Posts Tagged ‘Chess For Kids’
Online Chess Lessons!
Online Chess Classes are now available through CheckMatesUSA! We are offering both one-on-one online chess lessons as well as group online chess lessons for multiple students. We have a variety of teachers that can teach chess to all skill levels from absolute beginner to masters of the game. Our teachers can also speak many languages such as English, Russian, Spanish, Georgian, Hindu, and Tamil.
One-on-One Online Chess Classes
One-on-one online chess lessons are great for people of all ages and skill levels that want to get better at chess. Online Chess Classes give you the ability to learn chess from your home. Online chess lessons are the perfect option to help you improve drastically or learn the game quickly because our chess instructors teach at your pace and customize each lesson for you. If you don’t want to pay the high fees of having an instructor drive to your house and don’t want to settle for the low quality of a cheap instructor, one-on-one online chess lessons with CheckMatesUSA are the way to go.
Group Online Chess Classes
We can also offer you group chess lessons online. Working in a group doesn’t give you as much personal attention as one-on-one online chess lessons, but it has other advantages. A lot of people prefer to learn with a group so they have someone to practice their chess concepts with. Group members can be in the same room, but don’t have to be.
How it happens?
Online Chess Classes use free software such as Skype or Google Hangout to connected chess teachers with one or many students. Students are not only able to see the instructor face-face, but also to share the same screen and use an interactive chess board to learn on. With our system, any resource that the teacher has on his/her computer is available to the students during the lesson. This makes learning chess online with us easy and convenient.
If you would like more information about our online chess lessons or to schedule, contact us.
Online Chess Classes are currently on special for $50 a class!
Chess Classes Beginning in St. Charles
St. Charles, MIssouri 2012
CheckMatesUSA is starting chess classes in St. Charles, Missouri. Classes will be available to Private Schools, Public School, Park Districts, Community Centers (JCC & YMCA) as well as Hospitals in the St. Charles Area.
Chess Classes are focused on teaching kids life skills through the game of chess. Skills like thinking ahead, considering consequences, and patience are taught in our chess classes. Kids pick them up in a fun way and are able to apply the skills they learn in chess to their lives.
If you are interested in starting a chess class at your school or would like more information, please contact us.
Chess Engines & When should kids use it
In modern life there are a lot of computer chess engines which help chess players to prepare their games in advance, and also to avoid inaccuracies. Chess engines are much strong then humans and nowadays it is impossible to defeat them. The average rating of the modern chess engine is about 3200 meanwhile number one chess player in the world Magnus Carlsen has 2872 according to February 2013 fide chess rankings.
Yet even tho chess engines help chess players to improve their chess, it also makes them lazy and dependent on it. Young kids try to use chess engines to analyze their games, while analyzing on the board helps them to develop chess skills and improve. Top Grand Masters and the majority of coaches suggest young players to use chess engines after they go over their games. There are some positions in chess in which it is really hard to understand what is going on on the board and it takes a lot of time to find the best solution. That’s where chess engines are necessary and useful. here you can find the latest chess engines released such as: Houdini 3, Rybka 4 and variety of engines.
Back to the days chess engines were not strong enough to outplay top players. The first match between a human and computer was held in February 1996 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Garry Kasparov vs Deep Blue. The match finished with Kasparov’s victory 4-2 losing only one game. You can find detailed information about the match here
Interview with “The Chess Queen” Alexandra Kosteniuk
Alexandra Kosteniuk is a former Women’s World Chess Champion and an great person! She promoted chess, especially chess for girls, all across the world and has motivated many kids, teens, and adults to improve their lives with chess. I had the pleasure of interviewing this very special lady and think it would be interesting for all of you to read. More Info about Alexandra can be found @ www.chessqueen.com.
George Krasnopolskiy: At what age did you learn to play chess, and from who?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: At 5 from my Dad. I was very happy that my Dad would spend so much time with me, and I always tried to make him happy by listening to his explanations on how to play chess. He would reward me for correct answers (by giving me candy and/or coins), so it was great learning chess!
George Krasnopolskiy: Who did you play chess with while growing up? Did you play mostly boys or girls? And were you afraid to play boys, or was it the other way around?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: I played chess with every one. I was lucky to grow up in Russia, as almost everyone plays chess, in parks, at school, in clubs. We used to play all together, boys and girls. In Russia boys are not afraid of girls and girls are not afraid of boys, chess is a universal game. My Dad would teach me during the week and during weekends would take me to parks and chess clubs so I could test myself against other people.
George Krasnopolskiy: Were you always good at chess?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: I started like everyone knowing nothing. But my Dad spent a lot of time training me, I would study chess at least 5 hours a day, mostly tactics solving. Chess is a fair game, the more you study, the more it will reward you with wins! In a sense it’s a great school of life, since in life it’s the same, to achieve something, you need to work hard!
George Krasnopolskiy: When did you beat your dad (or other significant chess figure in your life)?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: It’s funny, but while my dad trained me for more than 10 years since I was 5 till I became Grandmaster, and I never played a game with him, he used to quiz me with chess books. As for having proud of a win, I was very proud to have beaten a man Grandmaster (Sergey Kudrin) in 1999, when I was 15 years old. After that I have beaten many men Grandmasters in classical, rapid and blitz games.
George Krasnopolskiy: What were your other favorite activities to do, other than chess, while growing up?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: I lived like any girl, simply I had 5 hours of chess studying a day apart from school. I simply did not watch any TV, that saved a lot of time. Nowadays kids waste much too much time watching TV. Imagine how much you could achieve if you simply did not watch TV. I used to go out for sports, with friends, singing karoke, skating, going to movies, etc.
George Krasnopolskiy: What is your favorite chess quote?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: Tarrasch: Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.
George Krasnopolskiy: What do you like most about chess?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: It’s fair. If you win, you deserve the win, if you lose, it’s your fault, and you can learn to play better next time. You can always get better at chess. Also, it’s a great game to meet new people and make friends. Thanks to chess, I have travelled to dozens of new countries, learned new languages, have many international friends!
George Krasnopolskiy: How do you feel chess has helped you in your life? Are there any specific situations you can think of?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: Sure, chess makes it easier for me to think logically and to come out with a decision. It has helped develop my memory, and my problem-solving abilities. Chess helps concentrate and find the main elements in an issue to be resolved. Chess teaches you to uses all your assets, not to waste efforts, and to have a plan.
George Krasnopolskiy: What did you want to be when you were a kid? Work/ Profession wise.
Alexandra Kosteniuk: Since I was very young I was a chess champion (at 8 Moscow champion, at 12 girls world champion), so I never actually thought of doing anything apart from chess. When you do well, why change and start a career from scratch?
George Krasnopolskiy: You are not just a chess player, but also a model and a mother; are there any other goals in your life you are still trying to pursue?
Alexandra Kosteniuk: I love to do all kinds of new things and to always be learning new subjects. In life it’s important to be flexible, you never know what you will like in the future and how good you’ll be at it. So don’t be afraid, try!
How to Play Chess Like an Animal
How to Play Chess like an Animal
Ever want to play chess like a gorilla? A bird? A wolf? Guess what! You can! There’s a chess opening called the Orangutan. It starts 1. b4 for white. It’s a nontraditional opening with an animal name. The Bird is another chess opening with an animal name (although it is actually just named after a man named bird.) It starts 1. f4. It is also a fairly nontraditional opening although it is played quite often at high levels of tournament chess. There are many chess openings named after animals.
Five time Colorado state chess champion, life-master Brian Wall and I are the co-authors of a colorful, illustrated children’s chess book called How to Play Chess Like an Animal. Animal chess openings are fun for kids to learn. We got the idea to write this book when we were both teaching chess in after school chess programs in Denver, Colorado. Brian used to get the kids all excited about chess by teaching them to play the Elephant Gambit. First he would tell these young kindergardeners and first graders to get up and swing their arm like an elephant trunk. Then he would teach them to make a sound like an elephant. Then he would teach them the Elephant Gambit. To see more about chess animal openings you can click on the link. Meanwhile, keep playing chess and don’t forget to have fun!
Learning Chess from Yasser Seirawan
Day one with GM Yasser Seirawan who was the World Junior Champion in the 1970′s. He is not only a phenomenal chess player but he is also a very intriguing and interesting person who not only kept us involved and attentive during a 6 hour-long lecture but he kept us entertained as well. He told sad stories, funny stories, and often times outright ridiculous stories but somehow in the end he managed to connect it to chess in a seamless manner. This was very inspiring for me because this is a very important skill to obtain especially if one is to become a chess captain or chess coach like myself. I believe this is because it allows the audience to delve in and become a part of the lesson. Well after the lecture was completed he went on to compete against 27 individuals in a simultaneous exhibition (playing 27 people at once) including myself. As he made his first move on each board, he shook hands with each individual and he politely smiled and wished all his opponents good luck. As he was making his way towards me I was really excited to play him as he is one my role models.
He finally came around and shook my hand and then my game, along with everyone else’s, began. After 2 hour long struggle, I managed to hold a draw against Mr. Seirawan and I was quite content with the results. GM Seirawan scored 23.5/27 points. He won 20 games, drew 5 and lost 1 so overall he had a very good result. Simuls are especially fun for me to not merely play in but also watch because GM Seirawan was breezing through boards playing amazing moves in the matter of 2-3 seconds. Having a group of people also adds to the fun and excitement. All in all simuls are a great way to play in chess and have fun. I am currently a Senior at Niles North High-School and playing in this simultaneous exhibition or simul was tons of fun for me and I am definitely looking forward to the next one! Until then, this is Rafeh Qazi signing out.
3 vs. 3 Pawn Promotion Problem
When just learning how to play chess, it is important to begin to understand how to use multiple chess pieces together in combination. This doesn’t always mean different types of pieces and even with just pawns on the board a chess player can often calculate to find the best one. This is one of my favorite examples because it is simple enough that someone who just knows how to move pawns can solve it, but its complicated enough to show a beginners the beauty of using pieces together in combination.
Here we go: Imagine you have this position set up:
As you can see, both teams have only three pawns. and in this puzzle it is whites goal is to get to the other side with one pawn. How do you do this?
Give it a try first, the answer is below.
So how do we solve this problem? One important aspect is to look ahead into all the option, now just the obvious.
Lets start with the f5 pawn. If you move this pawn forward, how can black block white’s advance?
Black can just move his pawn to g6 from g7 and white cant do anything. So this doesn’t work. Lets move on.
If we move the g5 pawn to g6, is there any way to win?
The first thing to notice is that black must capture the pawn, or the pawn will capture on either h7 or f7. After black moves his h7 pawn to capture g6, can you find what white should do?
If white captures back, nothing good comes from it. Both pawns end up stuck. Look below:
So what does white do? Well, are you ready? Try it yourself first?
White should move his f5 pawn to f6. Check out the chess position below.
If black captures the pawn on f6, whites pawn on h5 has a clean file that it can get to the other side without problem. If black captures the pawn on h5, the white pawn on f6 will capture on g7 and get to the other side to win.
Hope you enjoy Dr. Connolly!
Teaching Kids How to Lose
At the end of each session in Chess Classes we have a friendly kids tournament; its the time for the kids to play serious chess and really show their me or their teacher what they have learned. It is a no elimination tournament with no time limits and prizes dont just go to the winners, but to everyone that has shown that they have imporved over the course of the last session of chess club.
When I look for improvement, it isn’t just in their chess games. One of the most important things that kids in our classes are taught is how to have the right attitude in competition…for many kids this means that they need to know how to lose.
Chess is a competition, and in most games there will be a winner and loser. For most kids they correlate winning to good and losing to bad. They leave a lost game or sometimes even a losing position feeling bad, upset, and negative in general. We teach the kids a much more positive approach to losing and not only makes them feel good but is also much more productive.
First of all, whether they won or lost, I want my students to be proud of the games they played. Many kids and even adults shy way from chess so the fact that they are willing to play and make tough decisions on the board that stress their brain is commendable enough. Secondly, a loss is just a chance to improve. Often times when you lose you know your mistakes, and in this case it is importantly to consciously look over them to make sure you don’t repeat them…just like in real life. If you do not know you mistakes, you can always ask your opponent. Chess players will often chat about their games afterwards and talk about different ways the game could have done depending on variations( routes that could have been taken). Over and over I see kids change their attitude to not fear losing and improve their chess skills and general attitude drastically.
All of us have dealt with losing at one point or another, and I never shy my students away from the experience. It is much easier to learn to lose over the chess board than anything else, and I make sure to mention to my students that the same approach can be used in all aspects of their lives, and hope they do. Winning gracefully is a whole another skill for another post!
Minooka Chess Tournament
Minooka Chess Club and CheckmatesUSA
present the first ever
Minooka Area Chess Tournament
Sunday, April 15, 2012 (1pm to 4:30pm)
Minooka Village Community Room
121 East McEvilly Rd. (Next to Creamery)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Entry fee: $10 with advance registration, $15 on-site
Sections: Juniors (K-8) and Open (All ages)
Juniors = 4 rounds, Open = G/30, 3 rounds
For more information, please contact [email protected]
Or call Brian Quast at (815) 922-9291
Chess is a Symphony of Pieces
When teaching chess to kids its important that you find a way to explain chess theory in a way that related to them. Many kids enjoy music and even play musical instruments; so with them I try to relate chess to music.
Chess is very much like music, and a good chess game could easily be compared to a beautiful musical composition. Just think of each piece as a musical instrument. In a good musical composition all the instruments are working together create something that people would enjoy listening to. A song with just one or two musical instruments wouldn’t be as interesting and fun as one with many more.
In chess you are also creating a composition. Like a composer with his or her instruments, a good chess players uses all his or her pieces together in combination to achieve a goal. Just like a composer, a chess player’s personality shows a lot in their chess game.
Its no coincident so many musicians are also chess players, and vice versa!
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