Learn Chess & Play Better

ChessCentral caters to the beginner at chess, and our online chess store offers the most popular chess beginner products. But if you want some quick and easy chess tips, or free articles on chess improvement then here is the place! Free videos about chess rules, articles about basic chess strategy and checkmate in chess are all explained in detail. You'll find chess guides and tutorials on everything needed to get started in the fascinating world of chess - even product reviews, helps and no-nonsense instruction for chess beginners of any age!

Chess Advocate
Here you can download every issue of the Chess Advocate, a full-color digital magazine devoted to chess - but a magazine unlike any other. This brain-child of Mississippi resident Dwight Weaver combines old school drawings and pop-art with today's electronic publishing technology, to create a unique feel and texture. New wave nostalgia, a peek into yesteryear, all made vivid with advanced .pdf techniques. Read More

Chess Strategy - Openings and Principles
Beginning chess players discover very quickly that learning how the pieces move is the very tip of the tip of the chess playing iceberg. It's usually sometime during the first several moves of their very first chess game that they find themselves saying, "What now?" Read more

Chess Openings: How to Learn the Opening Moves
Beginners and novices should have simple, forcing chess openings. There are two things that overpower most chess players when learning their chess openings and defensive systems. Read more

Chess Tips
When learning the rules of chess we discovered that the primary goal is to checkmate the opposing King. That means we must conduct our 16-man army as a unified "command", working together to deliver checkmate. Right off it is good to know what each chess piece is worth, what its value might be compared to the other chessmen. If the weakest unit, the pawn, is given a value of 1 point, then the following is accurate: Read more

Chess Strategy or Chess Tactics: Which is More Important?
When coming to the computer class, the kids would often ask me: "Which is more important in chess, strategy or tactics?" It is well known that strategy answers the question "What to do?", and tactics answers the question "How to do it?" A chess player must answer both questions during each phase of a chess game. ReadmMore

The Rook's Pawn
Learning the truth about any Rook's pawn ending can sometimes require a computer. However, finding the correct move is much simplified when you know the correct plan. Rook and Pawn endings are by far the most difficult endings to master, because the defensive manuevers and techniques change slightly depending on which pawn is on the board. Here we will explore the plans available when the pawn is a Rook's pawn. Read More

Chess Notation: Keeping Score with Algebraic Chess Notation
Keeping score with algebraic chess notation is easy! Here is a tutorial on how to keep your game score with chess notation. Most 7-year olds can do it, and it is required (if you know how) in US Chess Federation (USCF) tournaments. You can buy a scorebook for $3 a piece to keep track of 50 of your games (or just use a blank page). Read more

Rules of Chess to Rule the Chess Board!
ChessCentral is where you can learn the official chess rule. Learning the chess game rules can lead to a better enjoyment of your chess game. You will find all the chess rules here so that you can begin to play the game and rule the board! Read more.

Advice for Chess Beginners
Nobody ever got better at chess just by throwing money at the problem. You can buy every training disk on the market, but they won't do you a bit of good unless you use them. Don't sleep with them under your pillow; osmosis just doesn't happen. Don't put them on a bookshelf where they'll impress your chess playing friends, but only up until the point where they mop up the sixty-four squares with you. Use the material, learn the lessons, and apply them in your games! Read more

Chess Terminology
One of the best ways to make progress at chess is to become familiar with the terminology used by chess players. And even though the Rook is not a "castle" and the Knight is not a "horse", the beginner at chess will find many useful definitions here, compiled by National Master Dan Heisman. Read more

 

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What People Say About Us

 

Cindy Rlnj

★★★★★

Customer Service Beyond Expectation

First of all, the chess set is beautiful. I gave it to my son two Christmases ago and he plays it constantly. He is very proud of it. So...when our dog captured the pawn and chewed it, my son was bummed. I contacted Chess Central and they said that they would work on it. I totally forgot about it and figured I'd never hear back. Today, guess what arrived in the mail? The black pawn! My son actually did a little jig. Thank you, ChessCentral.

Robert G.

★★★★★

This is by far the most impressive chess set I've ever seen!!

Now you have to know up front when buying online I generally look at the three star and lower reviews, so I ordered this set with a lot of skepticism, just sure something was going to be FUBAR,...... Boy was I wrong!! I got the set and carefully un-packed it and was just amazed. It is PERFECT!! Seems that all the every flaw that had been complained about in the three star and less reviews had been addressed by the manufacturer!! So being eager to show it off and being a good ole boy, I invite my buddies over and we all set out on the porch {now that the weather is finally getting nice out} and play from noon until sunset. I enjoy all the compliments this beautiful the set gets, and everyone loves to play on it!!

H. Loomis

★★★★★

I've shopped at ChessCentral three times now, and twice I've had questions about a particular product. I don't know much about chess software. Anyway, I was shocked to receive detailed answers later that same day! I mean, who does that? Shipping was fast and well packaged. All in all, a great chess website.