Posts Tagged ‘Free’
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!
The Rook and how it moves
The Rook is an important piece to use in chess and not very hard to learn. There is an easy rhyme I made up for the rook; here how it goes:
“Up, Down, Side to Side, that’s the way the rook will slide.”
The rook moves forwards, backwards, and sideways as many squares as it wants. It attacks the same way it moves and cannot skip over pieces. Like all the other pieces, it can only attack one piece at a time.
Each team gets two rooks and they start on the corners on the board. For white this is a1 and h1. For black this is a8 and h8.
Also, it is the rook, not the castle!
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.
Chess Tournament this Saturday!
This Saturday we will be having a kids chess tournament at Elk Grove Village Library from 1:30 - 3:00. All kids from grades k- 6th are welcome to come, even beginners! Kids will be separated into two sections: Beginners and Intermediate/ Advanced. Everyone will leave with a prize and first place will leave with an even COOLER PRIZE!
Residents of Elk Grove can register now, while residents of other townships will have to wait until Friday to register. The library can be reached at 847-439-0447.
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.
The Ven Diagram of Chess
The Ven Diagram of Chess is something I created to help explain what a player should try to do in a game of chess. Of course, we all know that a player must always strive to give a checkmate. This is a very general goal and most people would get frustrated if that is the only advice a coach would give.
The Chess Ven Diagram Visually Guides you to what you should be able to do. It does not show any specific moves, but instead explains the theory of how you will be able to create the opportunity for yourself to win on the chess board.
If you look at the Chess Ven Diagram you can tell that the main goal of chess is to checkmate your opponent. There are two things that you need to do to allow you to checkmate your opponent: Control the Board and Protect your King. You can protect your King by Castling either Queenside or Kingside. In order to control the board you must develop your pieces to powerful squares and stop your opponent from doing so. These powerful chess squares are most often in the middle. If you do these things you can attack your opponent and control the momentum of the game. This will allow you to then give a checkmate.
Chess Tournament This Saturday!!!
This Saturday, October 22nd, CheckMates will be hosting a free kids chess tournament at the Des Plaines Library in Des Plaines, Illinois. The Tournament is open to players of all levels, even those without a USCF rating.
This is a great chance for your child to practicing competing in chess without the worry of losing. The tournament is no disqualification and everyone leaves with a prize! It takes place from 2 pm - 4pm, make sure you dont miss it.
Space is limited, register online or give the library a call (847.827.5551)
Doubled Pawns
Doubled pawns is when two pawns are on the same file (Remember files go up and down). Doubled pawns are a bad thing to have in chess, are they are not nearly as good as having two pawns side to side. One way to determine if a piece is powerful is by looking at the amount of squares it can move to.
In the example above, the black pawns on e6 and e7 can only move to one square: e5. On the other side of the baord we see that the white pawns can move from f2 to f3 and f4 and from g2 to g3 and g4. 4 moves compared to one; its easy to see why whites pawns are better positioned.
Static Disadvantages — How to win a lost game
There are two kinds of disadvantages (or conversely-advantages) that you should be aware of in chess-static and dynamic.
Examples of dynamic or changeable advantages are space, initiative and development. When you have those you must take advantage of them while they exist because they will soon disappear. That’s why they are called dynamic.
Static or unchanging advantages are things like material (being up a piece or down a piece) and pawn structure. When you have a static disadvantage like weak or bad pawns (meaning pawn islands, doubled pawns or backward pawns) or when you are down material it is your job to try to complicate the position. Do not trade down (trading pawns is ok) but try to keep lots of pieces like knights, bishops, rooks and queens on the board if you can. And try to create trouble. Keep creating threats and confusing tactical positions that cause your opponent to have to think and think until he or she gets exhausted. Often this will result in an accidental loss for them and a win for you.
Chess isn’t just about getting an advantage and then proceeding to the win. Many lost positions are saved by the simple tactic of confusing and confounding and irritating your opponent (over the board by strange moves not by continual draw offers or strange noises) until their own mental energy wears out. It’s all part of the game.
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