user34295: I'm a pretty new to playing chess - I understand the fundamentals and can implement some of the basic ideas like forks and pins, but have never properly learned how to play. I'm looking for a comprehensive way of learning - when I look for courses online, they pretty much all seem to cover individual aspects of the game like tactics or openings or other things like that. There seem to be some books that are comprehensive although I'm looking for something interactive.
What would you recommend? Is chess the sort of thing for which there exists a full course of 'everything you can know', or is it in fact best approached by just learning random things here and there from practice?

user33851: welcome to chess and chess stackexchange!
Q1) I would recommend watching videos about some openings, and deciding which you want to play. You better have some moves in your head before a game!
Q2) There is not "everything you need to know" in chess as our understanding of it keeps growing, but a good way to learn what you might face is actually facing them. So play games, solve puzzles, and only buy a course if you think you really need it.

user18809: My suggestion would be to get a book on basic chess strategy. [Since I don't know of any for beginners in the English language, I'll let someone else edit this answer with a specific recommendation]. This will help you understand the "abstract" ideas of the game like king safety, piece development, control of the center/open files/weak squares and so on...
As for the actual execution of concrete ideas, that's what tactics are for! It doesn't make much sense to add a collection of puzzles to a strategy guide, so you may want to get some other book or app for that.

user15509: One thing that no one ever tells you, ever, is that you need to first try to realize that chess is a numeric game, i.e. a game of accumulating small, measurable advantages. Computers have helped us realize that a big deal, but rarely do you see anyone speaking to that in the context of comprehending the game fundamentals.
Place the knight in the corner and see how many squares it can reach, then place it in the center and compare. Hopefully, that gives you a clue ... Don't study openings, please, that will delay your development for a long time. I am a 2200 player and I don't know openings - maybe first two or three moves and the names of opening systems associated with that, but that's about it.
I play through the center, try to maximize my pieces strength, gain space. King safety can be also quantified, because king "unsafety" increases your opponent's pieces mobility when they gain a tempo by checking the king. Also, initiative is worth probably a pawn. Nothing but quantitative considerations, as you can see ...
This way I aim to accumulate positional advantages or, in numeric terms, increase the value of my position, which, at some point, will manifest in tactical opportunities.
Good luck on your journey!
P.S. Sorry, I made it sound almost like you need to calculate the value of each move in a computer fashion - you don't have to. I sort of "eyeball" relative strengths of moves along the considerations above to choose the one that will improve my position the most.

user924: The "Chess Steps" method is the training method used by chess clubs for youth players in the Netherlands.
It starts at beginner level, the last step (6) is for players of roughly 2000 strength. There are many workbooks, and also instruction manuals for trainers, but I don't know how much they add -- by far most of the value is in going through the workbooks and solving the exercises. In my opinion, that series of workbooks form a comprehensive course.
Note that doing it that way, you hardly get taught anything by means of text -- it's all solving positions. Which is what chess is, in my opinion.
There are other such courses (like Yusupov's series of 10 books) that start off at a higher level, so one can do first one and then another.

34295: <p>I'm a pretty new to playing chess - I understand the fundamentals and can implement some of the basic ideas like forks and pins, but have never properly learned how to play. I'm looking for a comprehensive way of learning - when I look for courses online, they pretty much all seem to cover individual aspects of the game like tactics or openings or other things like that. There seem to be some books that are comprehensive although I'm looking for something interactive.</p>
<p>What would you recommend? Is chess the sort of thing for which there exists a full course of 'everything you can know', or is it in fact best approached by just learning random things here and there from practice?</p>
 33851: <p>welcome to chess and chess stackexchange!</p>
<p>Q1) I would recommend watching videos about some openings, and deciding which you want to play. You better have some moves in your head before a game!</p>
<p>Q2) There is not &quot;everything you need to know&quot; in chess as our understanding of it keeps growing, but a good way to learn what you might face is actually facing them. So play games, solve puzzles, and only buy a course if you think you really need it.</p>
 18809: <p>My suggestion would be to get a book on basic chess strategy. [Since I don't know of any for beginners in the English language, I'll let someone else edit this answer with a specific recommendation]. This will help you understand the &quot;abstract&quot; ideas of the game like king safety, piece development, control of the center/open files/weak squares and so on...</p>
<p>As for the actual execution of concrete ideas, that's what tactics are for! It doesn't make much sense to add a collection of puzzles to a strategy guide, so you may want to get some other book or app for that.</p>
 15509: <p>One thing that no one ever tells you, ever, is that you need to first try to realize that chess is a numeric game, i.e. a game of accumulating small, measurable advantages. Computers have helped us realize that a big deal, but rarely do you see anyone speaking to that in the context of comprehending the game fundamentals.
Place the knight in the corner and see how many squares it can reach, then place it in the center and compare. Hopefully, that gives you a clue ... Don't study openings, please, that will delay your development for a long time. I am a 2200 player and I don't know openings - maybe first two or three moves and the names of opening systems associated with that, but that's about it.
I play through the center, try to maximize my pieces strength, gain space. King safety can be also quantified, because king &quot;unsafety&quot; increases your opponent's pieces mobility when they gain a tempo by checking the king. Also, initiative is worth probably a pawn. Nothing but quantitative considerations, as you can see ...
This way I aim to accumulate positional advantages or, in numeric terms, increase the value of my position, which, at some point, will manifest in tactical opportunities.</p>
<p>Good luck on your journey!</p>
<p>P.S. Sorry, I made it sound almost like you need to calculate the value of each move in a computer fashion - you don't have to. I sort of &quot;eyeball&quot; relative strengths of moves along the considerations above to choose the one that will improve my position the most.</p>
 924: <p>The &quot;Chess Steps&quot; method is the training method used by chess clubs for youth players in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>It starts at beginner level, the last step (6) is for players of roughly 2000 strength. There are many workbooks, and also instruction manuals for trainers, but I don't know how much they add -- by far most of the value is in going through the workbooks and solving the exercises. In my opinion, that series of workbooks form a comprehensive course.</p>
<p>Note that doing it that way, you hardly get taught anything by means of text -- it's all solving positions. Which is what chess <em>is</em>, in my opinion.</p>
<p>There are other such courses (like Yusupov's series of 10 books) that start off at a higher level, so one can do first one and then another.</p>
