So, you have mastered the basics? So you know how to move the pieces, castle, en passant and even check? And after trashing your nine-year old neighbour, I am sure you feel like taking on Topalov, Kasparov, Karpov or any other -lov sounding Russians!

Hold your horses!

There are a few more things you HAVE to learn and some tools that you simply MUST have.

What to Learn and Own

1. Tactics

"Chess is 99% tactics" is a common yet true saying. No matter how grand your plans are, an oversight can lead to a swift demise when an enemy rook sneaks up on your weak back rank to deliver checkmate.

Fortunately, this is one area of chess that anyone can get better at. How? Keep practicing! And I do not mean playing chess at the chess club.

Go to download . com to get this FREE shareware called "Personal Chess Trainer". It contains a series of exercises to beef up your chess skills. There are enough free stuff to start you off and if you like it, you can buy it.

Or, borrow books title "Chess Tactics", "Killer Tactics" etc, go over the puzzles in the entire book at least three times, or until you can recognise a mating pattern within seconds of looking at a puzzle.

2. Positional

This is the "Tai Ji" of chess, or the skill in piece placement. Many a times, a well placed, timely blow is much more effective than throwing the whole kitchen sink at that guy smirking across the chess board.

The best way is to learn from the masters of this area of chess. I suggest that you pore over older games by Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly Karpov and Smyslov. These are among the greatest positional  chess players in the history of the game.

3. Practice

A sparring partner, or partners, will be great. Join the local chess club or your school's chess club. Try out your ideas on them. Learn from your victories and defeats.

4. Record your Games

Keep a record of your own games with the free software called Chessbase Lite from the company Chessbase. The lite version even comes with a few thousand presaved games. Analysing your games is one key factor in the development of a chess player. The ability to crtically examine one's flaws differentiates a future-master from a patzer. And this leads on to the final advice...

4. Coach

a) The cheapest version is to get a good chess book! Good authors write lucid stuff that explains better than most commerically available chess coaches. The "annotation-move-by-move" kind of book is quite good as the author explains the rationale for each move played. Look out for books by John Nunn, Johnathan Tisdall and Stohl.

b) If you are the IT savvy kind, and you think you can learn via online, then you can consider getting a coach at playchess . com. This is a chess playing server. To get the privileges to chat, you have to be a paying member, though the fees are reasonable. It is best if you have Skype installed so you can talk to your coach while he teaches you. The two of you will be in a virtual classroom, sharing a virtual chess board.

c) If you have loads of cash to unload, look up your national chess federation to get recomendations for good coaches. They usually cost a bomb but the investment may be worthwhile.

Warning 1: No point getting a Grandmaster to train a Beginner! It will be like getting a Harvard professor to coach elementary maths! Overkill and overpay! Better to learn the basics (see point 1 and 2) first on your own or from a friendly chess player from the club, or even your teacher or parents.

Warning 2: A GM may be a great chess player, but he may not be a great coach! I had a Vietnamese GM as my coach for a while, but his accent proved to be a big hurdle. I had to change to a lower rated, but much more understandable IM from Philipine. I had a Russian Im coach for a while, thinking that Russians are the best chess players. However, all he did was to set me puzzles to solve DURING the lesson, and all he did in that 2 hours was fold his arms and watch me tear my hair out! Needless to say, that was also my final lesson with him. A trainer 200 - 300 rating points above yours, starting at a minimum of 1800 will be able to provide a beginner will decent advice. Try to get a no-obligation session with the coach first to test water, to see if you or your child likes him and his style of coaching.

In short...

If you have the cash to spare, it will be a great help. But ultimately, it boils down to how keen and passionate you are about chess.

The world champions of the last century did not become top dogs with software or tons of books. All you need is a book choke full of chess games with solid explanations of master games.

Learn all the moves, savour the richness of ideas and absorb the wealth of knowledge, and that will be a great start to a wonderful career of playing chess. Have fun!