well, just  practice more regularly....

Yes, just practice. You would have to do some hardcore searching to find a site that will show you a free program other then Winboard or Crafty for chess, let alone any sites thtat will just give you lots of info. Download a program, (Don't use it here, thats not original!) and practice against it.

What I found in improving chess is that you need time and patience and spending your life dovoted to how good a knight looks to become a grandmaster at chess. However a good kickstart I found is chessmaster8000 which gave me a good head start but programs can only get you so far.

That program is very good to start off. Jonesie is a good starter for well-rounded players.

I have chessmaster 10k and I play Vlad a lot of times. (rating 1857). Since there's a lot of people on this site who do not focus on basic chess principals, Vlad is perfect for this site. (Vlad has unorthodox openings programmed in its book)

Waht you should remember is that there are no good openings or secret good moves- only your mind.
Few things which  would help:
-playing a lot
-improving ur tactics- solve problemms
-look for different varitions of games on net(dotn remember sites right now)
-write your own games, then see what u could have done better , what to do to win, remember mistakes.

Or join the local Chess Club. It's highly doubtful you would be the best in there as soon as you join. Play against them, let them give you puzzles to figure out, you'll get better beleive me.

I would recommend the sites

http://chess.emrald.net/index.php

 for chess problems and 

http://www.chessgames.com

 for everything else to do with chess.

But the best tip on chess would be to think before your moves.  See that your pieces are not en prise before moving anything and plan your moves - don't just move them randomly.  It is said that sub 2000 elo level, most games are won by a tactical maneuvre, and tactics only occur when your opponent makes a blunder.

If you want be awesome,

buy Rybka and play with it...

http://www.rybkachess.com

the are no awnser to this question each one must practice to progress

alain juppe

I am a 15 year old guy who figuered out how to increase from 0-370 in just six months (1200-1700 rating). It wasn't that hard but you have to be dedicated to improving. Here is how I did it. 

1. I go to www.google.com and look up things like Chess Tips, Chess Tactics, Chess Openings, etc. Basicly what you want to know about chess I looked up.I searched under web and videos.

2.Chess out random websites, i typed websites and found then. Here are all I can think of at the moment, www.chess-poster.com
www.chess-videos.com
www.freewebs.com/goodatchess (my personal website)
www.academicchess.org
www.chessbug.com
www.chesscorner.net
www.chessvictory.com
www.chess-theory.com
www.chesscentral.com

3. Get a good program, I recomend Chessmaster 10k or Shredder, and find a level thats closest to you but better and play it. See why u keep losing and try and prevent it. But its only for the defence part of chess not the offencive part.

4. Watch some games from players who are better than you, see why they made a move. It will help you start thinking like them and playing like them.

5. Look for chess openings and how to benefit from them.  

6. Last of all play as many people as you can as many times as you can who are rated differently. They'll all play different

I am 14 years old and I would say to get better at chess, you should consider the following

1. Read really simple books on chess, work your way up on difficulty.

2.Improve your tactics. This can be done by playing Blitz, where tactics own noobs.Also, Blitz helps you stay out of time trouble. Also from the computer program "Vladimir" I learned how to do some sick tactics that can own GMs. Learning tactics can be learned through reading chess books.

3.Play really hard computers. This was the only way I got good. From the computer "Emmanuel Lasker2007" I learned the Classic Bishop Sacrifice (The hard way).
From the program "josh waitzkin" I learned how to go on a king hunt if the opponent has moved one pawn in front of his king.

4. watch other peoples games to learn strategy, defense, opening traps, and endgames.

> What is the best way to get better at chess? What are
> the best opening books/programs? Any free online
> sites that you have found helpful?


Work on Tactics alot if you want to become a really good Player do  300+ problems a day or as many as you have time for.

Get a good instructional book that will teach you the important fundementals of the game you don't need to buy alot of books but you
do need to pick a few really good ones Three books I'd suggest:

Laskers Manual 

Silmans Complete Endgame Course

The Game of Chess by Siegbert Tarrasch

Practice with good Players stay away from People that play shitty openings like this 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qf6 or this 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6  all the time.

Go over Master Games and study them carefully.

I found a p2p that will get you almost any chess ebook and program, just respond so i know u there and i'll tell.

the best way to improve is to do every tutorial on chessmaster 9000, play to the highest ranking you can while mixing it up with some online play at the same time so you can compare computer moves and human moves

For me, playing the best people is the best practice!

And i agree, some programs make you good, but they de motivate me sometimes, (as in they make me look very stupid you know)....

I read lots of chess books and i must say, they helped!