What are the top 5 tips you would give a chess player just starting out?

The author has not played chess for 2 years. Suddenly he comes to the forum and writes one message. After that it disappears. He doesn’t read the answers, he’s not there, he’s disappeared for several days, he doesn’t want to read the answers. He ended up here by accident.

@RemRus said in #20:

... If a player comes to the Lichess website and asks for advice on Lichess, he is obliged to ...

Who makes the rules around here?

@RemRus said in #21:

... he doesn’t want ...

Who is an authority on what others want?

@futurechessgoat said in #1:

... when do you know its right time to castle? Some people suggest do it as early as possible, some say do it later in the game and others say it doesn't really matter when you do it. ...

Authorities have been able to give advice on that subject:
"... One of the three golden rules of the opening is to ensure king safety. In the majority of cases this means simply tucking up the king safely by castling. However, it's not always quite as simple as that. Sometimes when you castle early you have to be careful not to run into an attack by, say, inviting a pawn storm. Similarly, when the pawn centre is closed and your king is in no immediate danger in the middle of the board, on occasion it pays to keep your options open regarding whether to castle 'short' or 'long'. ..." - Discovering Chess Openings (2006) by GM John Emms

@futurechessgoat said in #1:

... I can easily fit in 3-4 games a day, 7 days a week if I wanted to but is that overkill? ...

"... To maintain good form this should mean, ideally, around 50-70 'real' tournament games played face to face with a living opponent. Of course this is not possible for everybody; ...
... supplement real games with a mix of online correspondence and the internet chess played at a slower time limit, ...
...
... To maintain good form you need at least 150 hours serious playing time per annum. ..." - 10 Great Ways to get Better at Chess (2010) by GM Nigel Davies

"... One 15+10 game [(per day)] is enough." - tpr (#3)

"... 3-4 a day is good. And analyze them afterwards. ..." - PureProgressionFTW (#4)

@keegers2 said ^

1. Only play bullet and blitz with no increment. You don't have to make good moves just make non-losing moves really fast.

2. Chess books are boring, spend the money on cool things like Beyblades instead.

3. A blunder is just a sacrifice in disguise.

4. Hanging a piece is expected and encouraged.

5. Avoid coaching. No one knows you better than you know yourself. You'll figure it out.

this advice would only work on April first :)

(@)futurechessgoat: 1. Pick a few openings ---one for White, one as Black against 1. e4, 1. d4, 1. c4, etc.--- and stick to them to gain experience.

2. Play 15+10/30+20.

3. Use all of your time. When there is increment, going under five seconds is not a problem; leech off of increment and win on position.

4. Analyze the games: wins, draws, and loses. First, use only your own thoughts; then, move the pieces to test your thoughts; then, use the engine.

5. Do regular meditation and physical exercise.

(@)PureProgressionFTW: 'Playing less frequently (only a few games a week) you won't build enough momentum' ~ That momentum can be build up via game analyzes.

(@)kindaspongey: 'The results may not be so good just relying on the 10-second increment from move 31 on' ~ If someone cannot convert a winning position via a ten-second increment ---a three-second increment, even--- then they are the problem, not the strategy.

'(especially if the opponent has averaged 30 seconds per move and still has a 5-minute time reserve).' ~ A time reserve that they will use to try to survive, since their opponent ---assuming that they have thought properly while using their time--- has a much better position than someone who handicapped themselves to staying above five minutes.

'Authorities have been able to give advice on that subject' ~ One does not need to be an, 'authority' to give advice. If you only draw wisdom from a certain type of group of people, then it becomes stale and rigid; this is a paraphrased version of what Uncle Iroh from ATLA said.

(@)keegers2: 'Only play bullet and blitz with no increment' ~ Fast time-controls are good for movement speed and intuition. Other than that, they are not helpful.

'Chess books are boring' ~ That is subjective.

'spend the money on cool things like Beyblades instead.' ~ Beyblades are cool, but how will they help with chess improvement?

'A blunder is just a sacrifice in disguise.' ~ A sacrifice is a blunder until proven otherwise.

(@)RemRus: 'Don't go to your opponent's half of the board.' ~ That is like saying, 'If you are bad at dribbling in football, then you should immediately pass the ball when you get it.' A better solution: practice dribbling.

'Dont attack.' ~ Attack when it is the optimal choice.

@RemRus said ^

I play mostly rapid 10 minutes game

You're lying. You don't have a single game like this. You haven't played for 4 years. Start playing.

1. Press 10+5 in main menu 15 times

I played most of my chess games on chess.com. But yeah past few years I haven't played much at all but will do more games this year and next year

@lizani said ^

1 Join a chess club
2 Play time controls that gives you enough time to make quality moves
3 Analyse your games
4 Analyse the games of strong GMs
5 Watch live tournament streams for free GM advice

Thanks for the advice everyone

1. Sounds like a great idea. Theres a few chess clubs at my local library, maybe I will check it out soon
2. Great suggestion, I might mix in both shorter and longer 30 minute games
3. Already do this, but will spend more time and do it more in depth
4. Tried a few times, but it does get really complicated at times
5. Good idea. I always was under the impression the GM games and advice would be more suited for the experienced players looking to be even more skilled. But I will take this advice. I watch some grandmasters games and videos, mainly out of curiosity and entertainment rather than careful analysis

1. Play slower time controls, at least 15+10.
2. Blunder check before EVERY move.
3. Analyse your games well, especially losses. Analyse with your brain before the engine.
4. Stick to a few good openings and castle early.
5. Do tactics puzzles. (But don't overestimate them, since it's very different from a real game where nobody tells you there's a tactic.)

@tpr said in #3:

... 1. Play 15+10 time control.
2. Use all your time before move 30 and finish on increment. ...

@kindaspongey said in #5:

... The results may not be so good just relying on the 10-second increment from move 31 on (especially if the opponent has averaged 30 seconds per move and still has a 5-minute time reserve).

@shadow1414 said in #24:

... A time reserve that they will use to try to survive, since their opponent ---assuming that they have thought properly while using their time--- has a much better position than someone who handicapped themselves to staying above five minutes. ...

What reason is there to assume that thought will be proper as assessed by shadow1414 and the position will be as described by shadow1414?

@futurechessgoat said in #1:

... when do you know its right time to castle? Some people suggest do it as early as possible, some say do it later in the game and others say it doesn't really matter when you do it. ...

@kindaspongey said in #22:

Authorities have been able to give advice on that subject:
"...

@shadow1414 said in #24:

... One does not need to be an, 'authority' to give advice. ...

I entirely agree.

@lizani said in #2:

... Analyse the games of strong GMs ...

@futurechessgoat said in #26:

... Tried a few times, but it does get really complicated at times ...

"... [annotated games are] infinitely more useful than bare game scores. However, annotated games vary widely in quality. Some are excellent study material. Others are poor. But the most numerous fall into a third category - good-but-wrong-for-you. ... You want games with annotations that answer the questions that baffle you the most. ... masters usually don't make the kind of instructive mistakes that amateurs learn the most from. In master-vs.-master games, the errors are usually minor and the punishment is so slow coming that the educational value is often lost. ... there are major advantages to studying older games rather than those of today. The ideas expressed in a Rubinstein or Capablanca game are generally easier to understand. They are usually carried out to their logical end, often in a memorable way, ... In today's chess, the defense is much better. That may sound good. But it means that the defender's counterplay will muddy the waters and dilute the instructional value of the game. ..." - GM Andrew Soltis (2010)

@futurechessgoat said ^

will do more games this year and next year

Next year? In order to play 15 games you need 3 months?

1. join a club

2. go play there in person as often as you can

3. analyze the games you play there with your opponent

4. if the club has lectures, go, sit in the front and ask questions like it's a private lesson

5. Play in club tournaments and ask a strong player there to go over your games with you
   if you cant join a physical club,

6. play correspondence and study in books annotated games, endings, middlegames strategy, .... analogous to the positions in your games

7. try to go play in in person tournaments

8. By then you'll know what you need to do next.

Bill