorbitant amount of competition and unlimited amounts of positions and strategies involved with the game.

That being said, there are only a few avenues to play chess at a competitive level. Beyond attending tournaments, chess players have very few ways to find new players to challenge. Chess clubs provide players with competition and coaching, as well as tournament, but many require a rather expensive membership fee being paid. Unfortunately, many chess players are young and do not have the funds to join an expensive chess club.

For those people, finding a place to play free chess is essential. While these players can play with friends in person, competition between such few people has little impression on the overall game of the player. Here are a few ways to find free chess games around the world:

1. Search Online

Most free chess games are found on the Internet. There are many different chess servers online, many of which are free of charge. These servers offer players the opportunity to play against anybody in the entire world representing thousands of playing styles and skill levels. Finding free chess servers on the Internet is easy, but finding the one that best fits your skill level and goals can be difficult.

2. Local Chess Clubs

While many chess clubs require a membership fee, there exist chess clubs that offer membership capabilities free of charge. Many of these clubs are located in schools and after school programs. These free chess clubs offer players the ability to play in both informal and competitive games, as well as offering participation in leagues where personal ratings are distributed.

3. Free Chess Tournaments

Contrary to what people may intuitively think, some chess tournaments are free of charge. Most of the time, these tournaments are held online for promotional reasons. As such, it is important to first find a free chess server online and practice your chess game before joining a tournament.

4. Download Free Chess Software

Another way to play chess for free is to download a free chess program. These programs often offer two player capabilities, either locally or online. The benefit of these programs, however, is the ability to play against a computer of different skill levels at any given time, even without the Internet! In fact, many computers come default with a chess program such as this. If your computer does not, finding one is as simple as an online search.

Finding ways to play chess for free can both keep money in your wallet and improve your chess game massively. While free chess at a competitive level is hard to find, playing online can offer invaluable practice against players of all skills.

Online Chess Game

The traditional chess game involves two players sitting across from each other, ready to both impose their strategy on the opponent and stifle the strategy of their opponent. This intense mental competition stimulates the mind of both players, making the game of chess one of the most intellectual games in the world.

Playing an online chess game is a bit different, however. Similar to online poker, where poker players can see thousands of hands per day and build their knowledge base of each situation, an online chess game is a building block of a chess player’s knowledge base. Unlike playing a traditional game of chess in person, online chess games push the game to a very simplistic form, depersonalizing each move and strategy to a graphical change on the virtual chessboard. So why would you choose to play an online chess game over a normal game? Here are some reasons to consider:

1. Convenience

Playing online chess games offers convenience that is unmatched by traditional, in-person chess games. There are many free chess games to be found on the Internet, allowing players all over the world to play with other players. An online chess game also allows players of all skill levels to play with other players either of any level, allowing a multitude of options to test their own skill and the efficacy of certain strategies.

2. Repetition

Online chess games allow chess players to play a constant stream of games. This allows them to constantly test new strategies and practice new tactics. As with any competitive sport, chess requires constant repetition and practice to reach a competitive level. For example, in football, players run drills to train their mind and body to be able to perform flawlessly over and over. The drills allow them to prepare to reach a certain mindset and develop muscle memory. In chess, practice develops a mental memory of certain strategies and positions, especially those that pop up more than once.

3. Simplification

When playing chess in person, advanced chess players can read their opponent and develop a specific strategy adapted to their opponent’s playing style. Online chess games simplify the game of chess by removing the physical presence of the opponent. This allows a chess player to train based on the position of the pieces and not be affected by the opponent. Mastering the technical and mathematical aspect of chess allows players to make moves that give them the best chance to win. Advanced players must have this ability on top of the ability to read their opponent. There is a reason people compare mental competitions to a game of chess!

Playing an online chess game can be very different than playing a traditional chess game in person. It offers the convenience to play against any person at any time, the ability to practice through repetition, and simplifies the game to allows players to start from the ground up.

Chess Tactics

Learning to play chess involves many different things ranging from mental preparation, diligent study, and practice. However, to become an advanced chess player, a player must have a complete understanding of basic tactics. In fact, many beginning players lose games due to critical tactical errors that can be as simple as losing a piece by leaving it undefended.

Tactics represent a large part of the game of chess. Chess tactics allow, for example, for a player to capture an opposing piece without losing the piece that captured it. This extra piece advantage can be the different between a win or a loss. In advanced chess, few players leave pieces unguarded, unless it is a trap. Instead, players need to set up tactics in order to take advantage of the opponent’s carelessness. For example, simple knight fork (a fork is a tactic where a piece is able to capture two different pieces from a single position) can force the opponent to choose between two pieces that are left unguarded.

Not all tactics are aimed to capture other pieces. Some tactics improve the position of a player, allowing them to better put together and attack or to defend important pieces. These moves are considered strategic moves. In chess, both strategic and tactical moves are important, but tactics are significantly more important. The ability to set up traps and tactics that take opponents pieces will leave your opponent in fear.

Listed below are the 4 most basic chess tactics that a new player can learn:

1. En Prise

An en prise is the most common and simplistic tactic of chess. Piece that are en prise are attacked but not defended, leading to the most simple move in chess — the capture of an undefended piece. For example, if a player leaves a bishop undefended in the same column as a rook, the rook can take the en prise bishop.

2. Forks

Forks are another simple tactic which involves a piece attacking two or more pieces at the same time. Knights are best known for their ability to fork multiple pieces at once, but every piece has such an ability. The fork forces the opposing player to decide between two pieces.

3. Pins

Pins are another common tactic that, like forks, force movement on the opponent’s part. A pin is characterized by an attack of a piece in such a way that if it moves, a more valuable piece is exposed. There are two types of pins: absolute pins and relative pins. Absolute pins are when a player pins a king, making it illegal to move the defending piece. A relative pin is when the defended piece is another more valuable piece, such as a queen.

4. Skewers

Skewers are built similarly to pins, but instead pin a less valuable piece behind a more valuable piece. This forces the opposing player to move the valuable piece to a safe spot, leaving the less valuable piece undefended and ready for capture.

Anatomy of a Chess Game

A chess game between two advanced chess players is one of the most intriguing things in the world. Left on the board are signs of brilliance and of mistakes, of tactics and counter tactics, strategies and anti-strategies. Some even claim to have seen signs of mental sweat on the chess board!

For many people, however, chess games are confusing and, in their eyes, uneventful. The tactics and strategy fly right over their head because they are uneducated about the basics of a chess game. It shouldn’t be surprising that these observers are overwhelmed, as chess games (especially between two chess masters) are extremely complicated and deep.

The anatomy of a chess game is broken down into three distinct phases: the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. In each of these phases, each player has different goals, tactics, and cautions.

Opening

The opening of a chess game is a group of initial moves by each player, often referred to as the “opening moves.” During this phase of the game, players often use a sequence of moves called “openings.” There are many different openings, most of which an advanced player can recognize quite easily, each of which lead to a different strategy in the latter parts of the game.

In the opening of chess games, players aim to develop an optimal position, control the center of the board, protect their king, and develop pawn structure. As such, most players consider White to have a competitive advantage. Having the first move allows the player to choose any opening they choose for the chess game.

Middlegame

The middlegame immediately follows the end of opening theory, when each piece and is developed and in a position. The players then have the ability to assess their position as well as develop proper tactics and strategy to gain the advantage.

In the middlegame, players aim to reduce the amount of pieces on the board without losing their strategic position and advantage. The phase is also where most combinations, or sequences of moves, are used.

Endgame

The endgame is the phase of the chess game when most pieces are gone from the board, and only a few pieces are left. This part of the game determines the winner of the chess game, or a draw, if applicable, as it ends with one of the players’ king being checkmated.

During the endgame, players focus more attention on their pawns (and attempts to promote the pawns). The king also becomes more powerful, often protecting its own pawns and attack opposing pawns. Endgames are classified according to the pieces left on the board. Examples of this include “king and pawn endgames” or “rook and pawn versus rook endgames.”

These 3 phases of chess games make up every chess game that is played. Advanced players will strategize and prepare not only for the beginning of the game (the opening), but the middlegame and endgame as well. This builds versatility in the player and allows him or her to adapt to different situations in all chess games.