Practice, Practice, Practice
To improve your chess game, practice is essential. Luecke recommends playing online on one of these two websites: https://www.chess.com/ and https://lichess.org
Both offer free games; he recommends you sign up for a user ID, which enables the site to calculate your rating based on your wins and losses. This way, the more you play, the more accurate your rating will be, so you can play with people of a similar skill level. This is much more enjoyable than being frustrated by games against vastly better opponents.
Chess players are far from dull. Here are the top three most interesting chess players of all time, according to Luecke:
- Bobby Fischer because he was weird beyond all chess norms, and he aroused more interest in chess than anyone in history.
- Paul Morphy, if for no other reason but the story that he died in a tub surrounded by women’s shoes. He was also the first American recognized as world champion.
- Alexander Alekhine for his enormous ego and his belief that he shouldn’t need a passport during WWII since he was the world chess champion.
Thank you to Napa resident and Chess aficionado Greg Luecke for your advice and willingness to help us all improve our chess game.