Instructional Chess Links

The resources on this page will help you learn more so you can get more out of chess — including The Basics, General Instruction, Scholastic Chess and Annotated Games. In many places, the materials will be as useful to coaches as to students.

The Basics

Chess Is Fun by Jon Edwards
A comprehensive introduction to chess, covering the moves of the pieces, the openings, the middlegame, and the ending. Excellent.

Chess Corner
A great site for those starting out, with everything you need.

Chess Haven
Offers some good instructive articles on some basic issues like chess notation.

Chess Warrior
Features short online movies to show how the pieces move. Slow to download on a modem, but a great idea.

Chessmayne Chess Dictionary
A useful reference for those new to the game, offering links or brief definitions to common or obscure chess terminology.

Rules of Chess from Chess Variants
A very nicely designed page explaining the basic rules of the game.

Basics of Chess
Tutorials for beginning and intermediate players. The advanced site was not ready when I visited.

General Instruction

The Instructor by Mark Dvoretsky
A wonderful series of articles at Chess Cafe. You can also download previous articles or see them at the Chess Cafe Archives.

Advice on Improving Your Game by GM Jon Levitt

Chess Kit
One of the most complete and well designed instructional sites.

Chess Corner Tutorial
Many tutorials here, from basic to intermediate, with some good opening coverage.

Exeter Chess Club
These coaching pages offer great advice to young and beginning players.

365 Chess Lessons
John Coffey’s chess pages.

Chess Trainer
From the Euwe Chess Academy of India. The site features several Online Lectures and Sample Lessons that are really worth checking out.

Chess Lessons from Beginner to Master
More from the Logical Chess site.

Chess for Success
Beginner, intermediate, and advanced chess theory with good diagrams and explanations.

Chess Land
A good collection of tutorials and links for learners.

Chess Doctor
Scroll down for the lessons section.

Dan Heisman
Home page of the NM, writer, and chess coach.

ChessWise.com
Great site for club players with both free and paid chess lessons and other features.

Claude Kaber’s Page
See the section on Chess Training especially.

Just Chess
A light commercial site with a beginner focus features puzzles, tutorials, and news.

Chess Dominion
A text-based site that explains the game to beginners and offers a chance to philosophize about what chess is all about.

Chess Tips for the Lazy and Stupid
Tips on the opening, the middlegame and ending.

GM Chess School
Alexander Khalifman’s coaching site.

Chess Kit
A growing site devoted to a wide range of players, with good tutorials for beginners.

Scholastic Chess Links

Benefits of Chess
For chess coaches or teachers who want to make the case that chess is good for kids.

Chess for Schools
Like the entry above, this article offers authoritative support for the benefits of scholastic chess.

The 64 Square Jungle by ChessDad64
A wonderful blog by a committed “chess dad” designed to promote chess among kids and their parents in Illinois and focused on the Chicago-area scholastic chess scene. Well written and interesting.

Chess in the Schools
A model program of academic-based chess instruction.

Scholastic Chess, “An Inquisitive Mind” by Steve Goldberg
The first in what promises to be a new series at ChessCafe devoted to Scholastic Chess.

Scholastics and the Soul of Chess by Tom Braunlich
An interesting counter-point to Goldberg’s piece, above. Braunlich offers a very interesting meditative essay about the way scholastic chess has altered the landscape of American chess generally and kept the U.S. out of the top tier of world competition by channeling funds more broadly to all kids rather than narrowly to the most promising. It is both an interesting argument and a great history of scholastic chess.

Academic Chess
A fun site with lots of kid-friendly graphics.

Kid Chess
A fun site with a newsletter and other features.

Chess for Juniors
Robert Snyder’s chess pages, intended to promote his instructional services.

Chess Class
Advice on teaching chess to kids.

Chess Kids Academy
A good site for kids and young beginners, with information for schools, parents, and players. A kid-friendly site, though registration is required for some areas.

Chess FAQs, Chess Guide, Chess for Parents, Chess for Kids
J. Duif Calvin’s FAQs pages

National Scholastic Chess Foundation
The place to go for Scholastic Chess in the U.S.

New York Chess Kids
A scholastic chess page with news, links, and features.

U.S. Chess Center
The home page of the D.C.-based scholastic chess organization.

Scholastic Chess: Beginners and Improving Your Play
The USCFs page for those new to the game offers some useful information and links.

Games and Analysis

50 Chess Games for Beginners by Douglass and Ian MacGregor
Some very instructive games here.

Kasparov vs The World
Probably the single most analyzed game in history! Kasparov took on the world via the internet and played an amazingly deep game to win. If you have time to wade through some of the enormous commentary, this site is really worth studying. You can’t help but learn something from the game and the analysis.

Logical Chess in Every Move
Several games with annotations for every move.

Best Games of the Best Players
Annotated games by some of the best known players in the game. Learn about the players while you learn more about the game.

Master Move
Play through games by taking on the challenge of guessing the best move. An interactive online chess quiz.

Chess Solutions – Free Manuals
Two free e-books to download.