Archive for the ‘Chess Resources’ Category
Chess for the Lonely…
May 31st, 2010 | 
Author: Chess is not a game that works for everyone. Some people are not able to strategize or remember all the moves. Some people simply find it boring. If you are a chess lover unlucky enough to find yourself without an ample supply of opponents, don’t fret. There are plenty of options out there for the lonely chess player.
Online Chess
There are many websites devoted solely to online chess playing. These websites offer round the clock options for players of all skills and locations. With millions of players worldwide, you will always be able to find a willing opponent. In addition, you can visit with other players via chats and forums, and can compete in tournaments. For more information about online chess, and for a list of suggested websites, see the article on Online Chess.
Chess Against the Computer
Many sites also offer chess games that you play against a computer. Sites such as Yahoo offer computer based chess games, and some computers even come with a chess game in the startup menu. These computer games can be adjusted for easy to difficult play. The quality of the games may differ from site to site, and truly advanced players may not find these games challenging after a while.
Electronic Chess Boards
If you are more traditional and prefer your chess pieces to be tangible, you may want to invest in an electronic chess board. An electronic chess board looks very much like a traditional chess board, except they contain circuits and a small computer. The circuits respond to the position of the pieces on the board, and the computer calculates moves from that information. The program works very much like a computer game you play on your actual PC, but you have actual pieces to move. Of course, you will have to move the computer’s pieces. There are generally light or voice systems that tell you which move the computer is making.
These games range from about $50 all the way up to a couple hundred dollars. The difference in price has to do just as much with the design and technology of the board as it does with the difficulty of the programming. When shopping for an electronic chess board, you should pay attention to the features offered. Choose a game with the option and features you need, not the most stylish looking board out there. You may find that the lower priced games work just fine.
Chess Video Games
Of course, you can always purchase a chess game for your video game console. Since you can play chess easily online, many people do not opt to purchase chess games for their Nintendo or PlayStation. But, for the true chess lover, these options do exist. In fact, Nintendo recently released Wii Chess for its most current game console, although the game is currently only available in Europe.
Online Chess Resources for Beginners
There are many resources available online for those wanting to learn to play chess or enhance their chess playing skills. You can find a wealth of information on strategy, moves, and anything else chess related. Some great places to start your search include:
This website covers just about everything chess related. Chess basics, chess games, chess organizations, chess history, and important people related to chess. If there is ever anything you wanted to learn about chess, this is the place to start.
There are almost a thousand chess related articles located here. Articles cover topics ranging from beginning chess and strategy to fun and trivia! There are even articles that give a blow-by-blow account of some of the best chess games played. You can learn chess tricks almost first-hand from reviewing these game accounts.
www.geocities.com/rookknightrook/ChessArticlesDavidCohen.htm
This website contains many small articles related to chess. The articles are primarily devoted to chronicling various chess achievements.
chessproblem.my-free-games.com/chess/games/ChessArticles.php
Not only does this website have a selection of chess related articles, Bruno also updates each day with a “Chess problem of the day”. If you don’t have time to read a lot of articles, you may want to drop in occasionally for this quick, mini-lesson in chess.
Children can learn to play chess and become active in online chess with this colorful, fun site designed specifically for them.
Not big on reading? Instead of learning to play chess with articles online or through reading a book, you can learn to play while watching videos online! In addition to training videos from master level chess players, this site also offers a variety of chess tools, including a diagram generator.