About how to play chess online.
Of course, to play chess online is not as easy as you first think.
That's because chess web sites must accomodate players from all
time zones all over the world. Your opponent may be on the other
side of the planet. You want to play in the evening. To them, it
is early morning.
Outside the developed world, many players do not have home computers.
They must play from computers at work or school, or in Internet
cafes. Therefore, they do not have the luxury of responding
right away.
It takes time to think out their move, then maybe more time before they
are online again to actually record their move. And you are sound
asleep or in a Chemistry class.
Unfortunately, under such circumstances it's difficult to be sure
that the other player is being honest.
Because you cannot see them, you can't know whether or not they
are consulting a book, some chess software or a buddy. I look
upon playing chess online as a learning experience, not as
an exact of determining my rating.
You do not have the ability to watch your opponent, as you do
in a regular game or chess tournament, when you can see their
face, register their body language, observe them as they smile
or frown on focus on their board.
But with over 300 places to play chess online, there are many
sites to check out. Some are free, some charge, and some
offer free services with a paid premium option.
Some of the sites require you to use some kind of software,
others don't.
Since it is so difficult to get together with someone and play
a game in real time, you can always play more than one game
at a time.
Or you can play blitz chess, where the time limits are much much
shorter. The games go very fast.
I think that to improve your chess game, you should alternate.
Play some games where you can take your time to think, study,
plan and strategize. To remember everything you're read about
how to play well.
Once you've internalised some chess strategies, play blitz to
force yourself to reinforce them in your brain by playing them
so fast you barely have time to think.
Then analyze those games and your mistakes -- study more, then
go play some more standard games to raise your playing level.
Of course, you can also play chess online against a computer
instead of a human being.
You can also check out my other chess blogs --
history of chess, chess theory pdf, and
Russian chess masters