New to Chess, and finally got a win on one of my friends I play casuals with. Any advice?

I play Chess fairly often, I am actually more of a fighting game player (think stuff like Street Fighter, a little bit of Tekken, etc), but I want to get better at Chess because to me, it offers a very different dial (mentally, mainly) than the FG genre. FGs are definitely mentally demanding and very chess-like, but also require a bit of dexterity and lightning-fast decision making. I appreciate Chess more for its slower pace and more methodical approach.

I realize that I probably likely do need to bunker down and learn some opening theory and study middle-game strategies. I am interested if there's any good YT channels that go into it in-depth.

Thanks!

"learn some opening theory"

• No, not necessary or even helpful. Just follow opening principles. Play to control the center, it is like high ground. Play your d- and e-paws, develop your knights, find good spots for your bishops, castle to bring your king to safety and connect your rooks, last but not least find an active square for your queen.

"and study middle-game strategies"

• Not really necessary. Just blunder check before you move: make sure your intended move does not lose any material or runs into checkmate before you play it. You should however study basic endgames. There are some here on lichess.

Read books, but good books which make you improve

"... I am not a big fan of weaker players memorizing lots of opening lines they will never play. However, it is quite a different issue to spend a small amount of time learning how to play your openings a little better each time they occur. A long journey begins with a single step. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2005)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627023809/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman50.pdf
"... Review each of your games, identifying opening (and other) mistakes with the goal of not repeatedly making the same mistake. ... It is especially critical not to continually fall into opening traps – or even lines that result in difficult positions ... Read many annotated game collections ... By looking at entire games, the aspiring player learns about openings, middlegames, and endgames all at one fell swoop. Playing through annotated games spurs improvement as the reader learns how good players consistently handle common positions and problems. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627062646/https://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman81.pdf
"... Logical Chess [(Batsford edition by Chernev)] ... a collection of 33 games ... is definitely for beginners and players who are just starting to learn about development, weak squares, the centre, standard attacking ideas, and the like. In many ways, it would [be] a wonderful 'first' book (or first 'serious' book, after the ones which teach the rules and elementary mates, for example), and a nice gift for a young player just taking up chess. ..." - IM John Watson (1999)
https://theweekinchess.com/john-watson-reviews/assorted-recent-books
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1004861
[Event "casual rapid game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/EDAnDED3"] [Date "2026.07.28"] [White "EurekaSevven"] [Black "thenadertwo"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1695"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "600+5"] [ECO "B10"] [Annotator "lichess.org"] 1 e4 c6 2 f3 d5 3 Bd3 Be6 4 e5 Nd7 5 Ne2 ...
You played your first 5 moves at an average rate that would have made sense if you had expected the game to last for 166 moves. In a 10+5 game, you could average 13 seconds per move and have enough time for 75 moves.
Maybe, you can find something useful at https://lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/how-to-improve-18 or https://lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/i-need-advice?page=2 .

(@)kindaspongey: 'In a 10+5 game, you could average 13 seconds per move and have enough time for 75 moves.' ~ Or, you could spent ninety plus percent of your time by move thirty--forty, have a winning position, and convert your win while leeching off of increment.

I suggest that you use spaces to separate your paragraphs; it makes for more efficient, pleasant reading.

Incidentally Eureka, it's good that you saw the possibility of mating by lining up your bishop with your queen; but Black could've foiled your intention by playing 25... f5 (26 Rxf5 Qxf5 27 Qxf5 Rxf5 28 Bxf5 Bxb5; or 26 Qxe5 Rd5 followed by capturing the knight). Also 25... g6 was doubtless good enough.

The game in #1 looks like a 1100 rated game. So at that level, the most important thing is breadth, not depth. Mastering the basics.

Foundations:
Thinking process:

1. Blunder check! Free win check! Look at checks/captures/threats by both sides. Count the defenders, point at the hanging pieces, basic exercises like that. (Helps build visualization)
2. Consider multiple candidate moves and choose the one you think is best. Many people try to find one good move, look for multiple good moves and choose the one you like the most. (Helps build calculation and visualization)

Goals:

1. Opening: focus on controlling the center, remember to take free pawns, and Develop!
2. Middlegame: Don't blunder. (If you're stuck, there are many idea to learn like attacking, improving your worst piece, making a battery, controlling a file, and especially understanding how to use your pawns, this comes with practice)
3. Endgame: Advance and promote! Take pawns! (Tip: Get your rooks active, not passive)

@kindaspongey said in #4:

... [Event "casual rapid game"] [Site "https://lichess.org/EDAnDED3"] [Date "2026.07.28"] [White "EurekaSevven"] [Black "thenadertwo"] [WhiteElo "1500"] [BlackElo "1695"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "600+5"] [ECO "B10"] [Annotator "lichess.org"] 1 e4 c6 2 f3 d5 3 Bd3 Be6 4 e5 Nd7 5 Ne2 ...
You played your first 5 moves at an average rate that would have made sense if you had expected the game to last for 166 moves. In a 10+5 game, you could average 13 seconds per move and have enough time for 75 moves. ...

@shadow1414 said in #5:

... Or, you could spent ninety plus percent of your time by move thirty--forty, have a winning position, and convert your win while leeching off of increment. ...

Well, either way, it would be somewhat different from getting into an over-2-point disadvantage after playing 5 moves at ~9 seconds per move.
By the way, I suspect that many players could not expect to dependably "have a winning position" in a 10+5 game after 35 moves played at an average of ~21 seconds per move. One could try, but some might understandably not like the gamble.

Stop play vs stockfish.
Stop play correspondent games.
Press 10+5 in main menu.
(8 win, 250 lose, omg, no rating calibrated)

@EurekaSevven I think you should play rated games to find opponents of similar skill