Posts Tagged ‘Class’
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.
Discovery Attack!
A discovery attack is one of the best tactics that a player can use in a chess game. It is a chess tactic that will distract your opponent from your main attack…then if they don’t notice…DISCOVERY ATTACK!
Here’s how it works:
In this position (We are playing as white) we can use a discovery attack to win our opponents Queen and eventually win the game. Our Knight on e3 can move anywhere it wants to without fear or being taken, as our Rook on e2 will be attacking the opponents king and creating the discovery attack. In this instance, it is actually a discovery check, which is the best kind of discovery attack. Can you figure out where we should move our knight?
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..
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If you are thinking f5 you are correct. By moving our knight to f5 we can attack the Queen and create a discovery check with our rook. The Queen is now lost for black, as it can only go to e3 or e6 to stop the discovery attack and both moves will lead to it being taken.
The Importance of the Mobil Duo
What, you might ask, is a mobil duo? It is a movable pair of pawns standing side by side on either the two center squares e4 and d4 (or e5 and d5 as black) or c4 and d4, or e4 and f4. What’s so great about it? Well, number one, your opponent has four squares that he can’t use when you have a mobil duo. Every move he has to think about how he can’t place any of his good pieces on those four squares that are covered by e4 and d4. He is constrained. He is cramped. He has to work around those squares. He should challenge those pawns by c5, e5, or d5 if he can. Break up that mobil duo. What else is so great about it? It’s mobil. You can push it and thereby often push through your agenda on the board. Push his pieces around. It might not be the right time to push them right away. Just because they are mobil doesn’t mean you have to move them. In fact, because of the constraining effect they have you should refrain from moving them as long as possible.
What does FIDE stand for?
Many of us know that FIDE is the leading world chess organization. But what does FIDE stand for?
FIDE stands for Fédération Internationale des Échecs, which literally translates into World Chess Federation. They are the governing body for most large chess events and create the rules for international competition. They also award players titles such as Grandmaster and International Master.
The Opening
A chess game is divided into three sections: the Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame. Each has its own tactics and strategies; a good chess player must be well rounded in all of them. The opening is the first part of the game and has three main goals:
1. Develop your Pieces (Starting with the Knights and Bishops)
2. Protect your King (Usually by Castling)
3. Control the Center of the Board
A series of chess moves to start the game is called an Opening. Many of these have been worked out by players of the last several centuries. Some of the most famous are the Italian, Spanish, Sicilian Defense, Petrov Defense, and Caro Kann. The key to studying an opening is understanding the moves, not memorizing them. Check back to find out more about various openings.
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
Chess and Hockey (Part 1)
With the NHL hockey playoffs going on (and sadly the Chicago Blackhawks are eliminated) I cant help but relate Chess Strategies to Hockey Strategies.In Chess, like in Hockey, the tactics that a player uses change throughout the different periods of the game.
The Chess Game is divided into the Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame.
Hockey is divided into three periods.
In Hockey, a coach who is losing often uses a strategy in the last minute of the game that he would never attempt in the beginning. Often times, a hockey coach will pull their goalie for the last minute of the game because he weights the risk versus the rewards and decides that with the game winding down risking it would be more of an advantage to his team.
In Chess, a player will use different strategies and tactics throughout the chess game. Similar to a coach pulling the hockey goalie, a chess player may take his or her King out of the Castle and use it as a piece. The player must weigh what kind of contribution the King can make on an offensive effort versus the disadvantage he or she may receive from keeping the King exposed.
Whether it is in hockey, chess, or life, kids learn the important of weighing the consequences of their actions for each specific situation.
CheckMates In California!
This summer, CheckMates Chess Academy will be teaching chess classes in the sunny state of California!
Santa Monica Library will be hosting a series of children’s chess classes for youth Kindergarten through Sixth Grades, taught by George Krasnopolskiy of CheckMates Chess Academy. In two weeks, CheckMates Chess Academy will be teaching kids in California how to play chess in two classes.
The Beginners Chess Class will be held for children who are brand new to chess. There will be three chess classes and then a chess tournament where these “beginners” will be able to show off just how much they have learned!
The Strategies Chess Class is held for chess players who know the rules to chess, and want to learn tactics and strategies that will make them better. They will learn a variety of alternative chess games that will give them a deeper look into chess theory and make chess more enjoyable and more interesting! These chess students will be participating in the end of the session tournament as well.
The Chess Tournament will be open to all kids Kindergarten through Sixth Grades. Chess players will be divided into two groups, those who are beginners and those chess players that already know how to play chess. The tournament is NO ELIMINATION and EVERYONE RECIEVES A PRIZE for participation.
Santa Monica Library Chess Classes: June 6th, June 8th, June 13th
Beginners Chess Class: 3:30 - 4:30
Strategies Chess Class: 4:45 - 5:45
Tournament: June 15h from 3:45 to 5:30
Finding the Best Move (In Chess & Life)
One of the specialties of CheckMates Chess Academy is making sure kids are able to use the chess skills we teach them in their everyday lives. One of the most important chess skills that a child learns is discipline, the ability to control themselves. This is useful for a variety of purposed in everyday life, but I have found it has helped Behavior Disorder Students very much in specific situations.
In Chess, I always teach children that they must look for more than one possible move, because if they only find one they dont know whether it is the best or worst move for them to make…the have nothing to compare it to. Once they find their top three moves, then they can decided which one of them will work best for the student to achieve a specific goal.
Many chess students use the same type of thinking when encountering a conflict at school. For example, a student in my chess class gets upset because someone has laughed at them, say for a silly mistake they made. This chess student then thinks to himself:
Option A: I feel like crying, but will performing that action lead me to achieving the goals I want?
Option B: I feel like punching the student that laughing at me, but will performing that action lead me to achieving the goals I want?
Option C: I can ignore the other student who is laughing at me, and then focus on achieving the goals I want.
Using this type of thinking, a student naturally learns to weigh his or her actions versus their consequences very quickly in all walks of life. They learn to think ahead of the consequences of their actions, and that the they should always look at more than one route of action to take if they want to find the best one. For most students, just teaching the patience they need to understand that the first move they think of is not usually the best is enough to make a drastic improvement to their decision skills in life. Having this way of thinking teaching kids not to make rash decision. When a student is taught to think ahead and consider multiple consequences on the chess board, they learn to relate it in life. This makes sure that they make every move count, on and off the chessboard.
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