News & Updates
This article was written by P.N. John for Wholesale Chess
Once the child has reached a FIDE rating level of 1500-1800 the right attitude towards effective study and practice are needed for further progress to mastery. The fun element has to be given top priority so that the child develops a passion to win at chess and acquires a learning mindset. World chess champion Viswanathan Anand said recently, “I enjoy working on chess. I try playing different openings, learning from other players. My curiosity in chess has remained unchanged since the time I started playing.”
It is very important to have drills to practice repeatedly the fundamental chess concepts-basic tactics, (WSC note: see Chess Tactics for Students) must-know endgame positions, various basic mates etc. This should be done daily with a chess clock attempting to solve within lower and lower time periods so that correct technique comes naturally and automatically over-the-board while playing. This can be done under the guidance of a good chess coach but the child should do it on his own as soon as he can do so. Only with this basic foundation can the child proceed to creative and more advanced chess.
Victor Korchnoi, a great Grandmaster has said, “Chess you don’t learn, chess you understand”. From this stems the most important tool available to the child to attain mastery- critically analyze by himself the games he has played to identify and learn from mistakes made. More time should be spent on games lost. When the coach goes through the games and analysis afterwards he can give the feedback needed to improve and identify the weaknesses and strengths of the child and suggest specifically what to study and which chess problems to solve. It is good for the child to have a large collection of chess books and chess software to refer to as suggested by the coach to overcome weaknesses and enhance strengths. Analysis with Fritz, Rybka should be done later to understand and learn from opportunities humans missed.
The child should go through as many Grandmaster games as possible using different approaches suggested by chess trainers-slowly, quickly, guess-the-move, analyze the moves before looking at the annotations etc., to get diverse benefits and enhance overall understanding of the game of chess so that he can play better and improve the quality of annotating his own games.
It is a good idea to start off with a good games collection book like Steve Giddins’ “50 ways to Win at Chess” which is focused on good technique. Going through Grandmaster games like Chessbase 11 or Chess Assistant 11 alone, with friends or a coach is a great way to absorb different ideas in chess.
A child should be encouraged, if he enjoys it, to record his thoughts on his improving chess experiences in a journal every day. Also, special notebooks can be kept to classify and then record important tactical and positional themes from his own games .Writing speeds up absorption of chess ideas and periodically reviewing the notes will help the child to apply the knowledge over-the-board.
Apart from serious chess study the child should play with chess players of varying strengths under different time-controls but mostly slow chess games of at least an hour each. As far as possible games should be analyzed with the opponent immediately or at least the same day itself on his own as immediate feedback is very important for improvement.
More than just chess skills are needed to attain mastery. Physical and mental fitness are important for success in tournaments. This idea was well put by Anatoly Karpov, the former world champion, “To be champion requires more than simply being a strong player; one has to be a strong human being as well.” So it is important to have a balanced approach. Academics should not be ignored. The child should be encouraged to take up other interests like physical sports and reading. He should learn to take losses in his stride even as he strives to improve and win. The goal should be to improve at chess at least a bit each day.
P.N.John lives in India and has been totally involved in the stock market for past 25 years. He used to play chess only casually but for the past couple of years he has been studying chess seriously, played several tournaments and got his FIDE rating. Not surprisingly perhaps, improved chess thinking skills have helped him to take better decisions in the stock market.
This Review was written by chess player Cub Noble for Wholesale Chess.
I needed a game clock for the scholastic tournaments that I play in. I wanted one that would be functional and digital for a decent price. The other game clocks that were digital were running for waaay out of my range and I found the DGT Easy Game Timer. The black is perfect for tournaments because it blends in to the board and bringing it together as one set, it is not too loud or obnoxious. It is the perfect size too for the bag that I have.
DGT Easy Game TImer Chess Clock
However if you want a clock with delay this is probably not the way to go. It is good for preset and creative time settings and its unique design always brings people to want to use it. I got the DGT Easy chess Timer just in time for a chess tournament and I found it works wonderfully. My opponents asked me where I got this clock because they wanted to get one just like it for their usage.
This clock is a lot better than a lot of the other chess clocks that I have used at scholastic tournaments mostly because it is light weight and durable, the screen is very easy to read, it is easily programmable. The DGT Easy Timer clock is different because instead of holding both sides of the buttons down to pause the time there is a button in the middle to pause it. Also the sound button is good for club and blitz play because it signals when you are running low on time, however, I don’t think I would recommend it for tournament play because it may annoy you or your opponent or the other games being played.
If you want to start it over you just need to press the power button again. I really like that feature because it enables you to change the time control if necessary by pushing the up button or handicap a player if you are playing someone stronger or weaker than you are. If you are in a blitz game, I don’t much care for the count up option that occurs when you run out of time however there is a flag that comes up to signal that the game ended on that side. There are 3 different features for this clock. I know I will be using this for years to come. I highly recommend this product for anybody who needs a good clock at a good price.
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.
Kelly Jones uses his creative side to keep chess kids motivated to play chess. Following are a couple of images he sent showing chess sets from Wholesale Chess, which he has painted to match the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Thanks again, Kelly!
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
Every competition I attend, I see a lot of fascinating chess teams. Some teams pour over computers, chess books, and boards studying positions and famous games. Some teams engage in heated debate about curious moves. Other teams play blitz games and combat one another. Then there’s my team; some kids are playing blitz games, other kids are pestering those players and kibitzing like crazy, still others listen to music and brood in the corner with hoodies pulled over their heads. Certainly, my team is not the most studious. Of course, this only describes what we do before competition ignites. I’ve worked hard over the years to shape a specific culture on my team, and it is open, friendly, yet ferocious.
My team consists of a motley Read more �
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
“What am I going to do about these kids? They just don’t take my advice.”
“Our advice…”
“Yeah, our advice. What can we do to inspire them?”
“Maybe we should get in more tournaments, spark the competition bug. Or maybe we could just beat them over the head with rolled up chess boards.”
“Tournaments are expensive. And I don’t know about beating children. That’s a lot of paperwork.”
Such is a common conversation between my assistant chess coach and me. Coaching chess is a weird, stumbling sort of a job that involves teaching a tremendously complex, yet beautiful, game while at the same time managing a small crowd of awkward, sometimes rambunctious, teenagers. When I think about the success our chess team has had, I can really only contribute the success to one exceedingly important factor: having an assistant coach. Every success of our team hinges on Coach Brian and his voluntary presence, and no other team Read more �
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess
Coaching any sport can be a challenging endeavor, but coaching chess entails a great many unique complications aside from knowing how to teach this many-layered game. Over the years, I find myself more frustrated at snarky comments made by uninformed colleagues whenever I mention difficulty in coaching my chess team. They laugh at the idea that it is even possible to coach a “board game” (as they call it). I wish I could say that adults are more mature than that, but that reality simply doesn’t exist. Coaching chess can be an amazingly challenging process for a wide variety of less-than-predictable reasons. Read more �
Part 2: Notation and Game Strategy
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
Basic Endgames
Next, I teach basic endgames. This seems an abnormal place to begin, but it is critical to begin here. I begin with a three-move rook mate (king v king & rook) to demonstrate the concept of stealing space. Once students grasp that a checkmate is stealing an opponent’s space, they are then ready to begin studying the rest of the game. Of course, this is also the point when I demonstrate draws and stalemates.
Notation
Then I teach notation. This seems an odd point to teach notation, but this is the point when all moves have been learned, including the unusual ones like castling, en passant, check, and checkmate. This becomes a critical lesson, and I make sure that each student masters notation before moving on. Without records of their own games, students will never progress.
Basic Middlegames
At this point, I teach
Read more �
Part 2: A Network of Support
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
. . . Once in the club, they feel like a family.
That family bond comes from the second part of that session. After naming each new teammate, I get rather preachy and explain that each teammate is now a part of a unique group. This group must always point out to their comrade when the tragic flaw presents itself. Every time Bonehead makes a bonehead move, in life or in chess, it is the responsibility of the witness to point out the bonehead mistake. Every time Lurch lurches ahead without thinking, his teammates must pull him back. They discover that, in order to improve their chess game, they must first improve themselves. Only by being self-aware can they hope to master Read more �
Copyright 2012 Wholesale Chess. All rights reserved.
