GM Ben Finegold's Message to Beginner Chess Players

[@reedclippings8991]

I'm a teacher. This is not a chess video. This is a teaching video. That is a compliment. Also, easy to get the idea this guy isn't humble and understanding with all the jokes. Clearly he is.

[@scorpion2.411]

17:09 "Everything's difficult when you don't know it" - That quote got stuck in my head. It's for stuff like this that I not only admire Ben for his chess content, but I also admire him for the person he is.

[@bobdylan6237]

I love that Ben had this compassionate and nurturing side, you don't see it very often 😜 also nice to see content that's more educational and similar to the lectures

[@Gush27]

Yes he was pretty nice in this

[@SuperAWaC]

people don't understand that there are very few people in the history of chess who have taught as many beginners, most of them children, as ben has

[@TheFenrirulfr]

@@SuperAWaC Yup. Ben has put a lot of time and money into learning children chess, very commendable.

[@ArseAllowance]

Exactly what i wanted to say

[@seanyager3177]

Ikr. I think he has a soft spot for chess beginners. And Usually when he teases the ppl watching his videos, he's teasing the 1200-1800 range players who think theyre better than everyone else yet still hang mate in 1 on move 8

[@RunFreeRyan]

I enjoyed this video not because it explains what to teach beginners, but that Ben truly cares about the game of chess and helping those get better no matter how "bad" the player may be. No air of superiority. I loved watching this and love watching you.

[@peteypete9357]

No air of superiority, that is until they play in Pogchamps, the Ben hates on all of them.

[@Cowmilker98]

@@peteypete9357 if you watched this and still don't understand his sense of humour then I don't know what to say Very few (likely zero) people in the history of chess have taught as many beginners/kids chess as Ben. He's contributed more to the game at grassroots level in terms of his own time and money than virtually anyone ever - just allow that to sink in

[@askthepizzaguy]

Yeah Ben is like, deadpan and snarky and has like an insult comic's sense of humor, and all of that is built on top of a guy who genuinely likes chess and wants people to love it too, and doesn't devalue other people. So when he stops telling jokes and gets serious, that's when real Ben shows up and that's why I know he's joking all the other times. It's tough to tell because his deadpan delivery is so strong, and you really need to develop your sense of irony to catch all of it.

[@zelly1749]

I love these Ben stories- just gives me the motivation to keep going regardless of losing so many games in a row. Need to love the process!

[@-_Nuke_-]

You lose the games but you gain the knowledge! Also the people you loose those games too, have already lost twice that many games against other people! So there is nothing to feel bad for.

[@antonmladenov161]

Thank you Ben, this gave me a lot to think about when it comes to teaching my little sister chess, a lot of great puzzle examples and I definitely have been showing her too complicated ideas

[@Spin940]

As a beginner myself I think its really easy to see forks and sacrifices (some of them XD).It is different for everyone.

[@gunnarandersen6570]

Wow, I think this is the best piece of advice ever given to chess coaches. Great stuff.

[@CaslavNorisavljevic]

I'm embarrassed to say that i was guilty of too quickly showing double attacks and discovered attacks to kid players

[@anmax]

I was about to make that mistake, this video is really helpful

[@MistaOppritunity]

Hey man Kings indian defense or not, that's important to know!

[@boliussa]

There is nothing wrong with that, some kid players could even show you things. What makes a difference is what level the player is. There are great chess players that are very young. I don't know if you heard of that kind of thing. Maybe when you wrote "kid player", you meant a player, (that happened to be young but that's irrelevant and your own ageist prejudice), but you meant a player that wasn't at the level for what you were showing them.

[@Spin940]

​@@boliussaI totally agree. Kids are not dumber than adults.

[@AdamGaffney96]

This is genuinely one of the best videos out there in chess because it perfectly explains why it's hard to introduce new people to chess. Even if you're 900, you know how the pieces move you're just making 1 move blunders. I tried teaching my friend who loves chequers, who had never even really seen a chessboard before and it's a whole different experience. She really struggled to get her head around that initial "pawns can move twice sometimes, and capture diagonally". And I also struggled to find the best way to teach it because I was looking at it like "how do you not even see that the pawn can move forward". It takes a special understanding of the game to get into the mind of that level of beginner.

[@lollycopter]

My national otb rating is above 1000, which is likely similar to 1400-1500 FIDE (or 1000-1100 FIDE before the March 2024 rating adjustment). My online ratings are about 1900 Lichess rapid and 1500 Chesscom. I still make *heaps* of basic one move blunders.

[@paulocarochas9591]

Dear Mr. Finegold, I’ve been watching your videos for a long time and this video is a gold nugget. The best advice by far I’ve ever seen in the Internet. I’ve been a fan of chess for many years and have been trying to study it hard with little achievements. The way you put it made me rethink and realize that my problem might be that I study too much and play too less. I’m always scared of loosing and that has prevented me to play, specially online. Again, thank you so much for this video.

[@fireballxl-5748]

Gold nugget? This is a full sized gold bar!

[@pixification]

“We live in a world where everyone is mean including me!” Best Ben quote ever. Truth hurts and so forth.

[@DesCoutinho-o6q]

Mainly so forth

[@Sputnikcosmonot]

this guy understands not only the game itself, but the teaching of it. It's truly refreshing to see, and Mr Finegold's humilty is an inspiration.

[@SomeOtherSusan]

I’m over 40 and just now learning how to play chess. This video is spot on for life. Sometimes you might have difficulty even knowing what to ask because you don’t know what you don’t know. It takes willingness to make mistakes in order to grow.

[@acsu96]

I remember growing up my dad didn't know what to do with me so after Bobby Fischer teaches chess and me just playing at the school club, he just set me on Lazlo Polgar's Chess book...and there's like hundreds of mate in one puzzles in that book. Kept me busy for a long while!

[@jorymil]

I love Laszlo Polgar's book! There's a lifetime's worth of content in there: I've had it now for 20+ years, and I've yet to finish it. What I would like is a Polgar randomizer--that way I could use it as a warm-up for tournaments or just have a better way to remember where I left off.

[@Zombie_Chess]

I'm not a beginner, but as someone who used to be a beginner, and was one for longer than I knew I was I really love the way you explain stuff in your videos. You're probably one of the nicest people in ChessTube.

[@musicgambit1]

Thank you so much for this video, I get frustrated trying to teach my kids how to play and you have just explained so well what is going on for them 🙏🏽♥️

[@rickmagee4545]

Your amazing Ben. First off you teach with humor and sarcasm. Love it. Thanks for teaching me chess. I have played 700 games and am stuck around rating 600. This video helpful

[@orlock20]

You should analyze your games with a computer and stick with the same openings for black and white and use the computer to improve on them. Also learn the end game before the middle game.

[@fireballxl-5748]

Keep playing/studying....perserverance will make you better....it always works. Have fun!

[@ddillon2006]

This is great--the tone is really kind and obviously informed by lots of experience. I will add that one of the central lessons here--that students know less than you might expect--is generally true. I teach and lecture a bit and have found that students will always nod, say "Oh right, sure", and so on, and then when I ask them about the material in a slightly different way it's obvious they have no idea what I was teaching. Learning anything well takes a lot of time and (ideally) hands-on experience.

[@mxyzptlk1616]

Verbiage was the biggest stepping stone for my chess journey. Pins, skewers, forks, batteries etc. Verbiage and basic concepts, such as the 5 pillars of chess, really helped me begin to understand positions. I wish I had fallen in love with chess earlier in life.

[@thecakeredux]

I discovered chess at 28, I know where you're coming from.

[@ericm1839]

becoming an expert at anything is learning the language of that thing. it just comes with time but can be really intimidating to a new player to say "oh why didnt you see that pin?" and they're like "wtf is a pin?"

[@JayJay-tm7xw]

Appreciate the help Ben. I played a little as a kid but never had a coach. Only picked it back up after the queens gambit. After advancing very quickly from about 400-800 but then I hit a wall. Took a break and now I’m trying to start over.

[@JackMott]

It is really a rare and valuable thing to have a GM level player who struggled for a long time when he was young. It makes him uniquely able to understand what beginners are actually experiencing. Start slow and very basic, learn to move the pieces, then learn to not hang one every game. And that alone can be a long term, years long project, especially if you are young or have limited time.

[@aanon4019]

7:45 "they would if they could" thanks twitch chat

[@jhunter123ful]

This is a really good video on teaching that has lessons that apply outside of chess as well. It's so important when you are teaching someone to understand their perspective.

[@arnislapsa1619]

My approach is to enjoy chess. I don't even strive to improve. Scratching that intellectual itch every now and then, when I feel like it. Eventually and inevitably something mind blowing and exciting comes up (position, tactic, particular game) that makes it all worth. And I have become slightly sharper.

[@andybelt603]

Needed to hear this, thanks Ben. Been having some rough games online lately and feeling like I'm just no good at the game. Started playing in earnest a few months ago after being familiar with the game since I was a kid.

[@OldManSilencer]

As someone that teaches kids chess in a school setting I really appreciate this. I do tend to start off with how do the pieces move and a few things like this but I tend to want to get into stuff like back rank mate, ladder mate a little bit too early probably.

[@BobfromSydney]

This reminds me of a quote from Karl von Clausewitz (just replace "war" with "Chess") "Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is difficult. These difficulties accumulate and produce a friction which no man can imagine exactly who has not seen war." On War (1832-4) bk. 1, ch. 7, tr. J. J. Graham

[@mustelidify]

Why is "I'VE GOT TWO PERRIER ONE FOR EACH OF YA" so funny to me? Brb rewatching

[@isaakvandaalen3899]

This really rings true to me. I tried teaching my nan some chess the other day but it quickly became clear that she just didn't share the same understanding of the game I did. I was trying to explain how the Knight can fork pieces and she admitted that she didn't see why it worked, even with the position on the board right in front of her. I realized I was starting waaay too high level and probably should've just stuck with how the pieces moved. At the same time, I remember a time when I was like my nan, and it's kinda crazy to think how much stronger I am now than then - I hardly feel like I'm a good player, but I can see I'm much stronger than I once was.

[@hopper0801]

Thank you so much for this! My son has been begging me to play chess with him. I just started playing this week. This lesson helped me a ton! Now I don’t feel so dumb when my son beats me over and over 😂 I need to catch one of your streams soon 😊 Thanks so much!

[@mrfriebe6989]

Just starting. This is very encouraging, thank you!

[@eugeniachumbita533]

This is amazing. Coming from such a fantastic player and without any judgement. Thank you for all the amazing content.

[@SumerNivek]

Amazing how many people during the Live Chat said, "How can someone be that new and watching this channel?" Well, guess what...there are a lot of us! I just learned pawn's only capture diagonally! I turn 43 this year and have never played chess...always wanted to...never got around to it, but I am thinking of starting with my kids. Thank you, good sir!

[@Crazywaffle5150]

I'm still rated under 500. I have played over 1000 games of chess. I learned how chess pieces at the age of 10 by one of my mothers friends. I played it like a borad game off and on. Never took it seriously. Tried to get better and failed miserably. Often times I blunder and miss opportunities. It's hard because I have ADHD and can't see the borad.

[@NihilSubSole]

Man too bad we on the internet usually get trash Ben... You can easily see how much passion the man has for the game and for teaching Oh well I guess that's what we deserve, as the internet itself is trash. Keep enjoying this beautiful game

[@Cowmilker98]

There's hours of brilliant Ben lectures about, just people who've only recently found the online chess scene only see his streams which are usually more for entertainment than for teaching chess

[@MrInsanity1234]

7:44

[@Vivigiles]

That opening is a gem of a reference. Fantastic film.

[@Drawfill]

So much truth spoken here. Failing over and over is the best way to learn anything in life. What really matters is sticking to it until you make it.

[@ilove2learn783]

Resign is the 6th move

[@kylegrefe4399]

The math thing is really accurate. I had a fantastic Pre-Calc and Calc, and Stats teacher. Now I'm majoring in Actuarial Science.

[@andrewptob]

This was very uplifting. Thank you. It’s also refreshing to hear you speak so positively for a change. 🙃

[@MarzipanCat.]

I think whats important to realize is that people who are good at something didnt usually become good because they wanted to be good so badly but because they simply loved doing something, then did it a lot and became good in the process. If youre mainly doing something because you want to be really good one day, youll just be constantly frustrated because youre so bad and youll have to keep doing this activity that youre not enjoying to the fullest for such a long time until those magical days when youre finally good.

[@danielm6507]

Wow this was one of the best videos actually. Thanks Ben!

[@mercylessplayer]

He's right. I've taught many dozens of people Skat (a card game that's similarly complex as bridge). I see a lot of similarities, you can't start with bidding, you can't start with counting, you can't start with value calculations. You start by which card is higher, how to follow suit, etc

[@centerfield6339]

This is super helpful. Teaching my 6 year old now, and it's great to remember this stuff.

[@lukacalov1988]

15:13 Omg we are back with Mike Kummer jokes Yeees

[@cinuu624]

Wonderful video - gives me a motivational boost. Thank you!

[@IDremOI]

It's like listening to great music through great speakers instead of cheap earphones for the first time! Great video, thank you for your insights on education!

[@anonymousAJ]

I teach simple checkmates first (after the rules) starting with QK vs K. I think having only one or two pieces at a time makes it much easier to grasp, then the player can start putting them together.

[@lollycopter]

I start with QR vs king. I don't cover QvK until at least after RRvK.

[@Pankaw]

honestly an enlightening video; if i ever have to teach someone the basics, i'll keep this in mind

[@sourandbitter3062]

That's more of a message to coaches teaching absolute beginners

[@TheFilipFonky]

Oh nice. Now if somebody asks me how good I am at chess I can reply "I can play a legal game"

[@mikescott1090]

More times than the beginner has tried, failed the master has.

[@funnyzenverse]

Love this video and your humor. Thank you very much. You give me the motivation to keep playing.

[@PkGam]

Yep, back when I was a kid, I always forgot how stuff moved when I was first taught, lol! Without knowing how the pieces move, tactics fall on deaf ears as you'd never have a grasp on it because there's so much going on at once. My grandpa (and my teacher) did have some ways to help get it down. Namely by the piece shape. Rooks are mostly straight so they move in straight lines, Knights have a L-shaped head, Bishops have the diagonal cut in them, Queens have 8 points for 8 straight directions all around and Kings are like the queen but one. But Pawns... They have nothing. So I'd forget the possibilities of those more than others. I also never remembered castling or En Passant after being shown them for a while. If one forgets those times they had while learning, they may just assume "beginner" means "knows how the pieces move but doesn't have much idea on tactics". Then they get nowhere. So it ends up being a thing of knowing your audience before giving the lesson.

[@ギャフナーエリック]

At 15:05 - the question is asked "how many legal moves do you have?". The reason the answer is six is because it is also a legal move to resign! Great video, Ben.

[@robinaylott1264]

You kind sir, are a true gentleman and a scholar...thank you for all of your educational content.

[@betorka4904]

ben is like the very cool uncle you have that you dont meet nearly enough that can explain everything very well, cool lesson to bignners on how to learn chess AND to advanced players on how to teach chess

[@bowrudder899]

Ben, I really like your talk. So empathetic and grounded.

[@CastroMKE]

I was expecting Ben's typical, "truth hurts," response. This, however, was extremely inspirational.

[@temhirtleague-chess]

And this is the reason why you are GM Benjamin Finegold and we are not. Thanks for the invaluable lessons Ben. Means a lot.

[@PickleballJoy]

"Getting good at chess means not giving up." I like it!

[@BobbyRunout]

Great video. A good way to help yourself empathize with / understand that absolute-beginner mindset is to spend a bit of time learning another chess, like shogi or xiangqi. When you do that, you remember that even keeping track of the names of the pieces is hard at first, never mind how they move.

[@bretttaylor3787]

Great video!

[@keef920]

I love this video. I’m currently teaching my son how to play chess and it’s really reset my paradigm on how I should be teaching him

[@RedGaming23]

Awesome video. So useful, i recently started coaching a friend who's 650 and i forgot how hard that can make it for him but glad I've got 5 great puzzles to work on with him now :)

[@luckysniper1659]

I played when i was a kid a bit. Then i played again as a teen for a bit online. I did alright. Got a little bit past the "beginner" lvl as far as that site was concerned. Then i didnt play for a few years. Going back to it. I felt i was worse than i used to be. Felt like i should have been better than i was. Then i realized, like yeah ive played before but ive never actually learned anything about chess. So ok. People learn openings and memorize moves. Thats why im bad. No. At a beginner lvl they will never play anything youve studied so gotta start with basic tactics and mates and principles.

[@emajae310]

1:48

[@fireballxl-5748]

Extremely well presented. Thank you GM Finegold.

[@tutucox]

ty so much GM Ben , im teaching my daughter and i showed her the queen checkmate position, she found the bishop check and the queen checkmate , im happy AF for her :D , you are a great guy

[@thecringequeen31]

This just made me realize that the only thing I’m missing from getting myself to a good elo is playing more people with more focus. I’ve never had a problem seeing any of this. I’ve only had a problem thinking long enough to see it.

[@jontnoneya3404]

great vid thanks!

[@antonnovo695]

Thank you Ben. I am fluctuating between 1000 and 1100 for a year now

[@antonnovo695]

For 2 years now..

[@haribo_player-too5141]

@@antonnovo695 Have you tried looking for a coach ?

[@TensionalVolt]

"basically we live in a world where everyone is mean ...and I try to fit into the world..." - comic gold!

[@adamion1993]

This is weird and fascinating for me... When I was 7 my dad set up a board, he taught me what a check and a chenkmate was, how the pieces move etc. After that we played about 3-4 matches and by the last of them I knew evrything he told me but got infuriated that I didn't beat them swiped the pieces off the board and that was that.. Now at 22 I saw a Hikaru short on youtube and learning chest again but I still remembered everything despite not playing for over 15 years

[@rathelmmc3194]

Thanks Ben. I want to teach my son chess and hearing these ideas on how to teach little kids is incredibly helpful.

[@andreikarakozov2531]

Such a great advice. Not only in chess but generally.

[@toefur9182]

My favorite Ben finegold is the compassionate still a little bit mean Ben. Never change.

[@ericm1839]

my friend watched me play chess a lot and wanted to learn and he knew the basic rules but was just basically losing nonstop. then I showed him some basic pattern stuff, and he went on to win game after game against low rated players just because i had taken the time to show him what a discovered attack was and said "almost everyone at your level will miss this, here's how to see it", or showed him how to win an exchange in some common openings (again, just pattern recognition and how to SEE the pattern) and he's pushing 1000 now and playing pretty competent games. he still makes one-move blunders every now and then, and he isnt playing moves out of naroditsky's "Mastering Positional Chess", but you can tell he's setting up these little tricks that he knows the patterns of. it's cool to see

[@Thomas5937]

10:13 Yes, I totally 100% saw this tactic

[@greatestever6952]

Thank you for the content

[@DorianDracula]

I love how Ben, even though he's a GM, really knows what a beginner is. Some 2000 ELOs on cc will go "oh, you're a beginner" after you play for like a year and can find some pretty nice tactics, even though they're not master level tactics.

[@AndrewJanusson]

Great video, thanks Ben!

[@poly_hexamethyl]

Ben is very generous to use the word "beginner" for someone who can't yet remember how the pieces move. That sounds more like a "pre-beginner" :-)

[@jemand8462]

"everything is very difficult if you don't know it" "you get very good at chess if you play a lot of it. That's how you get good at anything" This guy isn't only a chess genius, he should talk to 16 year old kids in schools. I wish I had someone tell me these things when I was that age.

[@GeorgiosMichalopoulos]

This was amazing, and as a language teacher I can add it's very similar. Most "beginner" materials aren't really for beginners, which is frustrating.

[@allippincott]

Just a nice video. Thanks Ben

[@Minodrec]

That's true. If you stick to something during years eventually you'll be good. Because even ifnthere was better ppl if they gave up it doesn't matter. Attrition is your best friend.

[@SaintedPIacebo]

Have to take a sec here to point out how yeah the scholars mate is 'baby's first trick' but when kids are super bad at something, sometimes they need that pick me up to get them to not be discouraged. Really nice of him.

[@glenngerardus51]

thank you sir for this lesson.

[@C0urne]

Those middle row long horizontal queen moves stay tough for a long time!

[@randomedge4558]

I got scholar mated only once, it was the reason I obsessed over chess the years after, it was in a mall kids tournament final where the first price would have been a super nintendo and the guy that won only did the scholars mate, so I was intrigued.

[@Steveross2851]

I think often the beginners Ben is talking about were never interested in learning chess but their parents thought they should learn how. One chess club on Long Island ran beginner tournaments for children every Monday night for years. And I'm pretty sure most of those kids were only there because their parents liked the idea, not because they wanted to be there. I met numerous chess moms who regularly brought their kids to play (and maybe even brought them to chess lessons too). Some of those chess moms were very bright and articulate, but not one of them had any interest in learning to play chess! Nothing is easy to learn when you have no interest in it and are only being forced to learn it. In my own case, to put it mildly, I was pretty untalented for chess. But I was highly motivated to learn it. And I didn't find my beginner books hard to understand at all. I was bad for a long time because I simply couldn't calculate worth anything. So it still took me 3 years to get from 0 strength to 1400. In spite of what Ben says, that is not very impressive. Then it took me another 10 years to get my first 1800+ rating. I got as high as 1970 but then I went to law school and being a lawyer is horrible for your chess! It is true that some really great chess players have been lawyers. Paul Morphy and Alexander Alekine come to mind. But every lawyer I ever knew of who was even 1800+ rated in chess was at least that strong before they became a lawyer. I never heard of anyone becoming a lawyer first, only then learning the basics of chess, and ever becoming any good at chess. As for Ben's story about playing for years before reaching 1200, I'm pretty sure if he had learned chess when he was say 14, he would have progressed much faster to 2000 and beyond. Everything takes time including learning patience and discipline, qualities that are rare in those under 10 years old. That may explain why Bobby Fischer also played for years before showing any particular talent for chess but then suddenly got good. Fischer was no chess prodigy even though he won the U.S. Chess Championship at 14. On the other hand a few prodigies get good before turning 10, sometimes long before 10. But even among great chess players relatively very few showed any particular chess talent until they reached at least 11 years old. Then again I heard of a number of children who could play blindfold chess at a sighted 1800+ level before reaching 10 who never got much stronger than 2000 strength. And a number of Grandmasters have told me they knew many players far more talented than they were who never got close to Grandmaster strength.

[@mattl2328]

This is incredibly useful. I taught myself how to play, so I have no reference about how to teach others. Thanks.

[@jonathanryals9934]

I still don't consider myself intermediate and I've been playing on and off for 30 years. In the 90's I started a chess club at UNCCharlotte and got spanked by the Russians in the beginnings, though I could hang with the Spaniards and Italians... Studied Josh Waitzkin's Chessmaster 2000 for about 5 years while working as a desk clerk. I still can't play anything shorter than a 10 minute game without just moving pieces randomly...

[@wiadroman]

All of that broadly applies to the process of acquisition of any skill. Any. And kids don't really have it any easier. It takes them years and a lot of trial and error to learn how to speak, how to read or write. You know all that stuff you just take for granted later on and which you once had a very hard time learning. Learning a new non-trival skill is tough man, fucking tough.

[@vinegarsalt4675]

I learnt to play chess in a club and they used the books of rob brunia & cor van wijgerden, it goes from step 1 to 6 & learns you the tactics step by step.

[@pschneider1968]

Not only is Chess hard, but being a good teacher is even harder!

[@chaotickreg7024]

I remember my first tournament. I had prepared a bit, learned the basic opening and a few tactics. I was in a round robin of three games. I lost the first two games and I played against someone else from my club that also lost their first two games. She played a weird reaction to king pawn opening and I think I had a checkmate at move 6, the king was smothered and couldn't get out of my queen's diagonal. I had to ask a tournament official if it was checkmate. After that, I knew that I would win in chess as long as I fought through the losses and kept learning. I read the books my club had during my classes, I played during lunch, I was obsessed. I started winning a lot more. I ended up 1100 USCF after two years which I was proud of. Chess club moved to mornings so I stopped going but I play online sometimes. It's a life long journey.

[@lwalker8785]

Ben is such a great coach. If I'd had a coach like Ben when I was younger I'd be a grandmaster now. True story.

[@markosoloanime]

6:32 Most inspiring words ever said in a YT video

[@elbay2]

Very inspiring!