Written by guest author Greg Delaney for Wholesale Chess.
I would like to share some of my experiences and insights from an over-the-board chess tournament in which I participated recently. These tend to support my belief that our personality traits, both strong and weak, have profound impact on how we play the game of chess. In the following examples, some of my weaknesses of character showed up very distinctly in this event.
Reacting vs. Acting
I think I can safely and accurately describe myself as a person who tends to react to circumstances rather than as someone who initiates action. This showed itself several times in the games I played during the event. In each game I had at least equality out of the opening, but in two of the three failed to utilize the positive aspects of my position on the chess board by making a clear plan and acting upon it. The result in both cases was predictable: I forfeited the initiative to Read more �
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Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
While you’re building that rapport with the kids, you’ve got to raise interest. It’s hard to recruit kids when they don’t know you exist. Have chess events as often as you can stand them. My first year, I attempted a tournament. The tournament didn’t go very smoothly (we didn’t even have a chess clock), but at the end, we had a life-size chess game. The two finalists competed using a real people chess set. I asked some popular seniors to create a massive paper chessboard in the school foyer. They recruited a 32 of their friends and parents to play the pieces. They made hats for bishops, crosses for kings, and had little toy horse-head things for the knights. As each piece was captured, the person slapped a whipped cream pie into the captured person’s face. Of course, the two finalists didn’t care about quality chess, they just captured a piece every turn they could. By the end, there was only one person who hadn’t been pied, and the others chased him around spraying him with whipped cream.
Though we didn’t play quality chess, that event made a big Read more �
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
At first, I was just a teacher with a few kids playing chess in my classroom while rocking-out to some music. Then, we had to get serious and compete. All of a sudden, interest dried up. I couldn’t figure it out. Where did they go? Competing was just going to be more rocking out with other groups like us…
Middle and High school kids can be finicky, and getting them to play chess is hard enough. How do you get the right kids to the team? How do you keep the nerdy kids while also recruiting and retaining the ones that will draw others to the team? How do you get the kids that need to be on the team?
Which is the Chess Player?
When I first started out as a competitive coach, I was pleased to see that not all chess players are stereotypical dorks. In fact, very few have taped glasses and whiny voices. Each kid and each team has its own unique style and flair. Unlike Read more �
National Master Kayden Troff wrote this chess book review for Wholesale Chess.
Chess Book: How To Reassess Your Chess
How to Reassess Your Chess is one of the most important chess books that you could own for the improving chess player! If you don’t have this in your chess book library then you are really missing out! It takes the beginning chess player’s narrow vision to a whole new world of how to win. Most beginners only think about material advantage on the chess board, or tactically cool ways to defeat their opponent.
How to Reassess Your Chess describes in a very simple way that there are seven different ways to win a chess game and material advantage is only one of them. This means that if you are behind in material it is not time to raise your hands in surrender; it is time to buckle down and fight with the other 6 ways to win! And if you don’t know them Read more �
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
The Great Recession. Economic Downturn. Financial Slump. It’s everywhere, and it’s got it’s fingers in every aspect of everything. Especially in funding educational programs. As states, counties, towns, and districts cut back on everything, programs get cut left and right. Chess, unfortunately, is often on the chopping block. As coaches of a sport many people misunderstand, we find ourselves constantly seeking new ways to fund our chess team, and often, it has nothing to do with cutbacks. Chess just isn’t a priority in most places.
If you’re a chess coach in a district that funds your team readily, magnificent. Keep your head low and don’t ask for more than you need. Once you have chess supplies, just sit back and run your team. For the rest of us, there’s work to be done with two main tips in mind: 1) be frugal, and 2) ask nicely.
