Simple chess guide
How to get better at chess for beginners
A beginner chess plan for players who know the rules and still lose pieces for free. Read the whole board, ask one question before each move, play slower, write one line.
By Bing ChengWritten with AI assistance; chess positions checked by script and game facts traced to the code.
Start here
Use a short daily routine in a fixed order. Read the whole board before you think about your move, ask one safety question, play games slow enough to do both, and write one line after each game. Openings come last.
What you will learn
- Stop leaving pieces where they can be taken for free before you study any opening.
- One line after each game tells you whether the board reading, the move question or the pace failed.
Who this is for
- You know how the pieces move and lose most games to a piece left hanging.
- You have watched opening videos and cannot say why you still lose.
- You want a fixed order of things to work on, not a list of options.
Where beginner games are actually lost
A lost piece outweighs whatever the opening gave you. When you lose one, look at where it stood and whether it could be taken for free.
Here is one example. Your knight on f3 is pinned to your queen on d1 by a bishop on g4. Black pushes a pawn from e5 to e4, and the pawn attacks the knight.
The knight can step away, but then the bishop takes the queen on d1. No opening book fixes that.
Two habits do. Seeing every piece that is currently attacked, and checking your intended move against the reply before you play it.
Stage 1. Hold the whole board in your head
If you look only at the piece you are moving and the square it goes to, the rest of the board gets no look at all. A Memory Chess round asks for the opposite, because it gives you the whole position and nothing else.
A round shows a position for a fixed number of seconds, then clears the board and asks you to rebuild it. The game counts a piece as correct only when its square, its type and its colour all match the original.
Placing more pieces than the position had costs points. Put five pieces on a 4-piece round and ten points come off your accuracy, however many of the five are right.
That makes the round a test of what you read, not of what you can guess.
In one study, students who tested themselves on a passage remembered more days later than students who studied it again, though not five minutes later.
about 4 minutes
Four pieces, read out loud
Play 4 pieces with 10 seconds to look, 5 rounds. While the position is up, say each piece and its square out loud, like white knight c3. Then rebuild it.
Aim for: Five rounds at 100 percent before you raise the piece count.
about 5 minutes
Six pieces, same ten seconds
Play 6 pieces with 10 seconds to look, 5 rounds. Keep naming every piece aloud, and start with the two kings so they are never the ones you miss.
Aim for: Five rounds at 100 percent, then move on to eight.
about 6 minutes
Eight pieces, where this stage stops
Play 8 pieces with 10 seconds to look, 5 rounds. Naming every piece gets tight here, so name the pairs that attack or guard each other.
Aim for: Most rounds at 100 percent. This is the ceiling this guide asks for.
The three drills above are the whole progression. The count grows from 4 to 6 to 8 while the 10 seconds stay fixed.
Stage 2. One question before every move
The question is always the same. After this move, what can the opponent take or attack for free? Ask it on every move, including the boring ones.
To answer it, name the piece your opponent just moved and the new squares it now attacks. A bishop that arrives on c4 looks at f7. A queen that reaches h5 looks at f7 too, and at e5 and h7.
Then look at your own move the same way. The piece you move stops guarding what it guarded. A knight on f3 guards e5, so moving it can leave a pawn on e5 loose.
- 01Say the opponent's last move and every new square it attacks.
- 02Pick your move, but do not play it yet.
- 03Ask what they can take or attack for free after it, including anything the moving piece used to guard.
- 04If the answer is anything at all, pick again.
Stage 3. Play slow enough to use the question
A 3-minute game that lasts 40 moves leaves you under 5 seconds a move. The question can take longer than that while it is new, so blitz makes it easy to skip.
Play 15 minutes with a 10-second increment, or longer. One game a day at that speed is enough for this stage.
At 15+10 there is time to ask the question on every move. At 5+0 there is not. That gap is the whole reason this stage exists.
Stage 4. One line after every game
Skip the full engine review for now. Find the move where you lost a piece or missed a check, and write one line about it.
The line names the stage that failed. Did not look at the board, did not ask the question, or asked it and rushed. Keep the lines in one place.
After ten games, count which stage the lines name most often. That is what you practise next, and the guide on analysing games turns the line into a routine.
Four weeks in the right order
- 01
Week 1
4 minutes plus one slow game
Five rounds of 4 pieces, 10 seconds, each piece named out loud. Then one 15+10 game with the question asked before every move. One line afterwards.
- 02
Week 2
5 minutes plus one slow game
Five rounds of 6 pieces, 10 seconds. Same game, same question. Read your week 1 lines before you play.
- 03
Week 3
6 minutes plus one slow game
Five rounds of 8 pieces, 10 seconds. In the game, also name what your moving piece stops guarding before you move it.
- 04
Week 4
6 minutes plus one slow game
Keep the 8-piece rounds. Count your lines by stage. Whichever stage appears most is your first job next month.
When openings finally earn their place
Openings matter once your pieces stop disappearing for free. Until then a memorised line can take you to move ten with a position you cannot yet hold in your head.
When you get there, keep it small. For white, play e4 and bring the knights out before the bishops. For black, answer e4 with e5 and d4 with d5.
Learn the reason for each move before you learn the next one. When your opponent leaves the book, the reasons are what you still have to go on.
Keep learning
What to learn next
Reduce blunders
How to Stop Blundering in Chess
A longer checklist for stage 2 once the single question is automatic.
Train memory
Chess Memory Training: A Ladder Built on the Game's Own Scoring
More memory rounds for players who want to push stage 1 past eight pieces.
Build a daily routine
20-Minute Daily Chess Study Plan for Beginners
Twenty fixed minutes of memory rounds, slow puzzles, one replayed game and a written line, without the slow game.
Build a daily routine
How to Analyze Chess Games for Beginners
What to do with the one line from stage 4.
Build a daily routine
How Many Chess Puzzles a Day Should Beginners Do?
How to size the puzzle habit that sits beside these stages.
Common questions
FAQ
How long before this shows up in my rating?
Rating moves slowly and depends on who you are paired with, so it is a poor weekly signal. Count hanging pieces per game instead, from your stage 4 lines.
Is Memory Chess enough on its own?
No. It trains reading the board, which is stage 1. Stages 2 to 4 happen in real games and nothing replaces them.
Should I do puzzles too?
Yes, a few a day, solved slowly. The guide on how many puzzles a day explains how to set the count from the minutes you have.
What piece count should I stop at?
Eight pieces at 10 seconds is enough for this guide. Higher counts are for players who want the memory skill for its own sake.
Reference links
- Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention
Supports the claim in stage 1 that tested students remembered a passage better than restudying students days later, though not after five minutes.