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Posts Tagged ‘chess board’

Chess Teaches Good Manners

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Parents often tell me that their children don’t like to lose. Well, that’s natural. I don’t like to lose either. I don’t know too many people who do. However, it is valuable to learn to handle losses with good manners.

We teach our students from the start that when you win or lose you should always shake your opponent’s hand and say “Good game!” Many games will be played and no one can expect to win every game.

I tell our students that good manners is important. It is part of being a chess player. We talk about the right way to handle a win, too. Jumping up and saying, “I WON, YOU LOST!! HA HA HA!” is not polite. Neither is bursting into tears and running away from the chess board, if you lose.

Kids get this. They laugh and nod in agreement.

Last week I was very pleased when a mother of one of our 5-year-old students called me. Her son had been home from school sick for the day and they had played chess.

That on its own was pretty cool!

Written by Laura Sherman of YourChessCoach.com

Then she had told me that she always had trouble with her son when he lost at Candyland or some other game. But when they played chess, he was different. When he lost a piece, he actually said, “Good one, mom!” to her with a smile. She was astonished and very pleased.

I love hearing these stories back from parents!

Laura Sherman founded Your Chess Coach (YourChessCoach.com) with her husband, Dan Sherman. Together they teach children to play chess through various schools in Pinellas County, Florida, as well as online. You can learn more about YourChessCoach and other local and online chess instructors on our Chess Instructors page.

If you would like to ask Laura a question about chess, you can ask the question in the comment space below, leave your email, and Laura will respond directly to you – OR – you can always find YourChessCoach on Twitter or visit her new blog.

Tags: chess board, chess boards, chess player, learning chess, yourchesscoach
Posted in Chess Club Corner, Chess Learning Center | No Comments »

A Chess Beginners Guide: From a Beginner’s Perspective

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Written by Ben Tessman (see end of article for more info)

So, I am about 4 or 5 months into this chess stuff.

Chess can be a very intimidating and frustrating game for players just starting out. I wanted to create a ‘beginners guide’ from the perspective of a BEGINNER to hopefully help give whoever reads this a jump-start into improving quickly. This guide is meant for someone who has never really attempted to study chess but wants to; whether it be a brand new player, or like me, someone who’s known how to play but never invested the time to study, train, and improve their game.

GOALS!

First off, you need to identify why you play chess so you can make some goals.

For me, I play chess for 3 reasons only:

1. Have fun – If you don’t enjoy playing chess, you’re not going to stay motivated enough to study and improve! Have the mindset that when you are getting beaten all the time, it is just training. Look at why you are losing and learn from your blunders, mistakes, errors, etc. and then you will see that it is not about 1 single game that will make or break your chess career, but many many games to improve. As long as you learn from a mistake – it is not a wasted move!

2. Make friends – You can play against a computer all day long, but the way to really have fun in chess is to make friends. Chess.com is a great place to start this if you don’t know any places you can play in real life. Making friends and exhibiting good sportsmanship (even when frustrated) is the best way to start your chess career. For the beginner, I think you can learn more from someone that has more experience than you than from any book or tactic trainer or video, etc. Someone that played well against you might make a good mentor, try introducing yourself!

3. Improve – Don’t just have fun playing people you know you can beat. Set little goals like trying to beat someone with a rating 50 points higher than you. Be proud of yourself when you see that you made a move that prevented a past mistake, regardless of the outcome of the game!

Review your games, especially the ones that you thought you should have won but somehow didn’t. What went wrong? I don’t get paid to say this, but chess.com has a lot of great tools to help you improve – game analysis & tactics trainer are very useful when you are trying to coach yourself. It is only a few bucks a month and well worth the investment! Consider trying it for a month…

Maybe when you reach a real lofty goal, you can make it your reward to start playing in some tournaments! I’ve played in one real-life tournament and have a few more scheduled for the next few months.

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THE BASICS

Now with those goals in mind, here are some quick ways to accomplish a good introduction to chess quicker than just aimlessly playing games.

BOARD

Learn the chess board – learn what is a rank, what is a file. Know that square a1 is black and the queens reside on their own color square! If you’re practicing with someone in person and don’t have it set up properly, it’s going to just confuse things.

PIECES

Learn how the chess pieces move. Not just how to move them, but what makes this piece a strong piece. They all have a # value you can use as a guideline when considering what will be a good swap & what won’t. Queens = 9 points Rooks = 5 points Knights & Bishops = 3 points Pawns = 1 point

Pawns are very important! They are the entire reason why all the other pieces can be good or bad in a game. A pawn works best in a pawn chain. It will decide the structure of a game and more games than you know will be decided upon what you did with your pawns. Do not under-value them! Remember their special moves – En passant

Knights are best in the middle of the board as opposed to the outer edges. They become more powerful than a bishop if you can lock up a bishop and keep it a “closed position” (aka, stuff in the way!) Knights are known as a very tricky weapon because you can fork your opponent (target 2 or more at once) with some killer results if they are not careful. Learn how to use them early in your chess career!

Bishops are deadly when the board has open diagonals for them to operate. They are the sniper of all chess pieces and easily become invisible if you plant them in the right area. They are also deadly when used as a pair. Open their diagonals early and place them in a good spot if you can!

Rooks were the most powerful piece on the board before the queen got her advanced powers *(see Shatranj for more info). Easily neglected on the corners of the board, the rook can be one of those pieces that beginners don’t really earn how to use effectively. Castling your king early is important to get the rooks active. Learn why getting them to your opponents end ranks is generally a very powerful and important idea. Lining them up on the same file is also a great way to use these towers!

Queen is the matriarch of all pieces and obviously worth almost double what 1 rook is. Generally, beginners make the mistake of bringing the queen out and placed in harms way too early on in the game. Remember she is so powerful that she becomes your opponents biggest target!

King does not have a number value because it is impossible to trade him off. They are important to protect early and play a key role in many end games and checkmates. As a general rule, being able to position them in the center of the board to assist your other pieces in an end-game can be the deciding factor. Just because you need to protect the king, does not mean he should not be used!

CHESS NOTATIONS

Another important aspect about chess is learning the notations. Sure it can be a burden to worry about for a beginner, but when you understand how notations work and even practice writing them out on your own, it pays off down the road if you’re interested in reading chess books, competing in tournaments, and recording games in person against your friends. Here is a link to a great beginner’s guide to chess notations.

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Game Play for the beginner… where do I start?

OPENINGS

• Stick to just 1 opening. Try playing many games (back-to-back) of blitz chess with the Live Chess feature (3 minutes or so, something uncomfortably fast for your taste). Be white – play e4 over and over (or whatever move you decide upon, it doesn’t matter). Don’t worry about winning or losing, think of it as ‘training’ — After you have a good collection of games under your belt with that one opening, go back and look through them.

When you do this, you will see what is working, what is not working. You will get a feel for how your opponent is going to react when you do this or that. Remember what works to defend your opening as well, and you will have some ideas whenever you are up against someone else playing it against you.

Keep it simple, don’t start with a complex line with a lot of moves. 1 or 2 moves, do it the same every game! (This also works as black).

EVERY GAME

• After the opening, whether or not you know how to do it, have a goal for the game you are playing regarding what needs to be done to attack your opponent. Work towards that goal – don’t always just react to what your opponent is doing. This will help you stay aggressive & not always be on the defense. Maybe it is destroying his pawn chain, maybe it is making sure his king can’t castle, etc. Trying to accomplish a goal each game is a great way to not waste your moves. Think: “Is this move going to help me accomplish my goal?” If it’s not, then think up a move that will! Be creative & inventive. Play out of your comfort zone and you will learn more.

INDIVIDUAL MOVES

• Before you make your move, ask yourself, “what is my opponent’s next move going to be if I move it here?” This will eventually lead to eliminating simple blunders and mistakes that you were missing in the past.

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In closing, I will continue to revise this guide as I think of more things to add. Please feel free to put in your two cents in the comments, as they will help anyone who reads the article. Whether it be questions, ideas of your own, comments, etc… it is all welcomed!

I hope the guide above is helpful and will bring a fresh approach to the game for those of you who are struggling along.

Good luck with your chess game!

This article was written by Ben Tessman. You can find him on Twitter as bentoons. You can also visit his blog at Chess.com, where this article was originally posted. Thanks for sharing your writing with the WSC blog, Ben!

Tags: beginning chess, chess beginners, chess board, chess books, chess pieces, learning chess
Posted in Chess Learning Center | 1 Comment »

The Joy of Problem Solving

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Written by Laura Sherman of YourChessCoach.com

We want our children to have the best advantages in life. We want them to find and select solutions that will benefit them and others for the long term. The chess board is an excellent training field to learn problem solving skills.

Some people wait for others around them to solve their problems. They lack the confidence and courage to implement their ideas, their solutions. As a result they become far too dependent on other people.

On the chess board, you are alone. No one is there, by your side, feeding you answers or solutions to the problems that you face. You either solve the problems put to you, or you lose.

Recently an eight-year student asked me, “Will this position ever come up in another game?” He wanted to know how he could use the lessons learned from one game, in future ones. It was a valid concern, for most likely that exact position would never resurface. So how does one learn and improve?

The answer is that even though that one position will never come up again, you could very well see similar patterns, segments from it again and again. Once you know how to handle these, the game becomes much easier. I began showing this eight-year-old boy common themes that he’d probably seen before and would see again.

He immediately recognized the patterns and became excited. Once I showed him the best responses, he realized that he could beat other players with this knowledge. At that moment he said, “You know if I practice some of these techniques at home, I bet I could win more!”

I have to tell you that this was one of the most exciting moments for me as a chess coach. He was embracing doing chess homework and could see the benefits it would bring.

Ideally your child can go over their games with someone who is more experienced, someone who can help them spot weaknesses and strengths in their play. However, if that is not an option, they will improve simply by playing (as long as they are playing people that challenge them).

Once one knows what works and doesn’t work, one can begin to build from that and solve more difficult problems on the chess board. It gets to a point where you can look at a position and say, “Ah, there are really only three moves to consider here.” Then when you look at the choices more carefully, one move will pop out as the obvious solution. This ability to analyze is priceless.

Ever since I was a child problem solving was fun for me. It was a game that sparked a challenge deep within me, one that I relished. I wish to share that joy with the next generation.

Laura Sherman founded Your Chess Coach (YourChessCoach.com) with her husband, Dan Sherman. Together they teach children to play chess through various schools in Pinellas County, Florida, as well as online. They are currently working with a company in Los Angeles, Real Ability, to create a series of e-courses and books that will teach parents and educators how to teach chess properly to children. You can learn more about YourChessCoach and other local and online chess instructors on our Chess Instructors page.

If you would like to ask Laura a question about chess, you can ask the question in the comment space below, leave your email, and Laura will respond directly to you – OR – you can always find YourChessCoach on Twitter.

Tags: chess board, chess boards, chess coach, laura sherman, problem solving, Your Chess Coach
Posted in Chess Club Corner, Chess Learning Center | No Comments »

Chess, Imagination and the Arts

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

Written by Laura Sherman of YourChessCoach.com and Bill Kilpatrick

Most people instinctively know that learning to play chess can increase creativity and imagination in all areas of life. But many don’t know how or why it does.

Imagination starts with a creative idea. Imagination grows when creative ideas are acted upon. Few people realize how creative they really are.

We find this with every child we teach. They didn’t realize how smart they are!

Chess breeds confidence. It brings clarity of thought.

A young chess player has lots of ideas and they learn to see creative patterns and sequences of the many possibilities that exist on the chess board in front of them.

Every move allows a player to bring more and more of their plans, decisions and strategies to life on a chess board.

Children learn regardless of whether they win or lose a game. The combination of creative ideas and organized thought is unique to chess. When a child understands the game they quite naturally are drawn to it. They gather around. They each have ideas of their own.

They all come up with different types of plans.

It is very important to encourage imagination very early in life.

What does chess have to do with creative thinking? Everything!

Chess helps a child develop his or her imagination. After all we’re just looking at a board with 64 squares and a bunch of chess pieces that can move around in different ways until the players breathe life into their games.

As a person improves, each position on the board communicates more and more to the player. One starts recognizing familiar patterns and combinations, seeing how to build from them into new ideas. As these skills increase it becomes easier and easier to plan future attacks and predict outcomes.

The way to win a game of chess is to plan out a strategy and then follow it through until you have achieved your goal, anticipating and countering your opponent’s moves along the way. It all starts with your vision, your ability to imagine a goal.

Get good at this over the chessboard and you’ll be able to apply this to your life. Imagine what you want to achieve, regardless of how “impossible” it might be. Set your objective and take the necessary steps needed to make it happen. Barriers will pop up, but they won’t be a problem if you anticipate them and plan countermoves.

The possibilities are endless and are under your control. The worst thing you can do is push those dreams aside and do nothing to move them forward.

Chess drills players to routinely accomplish their goals, the ones they create that come from their imagination. Let’s teach our children early that it is good to dream and that those dreams can come true. If we do that we might just be looking at an unstoppable next generation!