Tactics, tactics, tactics...

The best advice you will ever get in order to improve your chess from a beginners level, as mine is still, is tactics, tactics, tactics... You may have heard people tell tou to solve about a 100 problems a day, I would rather tell you, do as much as you can within a set timeframe, 10 minutes, half an hour, an hour... whatever suits your schedule.

Once you face a problem, unless is straightforward, keep cool, take your time, try to solve it on your own, perhaps writing down on a piece of paper the possible moves you think and the possible responses. Then check the solution, see if yours was correct and continue to the following... The key idea of this kind of problems is to develop pattern recognition, and believe me, it works!

Once you get stronger with tactics combinations you will do better at the oppening, without yet learning all the infinite variations, and you will start to have more chances of nice victories.

I played this game today, usually I hate to face weird openings as the Scotch defense, nevertheless, although I'm unfamiliar with this game I try to follow the basic principles:

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1. e4 d5 {The sccoth game}
2. exd5 De5+ {I take the gambit, then the queen checks me}
3. Cc3 {Develop the knight, threting black queen, hence wining a tempo}
3... De5+ {Again check}
4. Ae2 {Develop the bishop}
4... b6 ?! {Preparing a fianchetto. This is a mistake because}
5. d4 Dd6
6. Cf3 Ab7
7. Cb5 Dd8
8.Af4 a6??
9. Cxc7+ Rd7
10. Ce5+! Black resigns, as it will lose his queen and rook!

[The following continuation is sugested by the computer: 10... Rxc7 11.Cxf7+ Dd6 12. Axd+ exd+ 13.Cxh8 Axg2 14.Tg1]