This isn’t a conventional guide. I’m not going to tell you how the pieces move or what checkmate is, because all of this information is available elsewhere. My aim is to tell you what you need in order to learn and begin improving at chess, and what that process will be like. This is for anyone who is new to chess and wants to start playing with a view to improving.
All of the information mentioned in this section can be found HERE.
To start with, make sure you know how the pieces move, and start playing some games online. I recommend registering an account with chess.com- they have a huge player pool so you can always match with someone at your level, and there are a lot of other good features too. Select "new to chess" as your level, even if you've played before. Your rating will quickly adjust to the correct level. Lichess is also an option, but the way their rating system works means that you’ll likely lose a lot of games before you get a match with someone of a similar level, which can be extremely dispiriting.
Once you know how the pieces move, make sure you understand the following special rules:
You also need to understand what check is, and how to get out of it, and what checkmate is. It’s also good to understand what stalemate is.
The main thing at this stage is to play a lot and get a feel for the game. I recommend playing other people rather than bots. The benefit of playing online rather than in person is that the matchmaking is better, and you can play a lot more. It’ll also cause your rating to adjust, which will help you get opponents of an appropriate level. I recommend starting with 10 minute games, where each player has 10 minutes to play. Later, it’s a good idea to play slower games to give you time to think, but at this stage, it’s just about getting a feel for the game.
Start playing games, and be prepared to lose a lot; to get checkmated by surprise, to immediately get your queen captured when you thought it was on a safe square, that sort of thing. I used to think that there was something wrong with me because I would look everywhere to see if a square was safe for my queen, only to somehow miss a threat and lose it right away. It’s just part of being a beginner.
A rule I came up with for myself to check before moving my queen to a square was “if I put my queen there, can any pawns take it? No, so can any knights take it? No, so what about bishops? What about rooks? What about the enemy queen and king?” This helped me to get more methodical in how I looked for threats.
So yes, you’ll make a lot of silly mistakes, but so will your opponents. Try to avoid resigning just because you’re losing, and don’t get too upset. Everyone goes through this.
You might feel like it’s hopeless and you’re doomed to be bad forever, but chess isn’t magic. Certainly some people seem to have a greater natural aptitude than others, but that simply isn’t an issue at this level. Sticking with it and studying it WILL yield results. Plenty of people who know how to play chess are happy to sit at this level, and that means that with a little effort it's easy to move past it.
Above all, have fun! It’s easy to feel like losing a game of chess means you’re unintelligent but that simply isn’t true. Being good at chess means only that you are good at chess.
Good luck!