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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.
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 1: Basic Concepts: Boards and Pieces
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
There are a thousand, no a trillion, opinions on the best way to teach a beginning chess player. No one opinion is better than another because whatever system a coach uses, it has to work for him and for his team. After teaching pure beginners for a long time, I’ve got a system that works for me, and it all centers on a single idea: Teach the concepts, not the tricks.
Of course, it’s frustrating when the tricks defeat my players. It’s difficult for me to watch them crash and burn in 12 moves because I never taught them a certain opening trap. However, I’ve discovered a benefit to this method. Though my team loses many games and doesn’t win the most tournament points, my players 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 �
Part 1: The Personal Side of Chess
Written by guest author Erik Czerwin for Wholesale Chess.
Chess is a metaphor for life. How cliché. How awkward. And, may I ask, really?! Those of us who devote aspects of our lives to the study of this game often develop a sort of passion that borders on obsession. History abounds with stories of famous chess players who went beyond the boundaries of eccentric and into the realm of insanity. And it’s quite true, intense study of chess can become quite unhinging. As a coach, one of our jobs is to both inspire a deep fervor for the game while at the same time reminding our students that there is more to life than chess. Depending on our own level of passion, this can be difficult. There is a benefit to relating chess and life for our students, but one must be careful not to Read more �
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