Chess is one of the oldest traditional board games you will ever play. The beauty of chess is the almost endless level of skill and strategy that you can employ as you climb the ranks and challenge increasingly skilled competitors.



Irrespective of your age or skill level, you can find opponents to play and challenges to face. It truly is a game for all ages.

Of course, as a novice, you'll find it frustrating to play chess with other players, especially when you're starting to absorb the basic moves. You can, however practice on an electronic opponent until you become more familiar with the basic moves. There are numerous online services or PC-based games that you can play to improve your skill level.

Speaking for myself, I very much prefer a three-dimensional layout, so I almost always play on an electronic board when I want to play solo. There are plenty of great electronic chessboards that can increase in difficulty level as you improve, which is an advantage that they hold; and they also double as an objective measure of your improvement at the game. Some boards will even calculate a ranking for you based on how fast you play and how skilled your moves are.

As you begin to play against these virtual opponents, your aim is to understand the board, learn the various moves of each chess player, and learn the basic defense and attack strategies.

Once you've mastered the basic movements of the pieces, and you can construct move sequences without thinking to yourself "okay, one up and two over," you're ready to challenge a real player.

So find yourself an entry-level board or chess computer, get another novice, and start playing one of the world's oldest and best games.

The endless possibilities in game play make chess a superb game choice for the entire family.