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The official way to set up a chess board.
While there are many different ways you can set up your chess board, there is only one “official” way to set up your board. It can also be difficult to undertand and even remember how to set up your chess board.
White At The Bottom
First, remember that white always starts out at the “bottom” of the chess board. To start, the bottom left square should be a dark-colored square. Rotate your chess board until a dark-colored square is found at the bottom left corner of the board (left for the person playing as white). This square is also known as “a1″ in chess notation.
Set Up Your White Chess Pieces
Now you can begin to set up your white pieces. Place a white Rook on a1. The Rook is the piece that looks like the top to a castle. The next square to the right (from the white player’s position) is “b1″. Place a white Knight (looks like a horse) on b1. Going right, the next square (which should be dark) is c1. Place a white Bishop (the piece that has a strange chip taken out of the top) here. On d1, place your white Queen (the piece with the crown), then on e1, place your white King (the piece with the cross on top of the crown). Next, place a white Bishop, then a white Knight and finally your last white Rook on f1, g1 and h1 respectively.
Once you’ve placed your major pieces, you need to place your 8 white pawns (they should all look the same and are the smallest pieces in the set). They should all be placed on the squares between a2 and h2, just in front of your other white pieces.
Set Up Your Black Chess Pieces
Now you can set up your black chess pieces. It is easiest to set it up from the white side. Start at the top left corner. This square should be a light square and it is known as “a8″. Place a black Rook. Your next square to the right is “b8″. Place a black Knight here. Next on c8, place a black Bishop. At this point, it may seem a little backwards, but you should put your black Queen on d8, the next square to the right. On e8, place your black King, followed by your second black Bishop on f8. Next put your last black Knight on g8 and your last black Rook on h8. The pawns for black are all placed on the row in front of your current pieces, between a7 and h7.
By John Skelly
The noble art of chess has become very popular with parents when it comes to educating their children about the various principles of life. Nowadays, there are many parents who find that the game of chess lends itself ideally to be used as a teaching tool for what they want their kids to learn. Although playing chess encourages a great deal of concentration and interaction, the best part about using chess as a teaching method is that children find it fun to play.
By nature, children are very competitive so playing chess is not something that they will give up on easily. They do not need to be physically strong or exceptionally gifted mentally, they simply need to know how to play the game and play it well. Children love challenges and this characteristic in itself bodes well for their success in the game.
The environment in which chess is played introduces children to a great amount of discipline; they learn how to take on the challenges that life can bring, and how to be gracious losers and magnanimous winners. Another great benefit gained from being exposed to the chess playing environment, is that children also develop social skills and establish creative ways to assist others. Overall, playing chess allows them to practice precious life skills in the early part of their lives, which is perfect for creating strong mental skills for when they get older.
Taking part in a corporate environment, perhaps representing their school or college in competition, also hones life skill qualities that will help them in their later years. Coupling with others will help them nurture a sense of responsibility and a caring spirit. Helping others learn the game also encourages a compassionate spirit and a sense of community in your child.
Another principle that children learn, while playing chess socially, is that children of other genders races and ages, should be treated with mutual respect. They understand that when they are fair and kind to others, it is usually reciprocated. Opposing this, they also discover the negative effects of treating others in the wrong way.
From playing chess, children often learn about the value of hard work. They discover that nothing that is worthwhile in life comes without hard work and that laziness is a big “no-no”. They recognize the value of persistence, never giving up, and cultivate important characteristics needed for success in life.
When it comes to teaching life skills, the game of chess is a wonderful tool to aid you in your parenting efforts. Playing chess will expose your child to new attitudes and abilities that will put them at the forefront in life and give them a solid foundation so that they may share their knowledge with their friends as well as their children and their children’s children. The skills that children learn from playing chess are also the skills that will stand them in good stead when they approach adulthood. It would be hard to think of a board game more useful in this respect than chess.
John Skelly is owner of Quality Chess.net, an online store where you can view a variety of chess products, so you can find that unique set of handcrafted chessmen or that elegant glass chess set. Check out his blog where you can find articles and videos on the latest chess strategies and tactics.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Skelly
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Great Teaching Tools From Wholesale Chess
by guest author Greg Delaney for Wholesale Chess
Let’s state the obvious right from the beginning: losing chess games is not fun! Okay, now that we are past that, we can now move along to the real subject of this article – how to handle losses and make them work for us. I recall reading somewhere long ago a statement by a tennis coach that went something like this: “Tennis must be a great game, because half the players who play it lose – and they keep coming back.” I think our wonderful game of chess is no less “great.” Everyone who plays chess loses sometimes, but we keep playing anyway. Two important aspects of chess learning that have taken me awhile to accept (albeit grudgingly) are that losing chess games is okay, and that it can help us become stronger players.
One of the strongest roadblocks in my own path to chess progress has been the thinking error that my worth as a person rides on the result of every chess game I play. This irrational belief has led me to do the following: 1) put tremendous pressure on myself to win or, barring that, not losing, 2) play cautiously and passively – “not to lose” rather than trying to win, 3) avoid playing at times so as not to risk a loss, 4) feel so ashamed of my losses as to avoid post-mortems and replaying the games for understanding, 5) criticize myself unmercifully for errors and blunders, and, 6) fail to share losses with strong players who could point out patterns of mistakes and thinking so change could happen.
I know that I cannot be the only chess player who has done some or all of these things, so I’d like to share a few tips about losing that I’ve learned the hard way. First and foremost, there is no connection whatsoever between our level of chess strength and our value as people. This sounds self-evident, but I have witnessed numerous times tantrums and unsportsmanlike behavior from players who have lost a game. Some people have a hard time losing any competition because they tie their self-worth to winning. Secondly, all that self-criticism does is to undermine confidence, which is a vital characteristic of a good chess player.
The third one took me awhile to understand: playing passive chess and thereby forfeiting the initiative is effective – only if you wish to lose! Chess is a war game and the object is to “kill” the opponent’s king. I have learned that the opponent will gladly take the initiative if we kindly hand it over. Making threats is what chess is about, and if we don’t make them, our opponents will. My fourth idea is tied to the tennis coach’s statement above: the possibility of losing is not a reason to not play chess. Personally, I have not yet died from a loss, and I imagine no one reading this has, either.
Finally, we need to look over our games with players stronger than ourselves – not just to learn from our mistakes, but to have pointed out to us all of the errors and blunders our opponents make. It is reassuring to see that our opponents are not perfect and that we may have simply not seen and taken advantage of the mistakes they make. Moreover, Mikhail Botvinnik was insistent that objective, thorough, and critical evaluation of one’s play in each game is essential to improvement. How else to not keep making the same mistakes over and over? I have begun to let go of my shame and fear about losses by sharing them with my chess coach, IM Yelena Dembo, and listening – really listening – to her constructive feedback. By viewing our losses in these ways, we can use them for improvement, rather than feeling bad about them and ourselves.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Wholesale Chess. We welcome open discussion on all aspects of chess on the Wholesale Chess Blog. If you would like to be a guest author on our blog, please contact us at marketing@wholesalechess.com.
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess
The chess match begins, and 16 players frantically move chess pieces, slap chess clocks, and scribble down notation. The first five or six moves tick off quickly as each team member jockeys for opening position. Just as the pace slows down and players begin searching more deeply into positions to discover clever traps and zaps, one game ends with a player extending his arm over the board and the other player looking befuddled, frustrated, and angry. Sometimes games just end this quickly. Sometimes it just happens. However, they should never happen like they did once for a team member of mine…
He came over to me, beaming. Smiling over his speedy conquering of a relatively new player, he said to me, “She didn’t catch it.” After I asked what it was that she didn’t catch, he replied, “I started with two queens on the chess board to see if she would catch it. I replaced one of my bishops with a queen, and she didn’t even notice! I won, and now that the game is over, she can’t undo the results; those are the rules!” He was grinning ear-to-ear with his own cleverness. I, however, felt queasy and disgusted. Where had I gone wrong? When had I taught my players that abusing the rules of chess was a way to achieve victory? When had I taught them to gloat over cheating?
The answer to all these questions was that I had not, in fact, ever taught my team to play like that. This kid did it all on his own. After recovering from my momentary shock, I demanded that he go over and apologize to the other player. After a brief refusal, he complied. Personally, I apologized to the other coach. I have never been as embarrassed as chess coach before or since.
The fact of the matter is that some kids want the cheap wins. They don’t understand the pure joy of an intensely fought win. Heck, sometimes a hard-fought draw can be just as satisfying as a solid win. This particular student continues to show signs that he doesn’t care to improve his understanding of the game of chess, he only cares to rack up cheap wins.
As a chess coach, I struggle with this for many reasons. My goal is not to have the winning-est team, but the team that most enjoys the struggle to improve and continue growing. If a student like this doesn’t place the same value on intrinsic improvement, what am I to do? Unfortunately, he is a very talented player who could be much better if he stopped practicing poor chess.
However, if he never really wants to improve by studying chess books or working with a stronger player, why should I invest time and energy towards forcing him to? It is my job to encourage him to grow, but if a student doesn’t have the self-motivation to do so, should I continue to spend time trying to move a mountain? Shouldn’t his repeated losses to better players be motivation enough?
His wins are cheap and easy, and when the game is a difficult struggle, his board is more often than not a loss. His wins depend solely upon the mistakes of his opponents, rarely on his skill as a chess player. His team knows it, I know it, but he is blind to it because his win loss record blocks his larger vision. I’m still searching for a way to change this in students. As of yet, I have found no answer. Perhaps there is no answer. Hopefully, over time, he will discover a love of the deeper game. I sincerely hope.
Erik Czerwin is a self-taught chess player and also a self-taught chess coach. He founded the current Marengo Community High School Chess team, founded the Marengo Chess Club, plays at the Rockford Chess Club, and occasionally volunteers as a chess teacher at the Rockford Public Library, all in Northern Illinois. In his spare time, he’s also a full-time high school language arts teacher, part-time graduate student, part-time tutor, and full-time father of two and husband to a very understanding wife.
This is the last in the series of articles written on this subject by guest author Greg Delaney for Wholesale Chess.
I had now acquired the services of a noted chess trainer who seemed to understand both my deficits in chess understanding and some of the personality difficulties that were holding me back in my pursuit of chess improvement. After some examination of recent games I’d played in over-the-board tournaments, it was time to clearly identify areas needing change.
The first and most significant factor to be corrected was the overall passivity of my chess. An overhaul of my opening repertoire was needed. Recommended were the Classical Sicilian Defense and King’s Indian as Black, as well as switching to 1. e4 as my first move when playing White. Of course, it became clear that I would need a number of ideas and lines against all of Black’s possible replies. I was provided with some (not a lot) of theory to look over and begin to learn, but I should stress here that an opening repertoire was not the priority. Much more was (and is still) needed.
The second primary weakness was a glaring lack of knowledge of chess fundamentals. My endgame play was very weak, my tactical skills were mediocre, and my positional understanding was rudimentary. A variety of lessons were planned and conducted on these aspects of chess, and I was given “homework” ranging from annotating positions and continuations to working with positional exercises in one of my trainer’s books. I needed to better understand basic endgame theory and to unlearn the mistaken notion that I could figure it out over the board when the time came. This was a silly belief, of course, but one that I had developed out of my laziness. In a similar vein, I would often select a move that “looked good” without calculating subsequent variations – I would just “see what my opponent came up with” and go from there.
The third identified difficulty was a negative attitude towards myself as a person, my capabilities in chess, and my positions in every game. My trainer pointed out that many times I had already lost the game from the beginning, because my early moves allowed the opponents to do pretty much whatever they wanted. Psychologically, I feared conflict, and I gave far too much power to my opponents and their ratings. During games, I could readily see strong moves and plans that my opponent could play, but I saw only the defects in my own position. For this I was encouraged to play games online, 5-10 minutes per game, as a way to practice openings and get an idea of how they feel to play. Moreover, the mantra “make a threat with every move you can” was added to my chess mentality, and we even analyzed these blitz games for signs of old thinking and improvement.
There are many other aspects of this plan that I could share, but these three areas of struggle and the resulting change plans have been quite successful. I find myself thinking more in terms of making threats and putting pressure on my opponents. I am gradually learning some of the opening variations and the ideas behind them – although there is much, much more to learn before I can play any of them competently. I have noticed less anxiety when playing higher rated players online, and I even seek out stronger players as a challenge. I have won a number of games by executing some of my improved endgame knowledge, and I can recommend studying the endings as a way to pick up wins – even in equal or losing positions. Instead of “giving up” on a game when I blunder or end up in a bad position, I am succeeding in fighting and even winning a few. There are relapses into old ways sometimes, but now at least I know what to correct and how to go about it.
Greg Delaney is Life Member of USCF who returned to chess in 2005 after a three decade hiatus from the game he loves. He is an educator, club player, and student of IM Yelena Dembo. For fun, he blogs about chess and his work to improve as a player.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Wholesale Chess. We welcome open discussion on all aspects of chess on the Wholesale Chess Blog. If you would like to be a guest author on our blog, please contact us at marketing@wholesalechess.com.
Executive Chess Pieces
This Review was written by chess player Matthew Richardson for Wholesale Chess.
Executive Staunton Chess Pieces
I purchased the Executive Tournament Chess Pieces (aka “Big Knight” chess set) after making the decision to return to competitive chess following a 15-year hiatus. I considered a number of plastic tournament chess pieces, but in the end I selected the Executive pieces because it strikes a good balance between value and style. After nearly two years of play on this set, I still feel that I made the right choice.
The first thing that most people notice about this chess set is the striking appearance of the Knight. It is much larger than a typical Knight, equaling the Bishop in height. Its design is very unusual, depicting a gaunt, menacing beast that I liken to the Fourth Horse of the Apocalypse. My experience is that players either love or hate this design. It’s really a matter of personal style.
The King is 3 7/8” tall, making these pieces a bit larger than normal, but they still fit fine on a 20” chess board. The Bishop features a large gap in the miter, in classic Staunton style. The Rook on the other hand has a tall, narrow shape as is common in more modern designs. All of the chess pieces are triple-weighted and durable, and come in matte black and ivory finishes.
I’ve been very pleased with these chess pieces, but I do have a couple minor complaints. The felt bottoms of the pieces are not attached very well and started to peel almost immediately after I received the pieces. I was able to remedy this with some glue, but it was an annoyance nonetheless. The other problem I experienced is that the weighted core did not fit quite right in one of the Queens, preventing this piece from sitting perfectly flat. Fortunately, the fact that this chess set comes with extra Queens made that less of a problem. These sorts of issues are to be expected in an economy chess set.
All in all, I would highly recommend these chess pieces for someone looking for a stylish but affordable plastic tournament chess set.
Matt Richardson lives in Parkersburg, WV. He loves playing chess. He says “Send me a challenge on Chess.com or FICS (handle “MattRichardson” on both sites).”
Wholesale Chess Note: These chess pieces come with a missing piece guarantee and lifetime warranty. A piece with a defective weight can be replaced at no charge.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Wholesale Chess. We welcome open discussion on all aspects of chess on the Wholesale Chess Blog. If you would like to be a guest author on our blog, please contact us at marketing@wholesalechess.com.
Written by guest author Jason Repa for Wholesale Chess
A continuation of Jason’s reviews of online chess sites. Be sure to check out Jason’s ICC review, ficgs.com review, and Yahoo Chess and PlayChess.com review.
Chesscube.com is a real-time chess server based in South Africa. It features a sharp and intuitive flash-based interface with fairly smooth gameplay. Chess 960, otherwise known as Fischer Random Chess, can be played there as well. This is the only chess variant they currently offer.
Chesscube.com utilizes a unique system of levels ranging from 1 through 20 that rewards you based on how much you play, referred to as XP (short for experience, not for the Windows operating system). The more you play the higher the level you achieve and the more features and functionality you ‘unlock’. New accounts start off at level 1, but even here, you are able to chat in public chat rooms (pending email verification), play in tournaments, post games to Facebook, set rating range for seeks, copy your games as PGN, etc. At level 2 you are able to Read more �
Written by guest author Jason Repa for Wholesale Chess
A continuation of Jason’s reviews of online chess sites. Be sure to check out Jason’s review of ICC and Yahoo Chess and PlayChess.com review
In the days before the public internet, correspondence chess referred to a game which involved a person setting up a position on a chess board, thinking about that position for sometimes days, or even weeks, then writing down their move(s) on a piece of paper, putting that piece of paper into a stamped envelope, and mailing it off to their opponent, who might be on a different continent. Not only did the moves sometimes take a long time to make, but on top of this there was the time it took to mail the letter. In an era of modern technology, with instant emails, voice, and video communication from any two places on the planet, this might seem like a ridiculous waste of time and money (spent on postage), but it did offer a unique chess experience which can no longer be replicated.
It was a form of the game in which two players had the opportunity to play to the best of their ability and without any restrictions on time or travel obligations. There was a profound Read more �
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