Cliff notes:
- Played a lot in the 1977-1989 range (high school/college), last published rating was 1516 in 1990 with unorthodox openings (stuff like 1. b3 which MCO 12 devoted a grand total of a quarter page) as I did enough memorization in class!
- Stopped when I got to graduate school, not enough time to practice and when basic PC engines such as Chessmaster 3000 started beating me regularly, I gave up and spent my time on Avalon Hill games instead
- Briefly starting up again 5 years ago, sucked really badly on ICC, gave up after a month when work got busy and I got frustrated. I think I felt I should have been able to get back to my old status quickly
- Would like to start again with modest goals, longer time frame.
- Spent half an hour last night at Chess Tactics and Chess Tempo (thanks for the links) and was atrocious. Could not even analyze the board in the six seconds the former site gives you before the move. My guess is that I'm about a 1150-1200 player right now.

Short-Term Goals (15 weeks)
1. Being able to not embarrass myself in person against USCF 1200-1400 players in December at a live G/30 to G60 3-round Swiss. Not necessarily beat them, but play respectably.
2. Buy a new set and a new clock. Old ones were sold years ago.
3. Work my way through Chess Openings for Black (Albert), Reassess Your Chess (Silman) and review Basic Chess Endings (Fine).
4. Improve proficiency at Chess Tactics and Chess Tempo

Questions:
1. How can I convince USCF or a TD that I'm not sandbagging but just stink, and that my 1516 rating is not valid any more? They have my current address when I registered in 2005, so it's not like I can say "oh that was my cousin" and start again as an unrated. If my tournament first game live after 21 years is against a 1900, I'm going to never want to play again.
2. FICS is free but everybody seems to want to play G/5. Recommendations for an online site for my skill level?
3. What is a reasonable check clock these days?

Congratulations on taking up the game again! First of all, excellent decision to start pounding the tactics. That really is the most important thing you can do. Second most important is to play a bunch of games. Playing a ton really helps to transition that new tactic knowledge from 'I can spot a mate in 2 when I know there's a tactic present' to 'I hope he plays Be6 because then I have a sweet mate in 2'. You need those games to start spotting and, even more importantly, anticipating tactics in your real games.

FICS is a great server but I don't know much about the traffic. Yahoo Chess might not be terrible for slightly longer games although I hate the way their matching system is set up. I use ICC and it's quite good. Chess.com also has a pretty decent service.

You're most likely going to get stomped regardless of whether you're paired as a 1516 or a 1000/unrated. My understanding is once rated, always rated. It's very unlikely you'll be able to convince a TD to pair you as anything but a 1500. However, this shouldn't matter. If you play in smaller opens you're going to get destroyed in the first round regardless then in the second, third, fourth rounds get better games. And you're going to lose. A lot. A true 1500 should expect to lose a lot. If you can't handle losing badly over and over then chess may not be the game for you.

In the US, chronos chess clocks are pretty much the standard. They are slightly pricey. DGT, Excalibur and Saitek are all seen with some regularity and are significantly cheaper. Whatever kind of clock you get, make sure you take the time to learn how to set it for various time controls and increments/delay. This is especially important for chronos clocks.

Finally your book choices. First of all, it's very unlikely that your improvement will hinge at all upon learning opening theory. That said, it can be beneficial and if you enjoy it, then go for it. Openings for Black Explained is an excellent choice. Reassess Your Chess is quite good but may be slightly more advanced than you need. The standard recommendation to newer players is to read the first chapter or two (go through where he outlines all the imbalances), then put that book down and read The Amateur's Mind. Once you've read TAM, then go back and finish HTRYC. It should make a lot more sense then. Not required that you do it this way, just the best chance of you learning as much as possible.

At your level, the necessary endgame knowledge is quite small. As long as you know how to mate with K+R v K, K+Q v K, play K + P v K then you're set. If you like Fine's book then great. I'd just recommend studying the first two sections of chapter 1 and the first section of chapter 2 and then setting it aside. I personally find the book dense and not much fun. You can get the above knowledge with YouTube videos for a lot less effort.

Your rating doesn't expire with years of inactivity. Once Rated Always Rated. You should be paired as a 1500. That being said, it's no big deal. One game vs. a 1900 shouldn't deter you from playing again.

All the best with your chess.

Thanks, guys. Yeah, I know I'm going to get crushed a lot... when I was playing my absolute best, I'd usually be near the top of the bottom half at our local 50-person 4SS, so I'd routinely get my hat handed to me by a 1800-2050 and have a nice long break until round 2! I usually went 1-3 or 1.5-2.5 in those events, so I know what is going to happen when I get started again.

Part of why I strayed away from chess was that at that point in my life, I needed the structured randomness found in some other games, mostly the Avalon Hill series. These days, I realize that my mind needs to work on the structure and the repetitiveness, and studying chess will help.

I have Fine on my bookshelf from way back when, and it's good enough to get through not making a fool of myself with some basic ending types. I do a lot of flying for work, so it's a reasonable size to take with me and read at the airport and on the plane.

There's nothing wrong with BCE. Just understand that it can be extremely dry and it covers lots and lots of positions that you don't need to learn. Like all chess study, if you enjoy it, then keep at it. Just don't punish yourself thinking you have to get through this monster book.

Other books that would be very useful:

1. Simple Chess by Michael Stean. This is the single greatest chess book ever. I've recommended it to many, many class players and every single one who read it has loved it. It's like Silman but lighter and more clearly written.

2. Manual of Chess Combinations, Vol. 1A by Ivashchenko. This is also called Chess School 1A. Very, very good beginner's tactics book. If you went through this book 5 times, you would improve immensely. Repetition is a huge key to beginner's tactical study.

3. How to Beat Your Dad at Chess by Chandler. Another great tactics book. This has fewer problems, but offers a lot more explanation. This might not be as good for you since you probably have a pretty good grasp of what the tactical motifs are and something about why they might or might not work. Still a great review.

4. Comprehensive Chess Course vol I & II by Lev Alburt. I very strongly recommend this to any beginning'ish chess player who wants to be serious about chess. He explains lots of things that I didn't completely know even as a 1600 player, when I first read these.

GL to you.

It's been over nine years since I played a game, though I log on to chessgames.com and check things out once in a while.

Never miss a chance to solve tactical puzzles; even Tal used to do this.

I've been playing and studying chess lots for the last six months with players around your level and I've found that the importance of knowing theoretical endgames is almost nil. I haven't even once found opportunity to apply my knowledge of the Philidor or Lucena rook endings, the supposed holy grail(s) of rook endgames. I'd say the king and pawn section at the beginning of RYC and some experience is pretty much all you need.

Rather than that theoretical stuff, a book I'm enjoying is Chernov's Capablanca's best Chess Endings which is just a 60 game game collection with fairly easy annotations demonstrating the endgame master at work.

I also highly recommend this book. Definitely clearly written and definitely great.

That sounds like an interesting read. I just want to remember how not to mess up K+P vs K, K+2P vs K+P, and K+R+P vs. K+R endings. Stuff like where to stick the king to run the proper kind of interference. All the other stuff is definitely not relevant.

I played my first game on FICS on Saturday night. My opponent hung a pawn on move 4 and I was so amazed I didn't believe it and assumed it was a gambit of some kind and declined it. I was up two pieces and two pawns after 18 moves. Made me remember that I'm not that bad.

Congrats on the first game back! Good luck with your continued study and feel free to post any games in this forum for analysis. Those threads are always well received. I do want to second what Allen said. K+P endings are very useful and maybe you're just unaware but playing K+R+P v K+R endings perfectly is beyond most GM's. I made a thread a while ago on the relatively simple theoretical positions that should be known for these endings. http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/14...s-rook-699663/

Find the "I Hate Chess" thread I started. I did same thing.. Came back after a long absence and couldn't beat 1200 bots on ICC. Just kept playing and it started coming back to me.

If you play regularly (a 10+ matches a day) over the next 2-3 weeks you'll be close to where you were before IMO.

Chess the game of Kings - thats why I don't play it.