Q&A for How to Become a Better Chess Player

To castle, move your king two steps towards the rook. It will automatically move the rook.

Chess is a game where players have to look at the bigger picture. Sometimes, it just isn't worth it to move a single piece that can capture a lot of pieces in the beginning -- in the opening, your only goals are to control the center and defend your king. Employing tactics such as forking and pinning will help you gain material later on -- and never make a move without seeing if the opponent can directly capture, fork or pin one of your pieces after the move. With every move, ask yourself how the move will help you. If every move can do more than one thing for you, it's as good as being able to move twice every turn.

Since a promoted pawn typically becomes a queen, sacrificing a rook makes sense. (There is no such thing as "demoting.")

It is illegal to castle when your king is in check. It is also illegal if any of the squares to or through which the king would move in castling are being attacked by an opponent's piece.

There are many apps. Choose the one you like most. Chess.com is truly amazing, with many options and lessons. Chess24 is also good. If you are a complete beginner, chesskid is friendly and simple.

Yes. Two rooks are considered to be slightly more valuable than one queen.

It depends on which pieces are left. Generally you're trying to trap the opponent's king using at least two of your pieces while at the same time protecting your own king.

It depends. If you work hard, it might take about 4 years. If you do other things and have to split the time, it might take 5-7 years.

Theoretically they are equal in value. However, there will be specific situations where one would be more useful than the other.

It's up to you, but it's possible! Some people prefer to just play for fun with friends, but if you're more competitive, then aiming for higher competition levels could be beneficial for you.

Generally speaking, you want to attack any of your opponent's major pieces in order to capture them. The more pieces you capture, the better off you'll be toward the end of the game. Look for the opportunity to simultaneously attack your opponent's king and another piece, so that your opponent has to move or otherwise protect his/her king, thereby allowing you to capture the other piece.

A bishop is considered approximately equal in value to three pawns, so this would be a neutral exchange of pieces in terms of loss of attacking power.

It is a tactic using one's rook and bishop to place the opponent's king repeatedly in check while simultaneously capturing other pieces. For a tutorial go to YouTube and type in "chess tactics - windmill."

We're not sure. It is believed to have originated about 1,500 years ago in either India or China.

The best chess book of all time is My System by Aron Nimzowitsch, a leading chess grandmaster and influential chess writer.

You have to look at many factors of the game. Whenever I do a self-analysis, I check many things, but here are some tips. Look at the first 10 rounds of play. These are the most important moves of the game since they set up the rest of the game. Have you castled or got your queen out? How many pieces have you developed? What about your opponent? Also look at how you lost. Was it a weak back rank, fault in your setup, or simple mistake that caused you to lose? Look at how to improve those. In the end, just look at control and see who progressed the most the fastest.

In a friendly game, you don't need a time limit. If you want a time limit, some standard ones are 5:00, 15:00, or an 1:00:00.

You must go to tournaments. They use a certain ranking system, and you should be able to ask the tournament adviser for your rating.

You may use any opening you want in tournaments. I suggest testing out different openings against high level computers to see which plays out the best. Also, pay attention to which one you feel more comfortable with; you will do better in games if you're less stressed.

You can castle only once in a game. The rule is that if a king or a rook has moved even once in a game, they may not participate in a castling move.

About $1,000 a year. It depends on how many tournaments you play, and if you get 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in those tournaments.

You cannot, but there are many aggressive lines like the King's Gambit and the Danish Gambit.

It's not really necessary, but it comes in handy if you want to notate moves in a game, or if you want to play chess by phone, mail or e-mail.

The answer is a bit long for this format. See the Wikipedia article, "Two Knights Defense, Fried Liver Attack."

Accept the fact that you can't stop your feelings, but you can use them to motivate yourself to work even harder at improving. Remember that no player in history has ever gone undefeated throughout his/her life.

That's complicated. A trained counselor would be best positioned to answer your question. You could also enter "confidence" in the search bar above.

No, headaches are never "normal." If that's the only time you experience headaches, you might consider abandoning the game for awhile. If not, it might be time to see a doctor.

Think before you play, you will eventually make better moves and some day, you will be the best chess player.

Yes. Castling, by the way, is considered to be a king move. That means if you are playing a game under strict “touch a piece, move a piece” rules, when you want to castle, you must touch the king first and move it first.

The Queen’s Gambit is a tactical gambit, in which White seeks to take control of the center by temporarily giving up a pawn. The Sicilian Defense is among the chess openings favored by the game’s experts. Other good openings include the French Defense and the Caro-Kann Defense.