Posts Tagged ‘Child’
How the Pawn Moves
The Pawns are always the smallest of the pieces, and you should have eight of them. They will go on the second and seventh rows. White on the second row (a2, b2, c2, d2, e2, f2, g2, h2) and black on the seventh row (a7, b7, c7, d7, e7, f7, g7, h7).
The pawn is my favorite chess piece and also a very unique one. The pawn usually only moves one square forward. The pawns have the ability to move two squares forward if they have never moved before and only one square forward afterwards. They can also just go one square forward on their first turn. They are the only piece that cannot go backwards, and also the only one that attacks differently than it moves. A pawn attacks on a diagonal.
The white pawn on f4 captures the black pawn on e5 and takes over its square.
Attacking in chess is different than in checkers, as the attacking piece does not skip over the piece, but actually captures it by taking over its square.
What is a stalemate?
Stalemate is either a relief to you or a huge disappointment. A stalemate in chess is one of the four ways to achieve a draw (a tie game). A stalemate happens when a player cannot make any moves. In chess you are never allowed to skip your turn; therefore, if you cannot move the game is over in a tie. Look at the position below: can you find how white is able to force a stalemate?
If you thought of Queen taking h7 you are correct. Black has no option but to take the Queen and White now cannot move: stalemate. Moving the Queen to g4 or any other square where it can get taken doesn’t work because black does not have to take the queen…therefore the game doesn’t have to end in stalemate.
A stalemate can be a huge relief to you if you are losing but also a huge disappointment to you if you are winning. In a losing position you must know how to force a stalemate. if you are winning, you must know how to avoid giving your opponent a stalemate. You really don’t have to worry about a stalemate until the end of the game. You can practice forcing stalemates with chess puzzles that we have posted online.
What is a GrandMaster?
What is a Grandmaster? Many parents and students alike ask me this question. A grandmaster is a rank that FIDE (World Chess Federation) bestows upon a player. Over the course of history the specific qualifications for this have changed; but it basically means you are a really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really good chess player.
Currently, the regulations for becoming a Grandmaster are somewhat complex. A player must have an Elo Rating of at least 2500 (although they need not maintain this level to obtain or keep the title). Also, at least two favorable results (called norms) from a total of at least 27 games in tournaments involving other Grandmasters, including some from countries other than the applicant’s, are usually required before FIDE will confer the title on a player. Current regulations can be found in the FIDE Handbook
Chess Books for Beginners
There are a lot of books about chess, not surprising considering that chess is over 1500 years old. There are many chess books that would help a child’s chess game, here are a few:
5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar and Bruce Pandolfini- This is a great chess book that I recommend for players of all levels. This has sooooooo many chess problems in it for chess players of all different levels that you can keep it around for years, solving chess puzzles and going back to it again and again.
303 Tricky Chess Tactics by Fred Wilson and Bruce Alberston- This is a chess book that goes over chess tactics for all different levels. A challenging training tool, these tricky tactical chess problems are not only fun to solve, but great for beginners, intermediate, and expert players to use as tools to improve their chess game. Chess Tactics are presented in order of difficulty, so that players can advance from simple to complex chess positions. Examples from actual chess games illustrate a wide range of chess tactics from the classics right up to the current games. You’ll learn to use pins, single and double forks, double attacks, skewers, discovered and double checks, multiple threat tactics-and other crushing tactics as part of their problem-solving chess challenges.
New Fall Kids Chess Classes Announced!
We are glad to announce our Fall 2011 Classes!
Libertyville Park District Chess Class
Libertyville Sports Complex
1950 N US Highway 45
Libertyville, IL 60048-9720
Mondays from 4:30 to 5:30
Call (847) 367-1502 to register for your child to learn chess.
Morton Grove Park District Chess Class
6834 Dempster Street
Morton Grove, IL 60053
Tuesdays from 5:30 – 6:30
Call (847) 965-1200 to register for your child to learn chess.
Long Grove Park District Chess Class
Reed Woodland Nature Center
3849 Old McHenry Road
Long Grove, IL 60047-5093
Tuesdays from 5:30 – 6:30
Call (847) 438-4743 to register for your child to learn chess.
Lake County Family YMCA
700 Lakeview Pkwy
Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1834
Fridays from 5:00 to 6:00
Call (847) 367-6797 to register for your child to learn chess.
Lake Zurich Park District
200 S. Rand Rd.
Lake Zurich, IL 60047
Wednesdays from 4:30 – 5:30
Call (847) 438-5146 to register for your child to learn chess.
Hawthorn North Elementary School Chess Class
Hawthorn North Elementary School
301 West Hawthorn Parkway
Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1461
Mondays from 3:05 to 4:20
Call (847) 996-6800 to register for your child to learn chess.
Hawthorn Aspen Elementary School Chess Class
Hawthorn Aspen Elementary School
500 N Aspen Dr
Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1616
Tuesdays from 2:20 to 3:35
Call (847) 996-6800 to register for your child to learn chess.
Hawthorn Townline Elementary School Chess Class
Hawthorn Townline Elementary School
810 Aspen Drive
Vernon Hills, IL 60061
Thursdays from 3:15 – 4:30
Call (847) 996-6800 to register for your child to learn chess.
Hawthorn South Elementary School Chess Class
Hawthorn South Elementary School
500 N Aspen Dr
Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1461
Wednesdays from 3:05 to 4:20
Call (847) 996-6800 to register for your child to learn chess.
Akiba- Schechter Jewish Day School
Chicago, Illinois
More After School Chess Classes will be posted soon!
Aspen Drive Library Kids Chess Tournament
Last Thursday, July 21st, CheckMates Chess Academy held a free kids chess tournament at Aspen Drive Library in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Around 50 Kids showed up and participated in the multi-level tournament. The kids were split up into two levels; one level was for beginner chess players who had recently learned to play chess with CheckMates Chess Academy in the kids chess classes at the library. The second group was for intermediate/ advances players who had learned strategies in the kids chess classes that CheckMates ran at the Library. Rebecca won first place in the Beginners Section and Dylan won First Place Open Section.
Kids Thinking during Chess
What is a Chess Gambit?
A word that is used in chess often during study is “chess gambit”. What is a chess gambit? A Chess Gambit is an opening series of chess moves that a player plays where he or she sacrifices a piece in order to get the better position.
How did the word Gambit Originate for Chess?
The word “gambit” came from Ruy Lopez de Segura. It originated from the Italian Expression “dare il gambetto” which means “to put a let forward in order to trip someone.” This makes perfect sense for what gambit represents in the game of chess. The Italian word led to the Spanish word, “gambito” which led to the French word “gambit.”
The Lucena Chess Position
One of the most important and basic things to learn in chess is the Lucena Position. When you have a pawn, a king and a rook, and your opponent has only a king and a rook, it can still be very difficult to win. But if you can get to the Lucena Position you can win from there. Sometimes the trick is getting there. Sometimes your opponent can stop you from getting there, but if you at least know what it is you are trying to achieve, that is, the position from which you can win, then you will win a lot of games you could have drawn. Take a good look at the position you need to get to in the diagram. It’s White to move. First check the king. If the king blocks the file where Black would check if the king were to e7, then it’s a synch! You can queen the pawn next move. But if the black king moves to the “c” file, then you need to build a bridge. You do this buy letting black check you and moving in front of the pawn. Then you move one square diagonal from the pawn and toward the rook. Then when the rook checks you again you move back in front of the pawn, only this time you leave one square between the king and the pawn. Then when the rook checks you again, you block with the rook. That’s called building a bridge. Now there is no way to stop the pawn. This is named after a man named Lucena who lived the late 1400′s in Salamanca, Spain. They don’t know much about him, but they do know that there is a famous Roman bridge in Salamanca. Who knows, maybe that’s where he got the idea.
Chess Tactics
Tactics puzzles are a must for anyone wanting to improve their chess game. It is a good idea to try and do ten minutes a day of tactics puzzles, or three puzzles a day, spending only a short amount of time on each puzzle and then checking to see if you got the answer. This way you get into the habit of looking for puzzles, and you see lots of tactical patterns over and over again. You can find tactics books, tactics puzzles online, often the newspaper will have a tactics puzzle, or you can even purchase software like Ct-art that generates tactics puzzles for you to solve. Colorado chess player and former editor of the Colorado Chess Informant has a section he publishes called Tactics Time that he has turned into a website full of tactics puzzles from real games, which is particularly useful, as these are tactics that have actually come up and either been missed by the player, or that actually happened in the game. Tactics are fun and are what make chess sparks fly! You can also check out CheckMates Chess Academy’s Online Resources for Chess Puzzles divided by skill level.
Chess Tournament at Vernon Area Library
Kids Chess Tournament
On Saturday May 7th CheckMates Chess Academy hosted a free chess tournament at the Vernon Area Library for kids in the community. Over 40 kids showed up to participate and everyone left with a prize! The students here showed that they could concentrate, focus, and demonstrate outstanding sportsmanship and everyone did a great job. The winner were Andrew for the Open Division and Kelly for the Beginners Group. CheckMates Chess Academy will be hosting another set of chess classes and a tournament again at the Vernon Area Library in September. Check out our gallery to see pictures from the tournament!
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