What do I Teach my Chess Team?, Part 1
August 23, 2010
Tags: Teaching Chess Articles
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 do discover a love for the game. My alumni have far more success in chess competition than they ever did on the team. This is because they take the long-road to success, the same long road that I took. Though they are defeated by some nasty tricks, they learn from those tricks, and they never fall into the same trap twice. Ok, maybe twice, but rarely more than three times. It doesn’t matter because the learning is their own. Their wins are real wins, and their losses are real losses. When they finally begin winning against the high school crowd, they’re winning consistently, and not just because their opponent blundered. They win from a deep knowledge of the game, not from a shallow knowledge of surprise tactics.
The Chess Board
Chess Board
I begin by teaching each student about the chess board itself. Many coaches neglect this very important lesson. To be quite clear, chess might be considered a game of space more than it is a game of pieces. Many students arrive with the knowledge of how the chess pieces move, but that is all they know. I always take even the most experienced players back to this basic concept. I teach them to recognize ranks, files, and diagonals. When teaching diagonals, I have them notice the longest and the second-longest diagonals are perpendicular to one another. Then I teach them about the different halves of the chess board: The queenside and kingside, and white’s territory and black’s territory. I continue with a brief analysis of the center files and the flanks. Finally, I end by having students notice the center four squares and the squares around them. I point out the power of the center using a knight in a corner, on a side, then in the center. It seems rather basic, but without an intricate knowledge of the chess board, knowledge of pieces will only be superficial. I always have to fight the urge to discuss weak squares and outposts at this point because pawns really become a part of the chess board, but that lesson has much more success after they’ve learned about pieces, tactics, strategy, and structures.
The Chess Pieces
Chess Pieces
After teaching the board as a battlefield with many hiding places, hills, and valleys, I turn my attention to the chess pieces. Thoroughly reviewing each piece, how it moves, and some basic strategy is well worth the effort. I usually begin with the king, then the rook, then castling, etc. I spend some time explaining the bishop and the knight because often students misjudge these two pieces. Explaining that a bishop is powerful, but limited to half the board sometimes makes students laugh. Explaining that a knight is slow, but limited only by time sometimes makes students squint. While teaching piece values, I’m always careful to point out that any piece is only as powerful as the position on the board. Studying each piece in isolation allows students to grasp some early ideas about each piece without teaching them tricks.
This is Part One of What do I Teach my Chess Team? Continue by reading: Part 2: Notation and Game Strategy.
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.
