Alekhine's Defence	Benoni Defence	Danish Gambit	Dutch Defence Stonewall	Evans Gambit
White Wins 33.5% Black Wins 33.7% Draw 32.5%	White Wins 39.6% Black Wins 28.6% Draw 31.8%	White Wins 53.7% Black Wins 31.3% Draw 15.0%	White Wins 37.1% Black Wins 33.9% Draw 29.1%	White Wins 55.2% Black Wins 30.7% Draw 14.1%
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English Opening	King's Indian Attack	Reti Opening	Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence	Ruy Lopez Classical Defence
White Wins 34.8% Black Wins 32.4% Draw 32.9%	White Wins 31.0% Black Wins 27.0% Draw 42.0%	White Wins 34.9% Black Wins 29.4% Draw 35.7%	White Wins 35.7% Black Wins 24.3% Draw 40.0%	White Wins 42.0% Black Wins 26.7% Draw 31.3%
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Ruy Lopez Cozio Defence	Scandinavian Defence	Sicilian Defence Dragon (Yugoslav)	Sicilian Defence Dragon (Classical)	Sicilian Defence Najdorf (6. Be3)
White Wins 46.8% Black Wins 28.7% Draw 24.4%	White Wins 45.7% Black Wins 25.4% Draw 28.9%	White Wins 40% Black Wins 24% Draw 36%	White Wins 36% Black Wins 30% Draw 34%	White Wins 38.7% Black Wins 28.4% Draw 32.9%
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DAILY CHESS PUZZLE PLAY A GAME OF CHESS I created this personal site to help me train my chess skills, and I recommend using it as follows: Select a Grandmaster chess game from the list to the left. I recommend finding one that uses an opening you play or an opening you have played against recently that felt uncomfortable. Do not use a chess engine when you analyze the game. Instead, try to understand why the grandmaster played the moves throughout the game, and try to guess the Grandmaster's next move. Spend about 30 minutes using this training exercise. Go to the endgame practice section and spend 10 minutes challenging the various positions. Make note of the ones that give you problems so you can do some research and try them again. Don't use computer chess engines to help you solve them as that totally defeats the purpose. Do some tactics either online or from a chess book. Working on chess puzzles has a huge benefit in all levels of chess. And of course, play chess! It really helps to annotate your games because it demands pretty much your entire focus to go through it and type in your notes in the PGN file. Check my free chess resources for a variety of free programs that will help you annotate and maintain your PGN files. (Email me to make a recommendation for this list)
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	CHESS STUDY TIME RECOMMENDATIONS Opening Study – 10% of Time Tactical Puzzles - 20% of Time Endgame Study – 10% of Time Analyzing Your Games – 30% of Time Analyzing Master Games – 30% of Time These chess tips come from what I have been able to find from Grandmaster advice. Generally the largest results when you first begin playing chess will be from tactical puzzles. If you are new to the game, this is where you are going to want to spend the most of your study time. For opening study, it's recommended to select your favorite openings, and study them in depth. Then give some cursory study to other openings, but not as deep. This will help you avoid common traps and positional mistakes in the opening. Endgame study and positional concepts are very important. Don't neglect the endgame or you won't win very many games, even if you reach it with a slight advantage! Not enough can be said about studying both your games and Grandmaster games. I recommend you study every standard time game you play, and blitz games as well that you think have something educational in them. There are a great number of Grandmaster games on this site, along with top level tournaments. Browse them without computer assistance, and write down things you notice in the game or just make mental note of them. Try to understand what the Grandmaster is doing and try to predict their next move. Over time, you should get better at seeing the next move in the game. Finally, play lots and lots of games! Try to get both online games in and over the board games at a local chess club. If you're like me and don't have an established chess club nearby, then play online as much as possible. I recommend the Free Internet Chess Server with the Babas chess client. Check out my video on "Using the Free Internet Chess Server" to get started..
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History of Chess

c500 CE Chaturanga, earliest chess precursor, created in the Punjab. The Queen (or counsellor) could only move one square diagonally and the Bishop could only move two squares diagonally. The rook was called "Chariot", the Bishop was called "Elephant" and the Knight was called "Horse".

c. 600 Chaturanga reaches Persia.

c. 612 Chess reaches Europe

c. 800 Chess reaches Italy

c.820 Chess reaches Russia

c. 1000 Chess widely known throughout Europe.

1013 Chess arrives in England

1400's Queen and Bishop changed to move like they do now currently

1500's En passent added to Pawn move, and Castling introduced. The first version of castling was two moves. Castling was changed to one move in 1561.

1886 First World Chess Championship Match. Steinitz is crowned the first World Chess Champion.