Chess is a really complex game so it’s no surprise that after all this time that you’re still considered an amateur. But with study and practice, you can easily become a better player and if you’re really keen on it, you can easily gain a master title.

But what is even more important is that you’ve remembered most of everything I’ve told you such as forks, pins, skewers, discovery, the Sicilian, the KIA, getting a feel for moves etc. etc.

The tactical devices are something you must remember because these things appear when you least expect it. So you should maintain and sharpen your tactical skill on a regular basis. Books like 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations by Fred Reinfeld and Combination Challenge by Lou Hays and John Hall should help keep you in peak condition.

Also, don’t neglect positional play – you can improve on this by reading the books that I’ve recommended such as Positional Chess Handbook: 495 Instructive Positions from Grandmaster Games by GM Israel Gelfer and Improve Your Positional Chess by FM Carsten Hansen. These books provide a wealth of exercises and key positions that’ll help you with improving your positional play (without a doubt).

But with anything, you can only gain mastery by practice, practice, practice (or if you just want to achieve good results, practice!).

This means playing against the machine – against programs such as Fritz 12 or Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition – or playing against players who are slightly stronger than you AND are willing to play against you.

Remember to always enjoy what you’re doing because not only will you be extremely miserable when you lose, your progress in becoming better at chess will be greatly slowed – and with something like chess, you don’t want it to be any slower.

So just relax when you’re playing and just play good moves and good chess.

And with said, I hope you’ve enjoyed learning how to play chess so far. It’s been an honour showing you how and I hope to hear more of your comments (I welcome ALL – that’s right – ALL comments) in the next section.