Preface

Why I Wrote This Book

I first learnt to play chess when I was around nine years old. Or, perhaps more accurately, I learnt how the pieces moved and understood the basic idea of checkmate. Beyond that, I really didn't know very much.

At school, many of the other children were considerably better than me. Somehow, I even ended up representing my county at chess. I suspect they must have been short of players!

I remember being expected to write down every move during my games. There was just one problem: I had absolutely no idea how chess notation worked. So, rather than admitting I didn't know what I was doing, I made it up as I went along.

It's probably fair to say that my early chess career wasn't particularly promising.

After that, chess largely disappeared from my life for the next 25 to 30 years.

It wasn't until my eldest son developed an interest in chess that I found myself returning to the game. He introduced me to Chess.com and Lichess, and we began playing games together. What started as something we could enjoy together gradually became a much bigger interest for me.

I began playing more regularly, watching chess videos, following streamers and absorbing as much chess content as I could. My online rating slowly improved, and the more I learnt, the more fascinated I became.

But learning chess online and playing chess in person turned out to be two very different experiences.

My son attended a social chess tournament and found the experience overwhelming. I felt much the same way, despite not even being one of the players.

Later, I decided I wanted to try playing over the board myself. I found a local chess club and started attending. For a month or two, I played socially, but I struggled with the transition from a screen to a physical board. Everyone seemed so much stronger and more experienced than me. Eventually, I stopped going.

Around six months later, I decided to give it another try.

This time, something was different. I began getting more involved with the club, attended its AGM, volunteered to help with the website and even found myself helping complete beginners who were coming along to learn.

Eventually, I decided to enter my first proper chess tournament: a three-day congress with five games.

I entered the Intermediate section, although part of me felt that, being relatively new to competitive chess, I really ought to have been playing in the Minor section.

To my surprise, I won my first game.

I finished the tournament with two points from five games, playing against people who, in some cases, had been playing competitive chess for decades. It might not sound like a remarkable result, but for me it was an important milestone. It helped me realise that perhaps I wasn't quite as far behind as I'd imagined.

Since then, I've become involved in supporting a chess group for neurodivergent people at a community centre, and I now play competitive chess in my local county league.

I'm still learning, and I expect I always will be.

So why write a book about chess?

Because I remember what it feels like to know how the pieces move but have very little idea what to do with them.

I remember looking at positions and struggling to find a plan. I remember feeling that other players could see things I couldn't, and wondering whether I would ever be good enough to play competitive chess.

Most importantly, I've come to realise that learning chess doesn't have to begin with memorising openings or understanding complicated strategies.

It can begin with something as simple as recognising what a piece can attack, understanding why one square might be better than another, or learning to think about what your opponent might do next.

That's the approach I want to take throughout this book.

We'll start with the absolute basics and gradually build towards understanding tactics, creating plans, recognising patterns and playing complete games with confidence. There will be opportunities to practise, make mistakes and, hopefully, experience those satisfying moments when something that once seemed confusing suddenly makes sense.

My aim isn't to turn you into a grandmaster. It's to give you the knowledge, practical skills and confidence to enjoy chess and, should you wish, take that step into playing at a chess club.

Whether you're learning for the first time, returning after many years, or hoping to improve enough to play competitively, I hope this book helps you discover just how rewarding chess can be.

After all, every chess player has to start somewhere.

And sometimes, they start again 30 years later.