The parents of my young students often ask me how their children can get better. What they’re really asking is if there’s an easy way in which their children can quickly improve. Mastery of any subject requires putting in a large amount of time into the study of that subject, roughly 10,000 hours. However, we could spend this enormous amount time trying to master a subject and fall short of our goal. This can happen if we don’t study the right way. How you study a subject becomes the determining factor in your success with that subject, be it music, science or chess.

When parents ask me how their children can get better, I ask the parents if they play chess. Parents can speed up the improvement process if they’re willing to become involved. Involvement starts with sitting down and playing chess with their children. If the parent doesn’t play chess, I offer to sit down and teach them the rules of the game. If they’re willing to do this, I teach them the rules of the game and provide them with handouts that cover the ideas discussed during each class. They can use these handouts to go over the weekly lessons with their children, reinforcing the ideas covered in my lectures. I stress the importance of being proactive in their children’s chess. There is an additional benefit to playing chess with one’s children. The game itself forges a bond between parent and child, a bond that will help hold their relationship with their children through the passing years. What about parents who don’t have the time to play chess with their children?

This is where training software, DVDs and books come into play. However, before I delve into this method of study, we should talk about what should be studied and how much time should be allotted to studying chess. Good chess players are all around players. This means they’re confident in opening middle and endgame play. Too often, I see young players at tournament who are proficient in the opening but get crushed in the middle game because their tactical skills are not honed. I also see young players who are good at tactics but get punished in the opening and never get to demonstrate their tactical skills. Children should study each of the game’s three phases, the opening, middle and endgames. Let’s start with the opening:

Rather than concentrate on specific openings, concentrate on opening principles (see my previous article on opening principles). Until you understand the principles, you’ll never understand the mechanics of different types of openings. A beginner who understands the opening principles will do much better than a beginner who simply memorizes opening lines and variations. Opening principles such as controlling the center with a pawn, minor piece development and castling will give the young beginner a fighting chance when facing off against a stronger opponent. Children do well with learning by repetition so these principles must be gone over again and again. Parents should keep this in mind and not become discouraged if their child doesn’t get it immediately.

Middle games studies for children should start with tactics. Children love tactics such as forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, etc. Tactics also allow them to develop board vision (seeing the entire board rather than an isolated area) because they’ll scourer the board looking for tactical opportunities. It’s best to hold off on delving into open and closed positions until they’ve spent at least six to nine months developing their tactical skills. However, you can introduce the basic idea of both types of games. For example, when playing an e pawn opening, I often mention that the use of the e pawn on move one can lead to an open game. When asked what an open game is, I simply explain that it is a game in which the pieces have a lot of room to move as opposed to a closed game in which the pieces are very close to one another making movement difficult. Leave it at that for the moment.

The endgame may be the most frustrating phase of the game for young beginners. Children think that with fewer pieces on the board it is easier to play chess. However, just the opposite is true. Beginners should start with the most basic of checkmates, two Rooks and a King against a lone King. This particular mate, in which the Rooks work together to isolate the opposing King to one of the board’s edges, teaches piece coordination and eliminates the employment of silly or pointless checks. Then move on to Queen and King versus lone King, Rook and King against lone King and, only then (after at least three months) move onto minor piece mates. While introducing these basic mates, introduce the most basic of pawn promotions, King and pawn versus lone King.

Parents reading this are probably starting to think “you want me to do what?” or “wait a minute, I don’t play chess and I don’t have the time to learn.” Don’t worry; I’m not going to leave you with this grandiose plan without some help! I am going to suggest a software program that will make your parental chess life a bit easier. I know chess software can be expensive but I have a solution that is relatively inexpensive. The software is called Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition. It is designed for both adults and children and all ages in between. It contains two primary tutorial programs that cover everything I’ve discussed, a plethora of computer opponents (at levels from absolute beginner to Grandmaster), a database of games and a great kid’s section.

How much time should my child spend studying chess? Young children have short attention spans so forcing them to study long after their attention has waned can have a negative effect. Start with fifteen minute blocks of time for each phase of the game, the opening, middle and endgame. Try this twice a week. The remaining time should be spent playing against human opponents, one to two games each day. If playing chess with your child, make sure to reinforce their classroom lessons. This can be offset with play against a computer program (set at a level a little higher than the child’s skill set). You have to balance theory (studying the game) with practice (playing the game) to ensure a well rounded chess education. Here’s game to play through that I rather enjoy.

Hugh Patterson

Division 1 has 3 ICCF Grandmasters, 5 Senior International Masters, 1 International Master and 1 Lady International Master. The average ratings for each board are Board 1: – 2372; Board 2: – 2336; Board 3: – 2285; Board 4: – 2212. The reigning Champions, “Pawn Stars”, with 3 SIMs, Gino Figlio, Dr. Michael Millstone and myself and Austin Lockwood (Captain) are up against “ICCF Warriors”, the likely favourites, with a team containing 3 GMs, Nigel Robson, Raymond Boger and Mark Noble and 1 SIM, Ian Pheby. Other teams are “BCCA Griffins”, “Scheming Mind A”, “Scheming Mind B” and “White Rose A”. We are outgraded by over 100 points this year, so we will need to play very carefully if we are to retain our title and receive another trophy…..!

Here is a game from GM Raymond Boger, the highest rated player, from the ICCF Olympiad 17 Final: -

John Rhodes

The first missing masterpiece was played by Nicolai Rossolimo in the Puerto Rico Open in 1967 and features a finish reminiscent of a well known Lewitsky – Marshall game. Yet Rossolimo’s effort seems even better to me as the brilliant 23.Qg6!! came after some very good positional play. It’s really an amazing game, so shouldn’t we expect it to be included? Interestingly it can be found here at Chessgames.com, which perhaps reflects an advantage of having readers being encouraged to send games in.

The second omission is even more surprising as it is a game that has been published in many collections. The winner, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, is something of an icon in certain circles for his amazing combinative ability, and this game was one of his masterpieces.

Over five million games but they missed these two out. And many more besides…

Nigel Davies

- They don’t want to improve their game; wiered but its true. They would like to beat their friends or parent and just love to loot (capturing more pieces than opponent’s). In short they play chess for fun.
- The task becomes more difficult when child come to learn chess on because of parents’ wishes.
- They don’t like hard work.

Amidst these conditions you need to keep kid interested in chess or sometimes you have to develop the interest; we all know that if the kid attached with chess for longer period of time, development will come. Here are some ideas which I am using to achieve this goal but first of all you should not lose control while teaching kids and you should be highly self motivated.

1. Losing intentionally :
I advise parents to play chess with their kids and lose intentionally. Now they have reason to learn chess as they want to beat stronger player (his/her coach). For example if you have demonstrated a double attack today and child beats you using double attack then for sure he/she will never forget the concept and his/her interest will grow towards learning something new in chess. But you have to create such situations.

2. Using funny tools :
We are normally using Chess Master with funny chess sets in which the captures and moves are made in a very strange way. Children love playing with this kind of software, even if they don’t initially like chess.

3. Creating emotional bonding:
Once a child is emotionally attached with you, you can motivate them very easily. You can shape them as you want. Clapping with them when they win or capture, helping them in friendly game against strong opponent, praise them in front of others are some tools for the same but it can be different from kid to kid and totally personalized.

4. Some inspirational videos related to chess:
These kinds of videos help you to build a child’s interest, but I have observed that normally the effect of the movie remains for short time. It is crucial for the coach to use this as he is getting time during which the kid is highly motivated.

5. Don’t teach them more :
Teaching time must be less than playing time during the session, as I said earlier they do not want to learn. If you teach them for longer time they get bored and might stop coming to you. Therefore create an environment where they love to come. The purpose can be anything, maybe they’ll come not to learn chess but just meet to friends.

I have just presented my little experience in structured way that might be useful to you.

Ashvin Chauhan

It’s easy to get in trouble, in chess and in life, by pretending to be what you are not. According to one definition of tragedy I have seen, tragedy results when a weak soul strives to do things beyond his strength. If I ever tried to do the things James Bond does—such as seducing a beautiful Russian spy or skiing off a cliff—my comeuppance would be quick. My fate would not even qualify as tragic—more like idiotic. I am reminded of a redneck’s last words: “Hey, watch this!”

Playing good chess often seems to be one of those things beyond my strength these days. As we oldsters know, our chess strength tends to slowly decline while the youngsters we encounter are getting stronger by the week. In a recent game I was paired against a boy about one-fifth my age (I was 54, he was 11). He had slain a number of much older players in his last tournament and his rating was now approaching my own. Fortunately, I had the white pieces.

Unlike many older players, I enjoy playing much younger opponents. This is not because I view them with the benevolent eyes of an old codger sitting on a park bench, soaking up the sunshine and warming my old bones while the children gambol about in the grass. On the contrary, my goal is to stomp on them. I may fail in the attempt, but experience has taught me that young players tend to play a ragged game of chess: strong at times, but with weak moves thrown in. I usually have my chances against a young player, even if I fail to make the most of them. Oddly, I have typically found young players to be weaker than their rating in the opening, which is contrary to their reputation. And of course young players tend to be weak in the endgame, exactly why I don’t know: perhaps because they lack the patience to sit and learn endgame theory from books, which is almost the only way you can learn much of it. Where young players are most dangerous, in my experience, is the middlegame, where they may come up with startling moves I have not foreseen. Young players are also particularly resourceful in defense, perhaps because they remain optimistic in bad positions.

Here is the recent game I mentioned above, with light notes.

In the long run, older players fighting against younger players are defying the tide, like King Canute. As the saying goes, youth will be served. But in this one game, at least, youth was served on a platter.

Tim Hanke

Essentially they are collections of games that people bothered to enter into electronic format, from all sorts of events. Are these good or important games? Well sometimes they aren’t but often they aren’t. And often they include errors made in entering the game and encounters between very weak players.

Here’s one such effort from the World U12 Girls Championship in 2012, a game in which both sides blundered away pieces before agreeing a draw. And whilst both girls may develop into strong players over time, does it have any value?

I suppose that some coaches might claim it does because everyone can now prepare for Tammy or Kirsty’s favourite lines. But seriously, is such preparation really relevant compared to the size of the blunders that are still present? I say it’s irrelevant, unless of course you’re a coach with a laptop who wants to appear very serious. Kind of like Peter Cushing bringing his creation to life…

In my next column I’ll show you an example of what is NOT in your database. And you’ll probably be quite shocked!

Nigel Davies

A few years ago someone asked me a good question. Given that these are our aims at the start of the game, how come so many players choose the Sicilian Defence: 1. e4 c5.

1.. e5 appears to be a better developing move: it opens lines for the bishop as well as the queen, while 1.. c5 only opens a line for the queen, which we’re not supposed to bring out too soon.

1.. e5 also appears better in terms of central control. It controls d4 and f4 while 1.. c5 controls d4 and b4.

Finally, as 1.. e5 releases the f8 bishop it leaves Black one move closer to bringing his king to safety by castling.

So, a good question indeed. How should I answer it? I explained that, in the main lines of the Sicilian Defence (and why they are the main lines is another good question, but let’s just say that, at higher levels at any rate, they score better than the alternatives) White plays 2. Nf3 followed by 3. d4. Black’s plan is to trade off his c-pawn for the enemy d-pawn, reaching a position with an advantage of two pawns to one in the centre.

We teach beginners, naturally enough, to use their centre pawns at the start of the game, and not to move our wing pawns more than is necessary. We demonstrate how Morphy only moved his e- and d-pawns when beating his aristocratic opponents. Perhaps we’re missing a trick in failing to explain that in very many openings Charlie the c-pawn plays an important role.

Consider also the Queen’s Gambit: 1. d4 d5 2. c4. Again, White is hoping to trade his c-pawn for the black d-pawn, giving him a two pawns to one advantage in the centre. There’s nothing very much wrong with Black allowing this as long as he’s ready to hit back at White’s centre with ..c5 or ..e5 at an appropriate point.

Another way to look at the opening from White’s perspective is that he’s trying to get two pawns together on the 4th rank. Often this will be on e4 and d4, but sometimes he’ll prefer c4 and d4, and occasionally e4 and f4. The Hypermodern School taught that this is not necessary, and instead you can control the centre from the flanks, but that, again, is another story.

So after 1. d4 Nf6 White will usually choose the non-developing 2. c4. He wants to get two pawns together in the centre, and Black has prevented 2. e4.

Understanding that if we’re White we try to get two pawns together on the 4th rank, and that we can use Charlie to help us do this, is important in understanding the Giuoco Piano and the Ruy Lopez. After 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5, White can, instead of the boring Giuoco Pianissimo, play 4. c3, following up with 5. d4. (Or, as is the modern fashion, with 5. d3, preferring to develop first while taking d4 away from the black minor pieces, and perhaps finding a suitable moment for d4 later in the game.)

Again, in the Ruy Lopez, we see very similar ideas. We also see the typical knight manoeuvres for White: Nb1-d2-f1-g3-f5 or Nb1-d2-f1-e3-d5. This will be the subject of a future post when I reach the relevant chapter of Move Two!.

There are other ways, apart from the Sicilian Defence, for Black to use his c-pawn in the fight for the centre.

In the French Defence, the key move for Black in most variations is ..c5. We can see this, for instance, in the Advance Variation: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5. Again, Black would like to trade his c-pawn for White’s d-pawn, and perhaps later, via a timely ..f6, trade his f-pawn for White’s e-pawn as well.

In the Caro-Kann Defence, as well as some lines of the Scandinavian Defence, Black plays ..c6 to help set up a solid position in the centre. In these openings the black knight will often be developed via d7. In the Queen’s Gambit, Black is well advised not to play an early Nc6, blocking the c-pawn, unless he really knows what he’s doing. Instead, he has the choice of setting up a solid central position by playing c6, as in the Slav Defence, or hitting out at White’s centre with c5, as in the Tarrasch Defence.

Finally, White can move into Hypermodern territory by choosing the English Opening: 1. c4. Now if Black plays e5 it’s a reverse Sicilian Defence, but he has many other viable options as well.

So perhaps we need a different approach to teaching the openings to novices. While it’s easy to get children to play Giuoco Pianissimos and Spanish Four Knights, at some point fairly quickly we need to ask them to consider Charlie the c-pawn. We’re often using three, not two pawns to fight for the centre: the c-pawn as well as the d- and e-pawns. Very often, as a result of this, our queen’s knight will emerge, not at c3/c6 but at d2/d7 instead. Learning this important lesson will steer our students away from turgid positions with e4/d3 against e5/d6, teach them how to handle a wide variety of pawn formations, and give them a wider understanding of chess culture.

Richard James

I addressed the idea of simple solutions in an earlier article but wish to delve into this idea a bit further. Beginners always have problems when one of their pawns or pieces comes under attack. This occurs because most novice players have not yet mastered the art of piece coordination. Like a sports team, pawns and pieces must work together. If you play through a master level game, you’ll see that throughout the game, the pawns and pieces support one another. With beginners, pawns and pieces are not well coordinated so they’re subject to attacks. Therefore, while teaching the art of coordination I also teach the ABCs of defense.

Most young beginners play as aggressively as they can. Because they don’t have a great deal of experience gained from playing a lot of chess and studying the game, their aggressive play can lead to weak positions in which pieces come under attack. Younger players love to attack. However, when the tables are turned they have a hard time dealing with defense. This is where the ABCs come into play. “A” stands for Avoid (move the pawn or piece out of danger), “B” stands for Block (blocking the attack) and “C” stands for Capture (capturing the attacking pawn or piece). The ABCs become the basis for decision making when we’re under attack.

A simple rule of thumb for beginners regarding avoiding an attack is as follows: If a piece of greater value in being attacked by a piece lesser value and the attack can’t be blocked nor the attacker captured, avoid the attack by moving the piece in question. If the piece is of equal value to the attacker’s piece and that piece is defended, you could consider an exchange. However, do not consider an exchange if doing so weakens your position. When moving your piece out of harm’s way, do a quick check to make sure the square you’re moving to isn’t controlled by your opponent (a common problem in beginner’s chess). Don’t decide to avoid an attack by moving the piece under attack until you’ve examined blocking and capturing first.

Blocking an attack means that we place a pawn or piece between the attacker and the defender. If you decide to block an attack, make sure that the piece blocking the attack is defended by one of your pawns or pieces. Otherwise, you’ll be giving your opponent a free piece and then be stuck with the same problem. Also consider the value of the piece you’re using to block the attack. If you’re attacked by a Bishop and you block with your Queen, you’re going to lose the Queen. After all, your opponent would be able to capture a piece of far greater value. Always try to block with a piece of lesser value. What happens if you have the choice of blocking with one of two pieces of equal value, a Knight or a Bishop? Decide which of the two pieces will aid you more in the current position. In an open game, a Bishop might be more valuable than a Knight while in a closed game, the Knight is more important.

Our last option is capturing. This is where beginners often have trouble. A general rule of thumb is to use a piece of least value to capture the attacking piece. Often, capturing the attacking piece will lead to a recapture by the opposition. When playing a more experience player, the piece doing the attacking will be defended because stronger chess players know how to coordinate their pieces when launching attacks. Therefore, if the attacking piece is a Bishop which is protected by a pawn, you’ll want to capture the attacking piece with a piece of equal or lesser value. Let’s say that your opponent’s Bishop is attacking one of your Rooks. You have a choice of capturing the attack with a Knight (3 points) or the Queen (9 points). Knowing that the piece you capture with is going to be recaptured, it would make no sense to give up your Queen when you could capture back with the Knight. The Bishop and Knight are of equal value so the exchange of pieces would be equal.

As the beginner improves their playing, we then have to look at other factors to consider when seeking out simple solutions. Tempo is an additional factor to consider. Tempo is time. In chess you can lose tempo or gain tempo. In the opening, for example, both players race to complete their development first. If one player wastes a turn by making a pointless move, they lose tempo. You can think of a loss of tempo as a loss of a game turn. Therefore, it’s your job not to waste time. When faced with a position problem in which there are two solutions of equal strength, choose the solution that takes the shortest amount of time to achieve. This idea of keeping it simple can be applied to every aspect of the game.

There’s a Zen concept that states “Less is More” and this applies to life as well as chess. When you’re first starting out, try to keep it simple. After all, you have to learn how to walk before you can run. The same holds true in chess. Some of the greatest chess players, including one of chess heroes, Boris Spassky, played in a simple manner. Of course, his simple solutions often lead to complex problems for his opponent! Here’s a game that exemplifies my hero’s simple approach to chess.

Hugh Patterson

First and most importantly it’s essential to avoid dehydration, and coffee tends to cause this because it encourages the body to give up water. A much better idea is to water or green tea, the latter probably requiring that you bring your own given the limited range of refreshments normally available at tournaments.

As far as food is concerned then fish and eggs are the best brain foods plus green leafy vegetables, blueberries and whole grains being very good too. There are also a number of supplements that aid cognitive function, for example Gingko Biloba is known to help with memory and concentration and has the benefits of being easy to obtain and inexpensive. The same is true of dark chocolate, the cocoa beans containing flavanols which are known for their brain enhancing effects.

Going beyond just food there’s a whole World of activities one can do, for example exercise has been shown to have beneficial effects on the brain. Here’s someone whose books I’ve read lecturing on the subject, and it’s amazing how few people have bothered to watch:

Nigel Davies

The first of these is the Chess Steps web site which gives details of the steps method and has download versions of the Chess Tutor program. The second is the web site Chessity which has some fun exercises such as trying to solve problems faster than other users.

In both cases the key is the heavy emphasis on developing chess board vision, which all too often is paid lip services by teachers before they move on to things like openings. But without a thorough grounding in tactical play none of it will make sense and students will be left frustrated and unable to make progress.

Broadly speaking tactical play must be learned first before people move on to consider strategic concepts, and this is the route taken by most club players. How they progress from there is another story, and one which I’ll revisit at another time. Strategy is much harder to learn and there are fewer good sources available.

Nigel Davies