Chess

About 2 or 3 weeks ago some user made a thread about chess and got me playing it. But shortly after making an account at Chess.com I found that it was a money grubbing site that has pay walls at every lesson they teach. Is there a better site to learn chess at? I really like the way they set up the tactics lessons but I dont want to do one 10 minute lesson a day only to be told you cant do the "integral" 3rd lesson because a premium 15 shekel account is required to advance.

Also if any anons have some tips on strong openings that aren't d5 or e5 that can trip up players and general chess talk please be welcomed to comment.

do you play on lichess? it's free, you can play anonymously, and they have end game puzzles.

Openings are branches, not just one move. If you really want to get better, play against people who are stronger than you and learn from each mistake.

Activate your powerful pieces and don't attack. It's super boring and safe but that's how you win.

I prefer D4. I've got a few books on the Slavic but it's a cucked opening. It sucks because you don't know that until you've invested hours and hours on the branches.

Also you can't open with D5 dumbass.

Trump can do 8D

I know you can't open on D5, I caught that as I posted and kicked myself not like anyone is posting in this thread anyways I like to open with Knight to F3 and then Kight to C3. It's a strong open and somewhat unorthodox comparatively to say, the Sicilian. I've played maybe 20 games in my whole life, 16 just last week and I can say that the majority of 900-1300 players have the biggest hardon for the Sicilian. I want to fuck with that and do something they haven't seen before. But alas, modern chess is 6 centuries old and its impossible to pioneer new ideas in such a game. I just hope to catch some players off guard and maybe get an impressive ranking. I wish I had played this as a child instead of sitting inside and playing vidja.

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I couldn't find a good OP pic so I made it. Somewhat regret it because I never really like that meme or memes in general but I thought that it would catch the eye on the catalog. And yes, exactly like RuPaul.

Sicilian is solid and worth spending time playing. Go on blitz and commit it to muscle memory, trying each variation for yourself to see what works.

That's all the books and lessons are anyways. Theory. Unless you are seriously autistic, you'll learn more by doing then reading.

You won't really "surprise" a player who is better than you with some trick, either. It's more about having better pieces in better positions and understanding why they're better than your opponent does.

I'm not trying to "suprise" my opponents. Just try out different openings than popular consensus. But you're 100% right, I just wanted to do something different than what is expected of you. The game state has to be pretty bleak for Sicilian to be the best option all of the time. If you're white what do you open with? And if its Sicilian what other openings do you mull. Queens Gambit?

I'm uncomfortable outside of Queen's pawn openings to be honest. D4, E4, knight F3, get the bishop out, castle, start setting up an attack on F, G, H files. Basic stuff.

I remember a quirky opening where you move all your pawns two ranks before anything else, which if you do right in blitz and put them out in correct sequence quickly translates into a dominating position because most blitz players are just attack attack attack and before they know it your all developed.

I guess I don't think too hard about each opening properly, I just adapt based on what the other guy is doing. I could definitely improve here.

Watch Ben Finegold. He's a jew obviously, but he teaches kids chess and these kids have most beginner mistakes that you will. He teaches with tough love.