Mastering Chess.com: Tips for Passing and Playing Like a Pro

Chess.com is not just a platform for playing chess; it is a community where players from all over the world come together to improve their skills, compete in tournaments, and connect with fellow enthusiasts.

This article will guide you through creating an account on Chess.com, playing a game, making moves, utilizing features, improving your skills, and tips and strategies for winning.

Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned player, there is something for everyone on Chess.com. Let’s dive in!

How to Create an Account on Chess.com?

To create an account on chess.com, click the Join Now button on the home page. You can also enter your information into their sign-up form directly or use your existing Facebook or Google account to register with Chess.com. Regardless of which method you choose, you will need to provide the following information to join:

1. Username: A unique way to identify your account.
2. Email: To receive login and password information.
3. Password: To access your account when you log in.
4. Password Confirmation
5. Location
6. Birthday

After creating an account, Chess.com requires users to confirm their email address and complete a simple registration process before logging in. You will first see the following screen after providing the steps above to join:

1. Enter the verification code emailed to you in the adjacent box.
2. Note that there are two radio button options below, the top one will have keep me updated already selected. If you do not wish for Chess.com to email you, select the bottom option.
3. Click the Sign in button to complete your registration.

How to Play a Game on Chess.com?

To play a game on Chess.com select Play from the menu at the top on desktop and Play vs Computer or Play a Friend on mobile. Interaction with Chess.com is via a web browser on desktop/laptop and via a mobile app for Android and iOS.

You then choose your desired time control (how much time you both have to make your moves), and whether you want to fulfill the parameters for a live chess game or are okay with parameters for a correspondence (tum-based) chess game.

Select Ranked/Unranked if it’s a game with points up for grabs and rule preferences. When you are ready, click Play Now for an immediate match or wait until you are challenged online by another user.

Choosing a Game Mode

There are four primary game categories users can play on Chess.com, including Live Chess and Online Chess, with several subcategories of these. Live Chess includes Blitz Chess (3 to 5 minute games), Rapid Chess (10 to 15 minute games), and longer games. Online Chess includes Turn-based standard as well as several Tactics modes.

1. Live Chess is an essential game mode suited for those who prefer a quicker pace and interact with opponents in real-time.
2. Online Chess is for a slower and more thoughtful experience.
3. Kids and parents who may be helping them sign up can use Play Vs Kid.
4. Tactics Trainer is great for those who want to learn, practice, and sharpen their chess skills.

For all of these modes, Chess.com provides opportunities for players to log matches as they play and analyze their games’ highlights. They toggle back and forth with analysis features to see specific moves, positions, and previous encounters.

Selecting a Time Control

Once challenges are activated, both the Playing – Live Chess and Playing – Play a Friend options will prompt you to choose a time control, which defines how long you and your opponent have to make your moves. Time control includes everything from Bullet chess (less than 3 minutes per player per game without any increment) to Correspondence chess (days or even weeks per move). I suggest you choose between any of the following 3 time controls to begin with your game.

Inviting an Opponent

You can invite an opponent by simply clicking on a friend’s name on your friend’s list, their profile name in chat, or searching for a user on chess.com in the invite area. From there, click the Challenge button. Before the invite is sent, you will have the option to choose the color you play as according to your choosing. You can also invite an opponent by sending them a link – your opponent will be informed immediately by the Link notification if open, and will join the game when they wish.

Setting Up the Board

Users need to set the board when starting to play in Chess.com. The horizontal rows are called files and are labeled a to h. The vertical rows are called ranks and are labeled 1 to 8. Each piece is placed on a square of the board, and the setup is shown after the entitled header in Figure 1.

White always moves first, so all the pieces on the first and second rows are set, and the e2 and d2 squares (white’s king’s pawn and queen’s pawn) always have a pawn at the beginning of the game. The last move made by a Chess.com played starts the Notation which is a series of coordinates of where the opponent pieces and one’s pieces end up. Thus if it is the Player 1’s first move, the first movement description should be e4, indicating that the player moved forward two squares by two columns with the king’s pawn, in the center of the board. If it had been the player’s second move, he would have been to opponent’s turn, and you switch all of the noun pronouns used in speech during the play using internet chess.

However, the program does this by default, it does not make any special feature to help expand knowledge of notation style.

How to Make Moves in Chess.com?

In Chess.com you make moves by simply selecting the piece on the board and dragging it to the desired square. If you let go with your mouse, the move will be immediately made. Blitz games require the opponent to make a move automatically, thereby high tempos exists. Be sure to click the Submit Move button provided on the site to confirm making the move. For convenience, you can also move the pieces without having to drag them by using the keyboard. These are the commands for moving pieces with the keyboard in whatever direction they are facing: Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Enter (return). The website uses co-ordinates of X and Y axes which is very popular in gaming interfaces but require learning if you do not know their usage outside of platform games.

Selecting a Piece

Select a piece by clicking and holding the mouse button over it. Controlling the click by adjusting your hand instead of moving the mouse moves faster and is more accurate. Releasing it when the piece changes color does the selection. After the piece changes color, your selection will be completed if you move the piece or press one of the arrows on the keyboard. To cancel, either click outside the available moves or hit ESC.

Choosing a Square to Move To

Once you select the piece to move, press and hold the mouse button and move the piece over an empty square to see the path that the piece can take to arrive at that square. The squares that the piece can move to are highlighted in green and the squares where they can move to take an opponent’s pieces are highlighted in red.

To see the other moves they can make possible in the future, right-click and hold the right mouse button. You will see lines moving in the direction of their future moves based on the squares that are valid. In case moving a piece is not an option, the chessboard will highlight the squares to which the king can move.

Confirming the Move

To confirm a move in Chess.com, just click on an outlined piece to highlight it in contrast with other possible moves. The selected move will then be located in the area to which the moving it set to go.

Chess.com provides guidelines for players on what to do if you encounter out of ordinary issues, whether they be with your internet connection, your opponent’s internet connection, or difficulty making a move. According to the website, Chess.com has automatic processes to detect problematic behavior from users according to tractors, engine, suspected engine, and multiple account status. So such disruption is rare. Clear instruction is provided to plug in a mouse or charging cable for a tablet or phone to provide a seamless game. The platform ForestKCG advises launching the beginner client mode to eliminate complex keystrokes and allowing more time for analysis. If you still face trouble with moving, switching to the last options undchallenged opposite-hand play or ensuring you don’t pre-move during a difficult connection.

How to Use the Features in Chess.com?

You use the features of Chess.com by selecting from the largest available combination of features, and testing others as they suit you. The primary features of Chess.com are playing, learning, watching, and interaction. Key features for playing include the Play Zone, Live Chess, Tactics Trainer, Computer Analysis, and many other features listed in the table in the Features section.

Test from there. Select whatever combination of features suits you at a particular moment, and expand your knowledge and skills as you wish. Remember that you can also access Chess.com from a mobile device, and there are additional features you can try there as well.

Analyzing the Game

Chess.com provides resources to track time while analyzing your games along with the following data points:

1. Game length
2. Blunders
3. Mistakes
4. Average centipawn loss
5. Game accuracy
6. Better moves missed
7. Where the game was won-or-lost

These provide excellent insight into how you played and both positive and negative areas where you can improve. Chess.com is accessed via web browser, Android and iOS apps, and Mathew Selvin provides a Chess.com full tutorial in 10 minutes as shown in the image below.

Chatting with Opponent

When you are in play zone, you can chat with your opponent. This is helpful when you want to agree on a draw quickly and there is no easy way to do it in the program (especially if you are in the middle of a move; some background task may need to be done to end the game). Chat is also useful if you encounter a disconnection from your opponent. It could simply be them wanting to do malfunction in your system. A dialog will be useful nevertheless.

Chatting with the opponent is still possible in practice and live games. While you are chatting, don’t forget that the game timer still runs, so don’t overdo it. You do not have to use chat and can communicate silently if you act out the moves you wish to make. Regardless, always be polite when chatting and answering chats from your opponent on chess.com.

Saving and Sharing the Game

To save and share a game on Chess.com once you have the desired game open:

1. Click Export, which is to the right of the date of the just-played game.
2. Select where you want the game to export to.
3. Click on PNG under Save as type. You can also save to PGN, ZIP, or BPGN as you wish.

According to Chess.com, here is how you can do some of these on Chess.com:

– Share it via the i-frame share link.
– Get a new link for the game.
– Use the ladder climbing sorting method.
– Annotate the game.
– Download the game.
– Send the game to the player’s profile.

How to Improve Your Chess Skills on Chess.com?

To improve your Chess skills on Chess.com, use the Learn or Analysis Board feature to go over your games and identify your mistakes. Then play games with no more than fifty moves and analyze with the Computer analysis feature to identify both your and your opponent’s mistakes.

Use time management strategies from study guides, and play the variant called 960 Chess to improve outside of standard chess-rule games. 1-3-1 Rule is important for filing away skills to long-term memory.

Playing Against the Computer

When you play against the computer, you can pass to the next move of the game at any time by hitting the Pass button. While the game is in play against the computer, the pass option will remain in the same location where the Claim Draw and each side’s Resign buttons show up (right-side pannel by default). Pass is rarely used to interrupt a game against the computer. It was more useful in the past when a player could challenge multiple computers to play out certain game-scenarios, with pass allowing you to transfer some of the games that were playing out in a certain direction to new computers that could get busy playing out the same scenario so that more games evolved in parallel than just the initial starting games. This was especially useful if you wanted to explore certain opening or middle-game lines with large numbers of computers.

There does not appear to be any way to pass to the next game against the computer. The result is always a checkmated position whenever the computer manages to make all the correct moves to a victory. Pass can be made by playing the incorrect move (lefthand side for black, right-hand side more white). Here, after pass is chosen, its neither side’s move in the next board. The use of the Pass button against the computer is not tracked. Every time you click Pass, you will see a notification of the game as you are forced out and back to the analysis screen. The game you click pass in, will remember your choice if you decide to return to it later.

Joining Tournaments and Clubs

Joining a Club on web is joining a chess organization. Clubs have their own individual pages with announcements, games and tournaments, chat, fora etc. Members of a club may be listed or be able to connect with each other personally to play games. Some club pages show news, or the next 5 scheduled events. To join a club on Chess.com:

1. Go to the chessboard
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page – you do not need to sign up for a game to do this.
3. The left-hand column of the page will have a Clubs tab. A featured club will be listed, but you can also click the Explore All Clubs button.
4. Use the search button at the top (next to the CREATE CLUB button) to find a club you are eligible to join by entering keywords of your interest (eg, educational, women’s chess, Nyssa Memorial, veterans).
5. Click the club’s tile then click JOIN CLUB.

Learning from Tutorials and Lessons

Chess.com offers dozens of tutorials and lessons for new to highly experienced players. Their Getting Started in Chess Ebook provides a strong baseline of how to play, while their complete Videotized Chess Curriculum provides a comprehensive multilevel learning option that can be completed at one’s own pace and customized to user needs. Course certificates are available at the end of most lessons.

Tips and Strategies for Winning in Chess.com

Winning in Chess.com requires sound opening, middle, and endgame strategies. The opening, or beginning stages of the game, revolve around controlling the center of the board to minimize your opponent’s possible moves while expanding your options during the middle game. In the endgame players focus on perusing a checkmate position. There are many strategies and techniques for obtaining checkmate.

Understanding the Basics of Chess

Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on an 8×8 grid in which each player has a king, queen, rooks, pawns, and bishops. The main goal of chess is to checkmate the opponent’s king by placing it under immediate attack and threatening its capture so that it cannot escape capture on its next move. The game can also end in a draw or a stalemate. Know the rules of chess, how each piece moves, and get familiar with chess notation.

Developing a Plan and Sticking to It

At the beginning of the game, focus on development to make sure all 16 major and minor pieces are fully engaged before stark exchanges occur.

After development finishes, decisions must be made quickly about how to open, fight for, and hold the important sectors of the board while maintaining a solid defense and deciding whether or not you should exchange or maintain a current material balance. Develop flexible execution tactics according to your long-term strategy.

Analyzing Your Opponent’s Moves

Watching your opponents’ previous moves helps you know their playing history, their playing style, the strength of their piece/group of pieces, their strategy, and even their common dependent and counter moves. These will help you in the decision-making process and increase the probability of a positive result.

In both the Free Plan and the play-paying Basic Plan, opponents’ moves are studied by clicking on a chessboard square as shown in the adjacent image. Expanding the opponent analysis board and enabling automated analysis is a paid feature of the chess.com Platinum Membership and an add-on module for Diamond and Premium Plans.

Practicing and Learning from Mistakes

After your game is over on Chess.com, remember to review your game by checking the analysis board to see mistakes and moves the system recommends. For best results, pair the game reviewing with using the educational material on Chess.com, such as watching the Learn to Play Chess Lessons or doing the Moves Trainer practices to improve at topics you did poorly on.

Note the weak side or side that blundered first and take responsibility for that. After you review, it is important to practice continuously to improve quickly. Try out the Drills and build a training plan on Chess.com to target your weaknesses. Set aside time weekly for deep learning with Chess TV and methodical game analysis, but daily practice on the Moves Trainer, the Tactics Trainer, and the Speedy Tournaments.

Enjoy the plays and practices while utilizing Chess.com to improve whether for casual or competitive use.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I pass and play in Chess.com?

To pass and play in Chess.com, you first need to create an account on the website. Once you have an account, you can join online games or play against the computer.

2. Can I pass and play in Chess.com on my mobile device?

Yes, Chess.com has a mobile app that allows you to pass and play on your smartphone or tablet. Simply download the app and log in with your account information.

3. What are the benefits of passing and playing in Chess.com?

Passing and playing on Chess.com allows you to improve your chess skills, play against players from all over the world, and join tournaments and events.

4. How do I find opponents to pass and play with on Chess.com?

On Chess.com, you can join open challenges, create your own challenge, or use the matchmaking feature to find opponents of similar skill levels.

5. Is it necessary to have previous chess experience to pass and play on Chess.com?

No, Chess.com is suitable for all levels of players, from beginners to grandmasters. There are also resources and tutorials available on the website to help you improve your skills.

6. Can I pass and play in Chess.com for free?

Yes, there is a free membership option on Chess.com that allows you to pass and play games. However, there are also paid membership options with additional features and benefits.