The Two Queen Opening

January 19, 2011
Tags: Featured, Learning Chess Articles, Teaching Chess Articles

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.