Chess Titans

Lately T-rav and I have been trying to find things to do that don't include spending a lot of money, driving really far, or watching movies. Normally we would just read, but since I already finished or read all the books we (or the neighbors) brought with us, spent too many dollars at the local "Books-a-Million" store, can't get a library card for lack of proof of residence (I should have had someone write me a letter weeks ago), and am waiting for a large amazon.com purchase to arrive, we've been forced to think of other ways to entertain ourselves. And so we discovered chess.

Now neither of us have ever really played chess before, though I do vaguely remember playing with my dad's very strange friend named Tom when I was about 6. We don't have a chess board, so we've been using our computer chess game (called "Chess Titans"--it also has "Mahjong Titans," but surprisingly no Solitaire Titans. Solitaire is just called Solitaire.) For the first few days, we just played each other. Since we're both about the same degree of dreadfullness, there was no pressure on either side. But then we decided to try our luck against the computer, and promptly lost. And we lost again. And again...on level ONE. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like on level ten. I'm not really sure what we're doing wrong. I just know that I'm instantly furious when the computer's dirty rotten rook sneaks up from behind and kills my queen! (thank heaven for ctrl-z) Do any of you chess pros have any tips for me? Or rather, are any of you chess pros?