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Chess Endgame Technique 1

David Thompson — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 16:33:24 +0000

Chess players often forget about the endgame, which is where they turn their hard-won advantages into wins. A lot of thought goes into the main game. However, in the endgame, you need to pay close attention to exact numbers, make smart moves, and know the basic rules inside and out. It talks about “Chess Endgame Technique 1,” which will teach you the key finishing moves you need to win in the last few moves.

Chess Endgame Technique 1: Mastering the Basics for Winning Finishes

What is Chess Endgame Technique?

Find out what you need to know and how to do it to win the last part of a chess game. In chess, this is called the endgame method. When you play a game with more pieces, you have to think about your moves more. There are more estimates to be made when there are fewer pieces. Things you need to know are

How to Use the King: The king is usually right there at the start. But it’s a very important piece for fighting in the end game. You need to know how to engage your king in order for it to move.
Opposition: When you want to stop your opponent from moving, you just move your king across from them. Thus, you remain in charge of key places.
At the end of a game: the pawn is often the most important piece. If you want to make a threat, you should know about passed pawns, pawns that don’t have any enemy pawns in front of them, and pawn breaks.
Rook endgames: In the final, rooks are the best piece. It is very important to know how to play weak squares and positioning with rooks to stop the enemy king from moving.
Queen Endings: You can do more when you have a queen than when you have a rook. You should know what “fortress positions” mean and how to mate with the queen. In these spots, a king can hold a draw by himself.

Chess Endgame Technique 1: Learning Through Examples

The well-chosen endgames in “Chess Endgame Technique 1” are used in a planned way to show important ideas. Real-world learning is more important than just knowing different forms. Here’s a list of what to expect:

Simple Checkmates: The king and queen are used to teach simple checkmates in the first part of the game. Users can now get the endgame tools they need to win even the easiest ones.
What are the King and Pawn Endgames? This part goes into great depth about how to move pawns up the board, which is a very important skill. You can move your pawns forward with moves like pushback and the king’s march. The king moves slowly toward the enemy pawn with these moves.
Pawns and Rook Endgames: This book talks about pawn and rook endgames, which happen a lot at the endgame level. To keep your opponent’s king from moving, you will learn how to pass pieces, draw three lines, and make good use of weak squares.
How to Win with the Queen: This part explains what “fortress positions” are and how to win with the queen.

Benefits of Chess Endgame Technique 1:

Strong Base: The book teaches you important rules for endings.
Practical Approach: It stresses doing things to learn them, and at the end, it gives many case studies to show how the ideas can be used.
Graded Difficulty: Endgames can get harder over time, but there are also endgames that are easy.
With Pictures and Easy-to-Understand Text: The book’s final ideas are easy to understand thanks to its pictures and good text.

Beyond Chess Endgame Technique 1: Continuing Your Endgame Journey

While “Chess Endgame Technique 1” is a good start, you’ll need to learn more and put in more work to really get endgames. After reading this book, you can use these endgame tips:

Practice Endgames Regularly: Ending should be something you do every day. Every day, do endgame problems along with your tactics problems. You can push yourself with ending lessons or online tools.
Check out your games: Pay close attention to how your games end. Go over your final plan one last time to see if you missed any chances or found any weak spots.
Take your time: If the timer is longer, you have more time to think about how the story ends and make very clear decisions.
Get help or join a group that plays chess: Some people have more experience than you do, and they can help you understand the finish and answer any questions you may have.
Read more about these Endgame topics: As you get better, learn stuff like rook endgames with a strong passed pawn, queen and pawn endgames, and theory endgames with certain piece mismatches.

Conclusion:

This is a great book for the whole family to read if they want to get better at the finish. The book uses clear explanations, good examples, and useful uses to give players the confidence they need to handle the tricky finish with ease. Don’t forget that getting better at the finish is a process, not a goal. To get better at those tough numbers, you will need to study, do them, and do them again and again. I hope you like “Chess Endgame Technique 1”.

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How to Analyze Your Own Chess Games In 2024-A Step-by-Step Guide

David Thompson — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 10:42:35 +0000

Analyzing your chess games is one of the most important things you can do to improve at chess. Going over your own games allows you to understand where you made mistakes, find weaknesses in your play, and come up with ideas for how to play better next time. In this article we talk about How to Analyze Your Own Chess Games In 2024.

In this comprehensive guide, I will walk you through the entire process of analyzing your own chess games, step-by-step. From setting up a board to replay your game, to identifying key positions, to evaluating mistakes and coming up with training techniques – this guide covers everything you need to know.

By systematically reviewing your own chess games, you will rapidly increase your chess understanding and rating. So let’s get started!

Step 1: Record Your Games

The first step is to record the moves from your games. Nowadays this is easy – most chess sites and apps will save a computer readable file (known as a PGN file) of your games which you can access.

If you are playing casual games with a real board, you should get into the habit of writing down all the moves. Writing down your game by hand forces you to think more about each move, and already starts the self-analysis process during the game itself.

Later on you can enter these moves into a PGN file yourself if you want to analyze it with computer assistance.

Step 2: Set Up a Board to Replay the Game

Next, you need to replay your game move by move on a board. This can be a real chess board or an online/computer board.

The key is that you can see the position in front of you, and move the pieces as you go through each move of the game. Seeing and moving the positions will make the analysis much more natural and intuitive.

If you recorded your game electronically in PGN format, you can easily import it into any chess software or website that can display a board. Then you can step through each position automatically.

However, you may still want to set up a real board too, to have the tactile experience of moving the pieces. This engages more of your spatial thinking.

Step 3: Go Through the Game Without Computer Analysis

Before turning on computer analysis, go through the entire game at least once on your own without assistance.

Try to remember what you were thinking during the real game, and analyze the critical moments. At each position, ask yourself questions like:

Why did I choose this move? Was there another good option?
Did I miss any of my opponent’s threats?
Was there a key tactic or strategic idea I missed?
When did the game start going bad – and why?
Was my move evaluation consistent with the resulting position?

This initial self-reflection will help you practice your own analytical thinking, rather than just relying on computer assessments. Review the game from both sides’ perspectives.

Make notes on a sheet of paper whenever you realize there was a mistake or something to improve for next time.

Step 4: Turn On Engine Analysis

The next phase is to turn on the chess engine analysis to identify mistakes more objectively, confirm your suspicions, and reveal things you might have missed.

Most chess software will give evaluations and best move suggestions at each turn. Pay special attention when your move evaluations differ greatly from the engine, as this likely indicates mistakes.

You can usually configure the engine strength and analysis depth to higher settings for more accuracy. But be careful not to become over-reliant on engine assessments – always think first before seeing the computer evaluation.

As you go through each position again, compare your initial thoughts to the main lines suggested by the engine. Wherever there are discrepancies, try to understand why. Look for gaps in your positional assessments or tactic vision.

Use the engine to double check your conclusions about where the game was won or lost. The computer can help pinpoint the first inaccurate move or misevaluation of a critical position.

Step 5: Identify Your Key Mistakes and Learn From Them

Now comes the most important learning phase. Based on your self-analysis and the engine evaluations, determine 1-3 key mistakes or areas for improvement from your game.

For example, perhaps you consistently missed your opponent’s tactical threats involving a key diagonal. Or maybe most of your inaccuracies stemmed from improper pawn structures and imbalances.

Try to categorize your main mistakes into strategic themes like:

Tactics/Missing Threats
Calculating Variations
Positional Evaluations
Opening Theory
Time Management
Emotional Control

Once you identify key mistakes:

Note exactly why better moves should have been considered and how they would have changed the evaluation.
Come up with training techniques to improve in this area. For example, doing puzzle rush on tactical motifs you commonly miss, researching opening improvements through books/videos, or performing deep calculation practice on key variations from your games.

Be specific in targeting your training to fix the recurrent issues revealed in your games – this is how you can maximize improvement efficiently.

Step 6: Review the Game a Few Days Later

After identifying lessons learned, revisit the game again a few days or a week later. Going over it again with a fresh look will help strengthen your understanding.

You may find new ideas and considerations when replaying the game again later, after your knowledge has deepened in between. You can augment your previous notes with any new findings.

Our brains and chess understanding grow in the time between training sessions by consolidating our experiences. Reviewing games multiple times over longer intervals leverages this consolidation process.

Step 7: Compare with Stronger Player Insights

To take your analysis to an even higher level, you can have stronger players review your game as well.

Sharing your game with a coach or more experienced club players will provide additional objective feedback you can learn from. They may point out alternative ideas, nuances you glossed over, or help explain engine assessments better.

The key is to compare their thoughts with your own self-analysis first, rather than just believing whatever the stronger player says! This trains your judgment and understanding of why moves or positions are good or bad.

Discussing games with stronger players also helps develop your verbal chess communication abilities. Explaining your thought process and understanding during the game analysis is great practice.

Conclusion

Analyzing your games does take some time and focus, but it provides incredibly high value training for serious chess improvement. Using the step-by-step methodology outlined here will ensure you extract all possible lessons from your games.

The more games you can analyze with this diligent process, the more rapidly you will progress as a player. So set aside time to review each of your games, and your understanding of chess strategy and patterns will compound to bring your rating up.

When you make game analysis a regular habit, you’ll notice the quality of your move decisions and overall play get better week after week. You’ll experience fewer “chess blindspots”, find good moves more intuitively, and lose fewer games from the same mistakes. Just remember – having an effective game analysis framework is the key. I sincerely hope you find this “How to Analyze Your Own Chess Games In 2024-A Step-by-Step Guide” article helpful.

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How to Read Descriptive Notation

David Thompson — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 17:31:11 +0000

I had to learn Descriptive Notation early on; my dad saw The Soviet School of Chess in Strand Bookstore near his job. Not great for a beginner, but it was $1!

There isn’t much use for Descriptive Notation (1. P—K4, 2. N—KB3) these days. Chess books long ago moved to Algebraic Notation (1.e4, 2.Nf3), not to mention chess websites, magazines, and apps.

If you want to read classic chess literature, however, learn to read DN. A lot of instructive books from the past have not been “translated” into AN. Some classics that have been reissued in AN were mangled badly in the process! The new edition of Basic Chess Endings is more exception than rule.

If you want to read great authors of the past like Euwe or Znosko-Borovsky, you need to learn this old “language.”

Naming the Pieces and Pawns in DN

They’re the same as in algebraic, except we name the pawns as you will soon see.

K=King, Q=Queen, R=Rook, B=Bishop, N=Knight, P=Pawn.

In some books, Kt is used for Knight, instead of N.

Special Moves

As with algebraic notation, “x” is used for a capture, castling is written 0-0 or 0-0-0, and “+” is check. Some old books will use “ch” for check; no big deal.

Files in Descriptive Notation

Take the starting position:

The file where the kings start is called the King (K) file.

The file where the queens start is called the Queen (Q) file.

Not too bad, right? Let’s continue.

Both sides have two each of bishops, knights, and rooks. How do we not mix them up? The files closest to where the queen starts get the prefix “Queen,” and the files closest to where the king starts get the prefix “King.”

Firstly, the file in green is the Queen Rook (QR) file.

Secondly, the file in yellow is the Queen Knight (QN) file.

Finally, the file in red is the Queen Bishop (QB) file.

Similarly:

Firstly, the file in green is the King Rook (KR) file.

Secondly, the file in yellow is the King Knight (KN) file.

Finally, the file in red is the King Bishop (KB) file.

The trickiest part

I think the main reason people get confused with DN is the orientation of the chessboard.

With algebraic notation, the 1st rank is white’s back rank, and the 8th rank is black’s back rank.

In descriptive notation, both sides have a 1st rank and 8th rank! This means every square has TWO addresses, not one!

In the starting position:

White’s king starts on his own K1 square, and black’s king also starts on his K1 square.

White’s king is on black’s K8 square, and black’s king is on white’s K8 square.

Another example:

The square in red has two names:

From white’s perspective it is the Queen Bishop 5 square (QB5).

From black’s perspective it is the Queen Bishop 4 square (QB4).

Let’s Practice with DN

We’ll reach a typical opening position, one move pair at a time.

1.P—K4 P—QB4

White’s pawn has moved to it’s K4 square, and black’s pawn has moved to its QB4 square.

2.N—KB3 N—QB3

White has moved a knight to KB3. writing “B3” is not enough, because he also has a QB3 square. For black it’s the same, in reverse. You have to specify which B3 square the knight moves to if there is a choice.

3. P—Q4 PxP

White moves a pawn to Q4, the only one that can go there. Black captures with a pawn. We can just say PxP because black has only one pawn that can capture, and white has only one pawn that can be captured. We don’t need to say, for example, “BPxP,” “QBPxP,” or “PxQP.” Sometimes, with more than one possible capture, we need to be more, well, descriptive!

4.NxP N—B3

White has only one knight that can capture one possible pawn, so writing NxP is enough.

Black has only one knight that can go to a B3 square as the other B3 square is already occupied, so we can write N—B3 instead of N—KB3.

5.N—QB3 P—Q3

Here we have to be specific and write N—QB3 because N—B3 is ambiguous: the N on Q4 could move back to KB3 as well!

Black has only one pawn that can go to Q3.

6.B—KN5 P—K3

White has two bishops that can go to a N5 square. We name the square, rather than the piece if possible. So we write B—KN5 and NOT QB—N5, because we are choosing one of two destination squares, as the two bishops cannot reach the same squares.

With rooks or knights, however, it’s common to name the flank the piece comes from when there’s a choice of pieces that can go to one destination square. For example, QN—Q2 vs. KN—Q2, or QR—K1 vs. KR—K1.

7.Q—Q2 B—K2

Nothing ambiguous about these two moves.

8.0—0—0 0—0

Castling is notated the same as in algebraic. Some really old books will write “Castles” or, if there is a choice of which side to castle on, “Castles K” or “Castles Q.” These are pretty self-explanatory, though.

Conclusions about Descriptive Notation

Look, I understand why DN isn’t used anymore…it’s clunky and a relic from the past! Still, some people have an irrational fear or hatred of DN, and I hope this guide helps more people read classic chess literature. Play through a handful of games and you will pick up DN!

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How to Develop Your Chess Endgame Skills In 2024

David Thompson — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 11:48:36 +0000

The endgame is arguably the most important and complex phase of a chess game. It is here where games are decided, hard-earned advantages are either converted into victory or squandered, and the true understanding of a player is revealed. Developing endgame prowess requires dedication but is hugely rewarding. Mastering key endgame principles and techniques can rapidly improve your practical results. In this article we talk about talk about How to Develop Your Chess Endgame Skills In 2024.

Understanding the Endgame

The endgame refers to the stage of the game when most pieces have been traded off, kings become active, and the main battle revolves around promoting pawns. Precise calculation, sound strategy, and accurate execution are paramount.

Key things to know:

Goals: The main goals are to promote pawns, control key squares, centralize your king, and deliver checkmate.

Importance: Expert endgame skill leads directly to increased wins, draws from bad positions, better opening play, and overall strategic understanding.

Types: Different types of endgames have distinct strategies like pawn endgames, rook endgames, and minor piece endgames.

Basic Principles: All endgames have fundamental ideas that guide strategic play. Mastering these is the foundation.

King Activity: The king transforms from a liability to a strong piece. Centralize it quickly.

Pawn Promotion: Create passed pawns and advance them. Blockade opponent passed pawns.

Prophylaxis: Take preventative measures to cut off counterplay.

Opposition: Use zugzwang and the opposition of kings to gain tempi.

Key Squares: Identify and control squares that are important for both sides.

Fortresses: Construct impenetrable formations when defending difficult positions.

Study Endgame Theory

While rules of thumb are handy, concrete theoretical knowledge is vital. Mastering common endgame positions you will frequently encounter over the board is a must. Some to start with:

Lucena Position: The most important rook and pawn vs rook endgame technique.

Philidor Position: Essential drawing method when down a pawn in a rook endgame.

Triangulation: Zugzwang technique using a knight to lose a tempo and win pawns.

Vancura Position: Common drawing technique in bishop vs knight endgames.

Rook Pawn: Master basic king, rook, and rook pawn mating patterns.

Effective Practice Methods

Book knowledge must be paired with focused practice to develop skills. Tailor these methods to your level.

Endgame Puzzles: Solve puzzles ranging from basic mates to complex positions daily. Use the Lichess/Chess.com apps.

Endgame Books: Master classics like Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual or Jesus de la Villa’s 100 Endgames You Must Know.

Playing Against Computer: Set up tricky positions against engines to practice calculation and technique.

Theoretical Positions: Have a training partner play common endgame positions out against you.

Analyze Your Games: Review endgames with stronger players or engines to identify mistakes.

Blitz Endgames: Play sharp endgame positions under blitz time controls to improve calculation.

Recommended Resources

Here are some of the best endgame books and online tools to further your learning:

Silman’s Complete Endgame Course: Step-by-step endgame training method for all levels by IM Jeremy Silman.

Chessable Endgame Courses: Practice endgame patterns efficiently using spaced repetition software.

Chess Endgames for Beginners App: Endgame puzzles tailored to improving beginners by GM Alburt, GM Pervakov and GM Razuvaev.

100 Endgames You Must Know: All the most important endgames and how to play them by IM Jesus de la Villa.

Secrets of Pawn Endings: Comprehensive pawn endgame manual by GM Korchnoi. Easy to grasp examples.

Lichess Studies: Hundreds of endgame studies to play out, manually or against computer.

Practical Tips

Lastly, here are some tips to help you apply endgame skills better over-the-board:

Aim to Reach Endgames: Trade pieces to reach endgames with better understanding.

Utilize Endgame Tablebases: Check tricky positions and your analysis with tablebase.

Review Losses: Identify exactly where endgames were lost using engine analysis.

Play Slow Games: Rapid games mask endgame weaknesses. Playing slower time controls exposes them.

Vary Your Practice: Train the basics but also practice complex multi-piece endgames.

Create a Training Plan: Systematically target your weakest areas and measure progress.

The endgame is the final yet most subtle phase of chess. Dedicated, structured practice of its key principles, theories and techniques will rapidly increase understanding and over the board performance for players of all levels. So grab a endgame manual or access an online course and get training! The rewards will come quickly. I sincerely hope you find this “How to Develop Your Chess Endgame Skills In 2024” article helpful.

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The Best Chess Books for Beginners and Advanced Players In 2024

David Thompson — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 11:17:55 +0000

Chess is equal parts strategy and skill. As a cerebral game with an emphasis on spatial reasoning and planning, it offers ample room for dedicated students to grow. Whether you’re a novice still learning the ropes or a seasoned veteran seeking to expand your knowledge, chess books can provide the boost you need. In this article we talk about The Best Chess Books for Beginners and Advanced Players In 2024.

Getting Started: Essential Books for Chess Beginners

Those starting out in chess have much to learn before developing true competency. Fortunately, there exist numerous quality texts offering an accessible entry point while laying the groundwork for future improvement. Here are some top recommendations:

Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess
Authored by the legendary grandmaster himself, this book leverages a unique question-and-answer format to actively engage readers. Bobby Fischer masterfully covers fundamental tactics, ensuring newcomers build technical proficiency and sound logical thinking.

Chess for Dummies
True to the tried-and-tested Dummies formula, this book presents complex ideas in simple, easy-to-retain ways. Expert author James Eade methodically introduces foundational concepts, strategic frameworks, practical tips and more, seamlessly scaling readers’ knowledge.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess
Grandmaster Patrick Wolff helps readers comprehensively learn chess and bridge into intermediate skills. This book is richly illustrated with photos and over 400 chess board positions. With such deep insight into openings, tactics and general theory, it fast-tracks progression.

Logical Chess: Move by Move
Renowned author Irving Chernev unpacks 33 complete games, showcasing the logic underlying each move in an instructional format. This book ingrains strong fundamentals across strategy, planning and execution, preparing any beginner for competitive play.

Winning Chess Strategies for Kids
Jeff Coakley created this workbook-based series specifically for young chess enthusiasts aged 8-13. Comprising puzzles, exercises and games centered on key themes like defense tactics or checkmates, it empowers kids to accelerate their progress with fun activities.

Steps Method Chess Course
This structured program by Brunia and Van Wijgerden spans six training manuals and 20 specialized workbooks. Originally developed for European chess education, it massively speeds up learning via a skills-building curriculum. Budding players worldwide now leverage its methodology.

Additional recommendations like Pandolfini’s “Beginning Chess,” Chandler’s “How to Beat Your Dad at Chess” and Polgar’s progressive workbooks further bolster beginners’ journeys. With such wealth of instructional material available, new players have all the tools necessary to rise through the ranks.

Advanced Strategies for Established Players

While beginner books confer technical knowledge and basic strategy, advanced players demand texts delivering specialized insight. Mastering chess’ nuances requires principles and frameworks from games played at the highest levels. Some all-time classics of the genre include:

My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer
This book compiles annotations by Fischer himself across 60 career-defining matches. Beyond showcasing his creative genius, it offers unprecedented access into a champion’s decision-making, teaching advanced strategic thinking.

Think Like a Grandmaster by Alexander Kotov
Kotov reverse-engineers mastery itself, analyzing top-tier planning, positional judgment, tactical evaluation and more. Think Like a Grandmaster pushes experienced players to expand their mental frameworks for breakthrough improvement.

Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy by John Watson
Watson presents modern strategic ideas in digestible style, building readers’ understanding of imbalances, prophylaxis, space advantage and other advanced themes. Players keen to transition from classical to hypermodern chess must study this text.

Life and Games of Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal needs no introduction as the archetypal tactical genius. His autobiography complete with annotated games is hugely instructional about combinational play, attack methods and dynamic momentum. This one’s truly unforgettable.

Attacking Manual Volume 1 by Jacob Aagaard
Aagaard focuses purely on offensive play, helping experienced players master attack strategies, exploit weaknesses, create threats and finish powerfully. Exercises test readers’ attacking mettle through 400 instructive positions.

There are countless other illuminating books for established chess enthusiasts such as Silman’s Complete Endgame Course, Bronstein’s Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 book, Averbakh’s Tactics for Advanced Players and more. Ultimately, tailoring one’s chess library to address specific developmental needs is key to levelling up.

Choose Books Aligned With Your Goals

In review, beginners should prioritize materials centered on chess basics, elementary tactics and foundational thinking. Intermediate players can build on initial knowledge with books integrating strategy fundamentals and positional nuances. Advanced students seeking expertise benefit most from texts examining high-level games, complex frameworks and niche play styles.

With the right books, chess players of all skill levels can enrich their understanding of the game, sharpen their skills and reach new competitive heights over time. Whether you are starting out on your chess journey or continuing a lifelong passion, feed your intrigue and development with these timeless reads. The rest depends on your dedication to apply these lessons over the board. I sincerely hope you find this “The Best Chess Books for Beginners and Advanced Players In 2024” article helpful.

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Chess Lessons, Part 2: What to Look for in a Chess Teacher

David Thompson — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 03:28:06 +0000

After considering the issues raised in Part 1, you’ve decided to take chess lessons. In Chess Lessons, Part 2 let’s discuss what to look for in a chess teacher.

Classroom ready for a chess lesson.

Finding the right chess teacher is more art than science

There are no magic credentials to look for in the selection process.

A coach’s rating, title, experience, fees … even successes with other students … don’t guarantee a perfect fit for your situation.

Where do I start?

First, get a feel for who the chess teacher is as a person. Do you like this person? Do you think your child would like this person? Would you feel comfortable having them over for dinner? If the answer to any of these questions is no, look elsewhere!

Also: do you think the coach would enjoy working with your family? Not just the student, the family. Be honest! Sure, some coaches will take your money anyway, but do you want to hire someone who doesn’t really want to be there? They won’t give 100% and will rush out the door when the hour is up.

I love visiting my students and their families. I’m interested in their lives outside of the game, which makes me a better teacher. There’s more to life than just chess.

If you’re not sure what to make of a coaching candidate, try a lesson or two and see how it goes. Let the coach and your child know that it’s just a trial. If the coach is too insecure to agree to a trial without you committing long-term, cross them off your list.

Ratings and Titles

Coaches shouldn’t lie about their rating or titles. Not only is it unethical, it’s easy to look them up online. You can search US Chess Federation players here, and FIDE (International Chess Federation) players here.

I would advise against making a spreadsheet of coaches’ ratings and titles, and simply choosing the highest one. Most children can’t tell the difference between a club player and a master, nor do they care. Find a coach who has a good relationship with your child and is steadily helping them to improve.

If you want to hire a master or even a grandmaster, go for it. No matter who you choose, make sure you’re happy with the coaching you’re getting, and don’t be afraid to make a change if you’re not satisfied. It’s your child, and your money.

How important is a chess teacher’s track record?

In my opinion, not very. Why? Because every situation is different.

If you’re thinking of hiring a coach whose students made amazing rating gains or won important tournaments, be careful. Is your child and your family willing to make the same efforts as these “success stories?”

What if this coach requires students to do two hours of chess work every day? Play in a tournament every weekend? Have 2-3 hours of chess lessons per week? To make chess a focal point in your family’s life? Are you willing to do that?

Talk to the coach about their results with families who gave a similar commitment to chess as you plan to give. Otherwise, it’s an apples to oranges comparison. Even better, talk to other families directly if you can.

Pricing of chess lessons

What you pay for lessons has no bearing on their quality. “You get what you pay for” doesn’t necessarily apply; there are too many variables as discussed above and in Part 1.

If money is no object, hire who you and your child like best. Stick with them as long as you’re happy with the results.

If money is an object, eliminate coaches out of your price range and then, as above, hire who you and your child like best. And if you really like a coach out of your price range, meet less often rather than settling for another coach you’re not in love with.

Conclusion

Take your time finding a good teacher. Listen to input from others, but don’t let them make a decision for you. Hire the teacher you’re most comfortable with … you can always make a coaching change in the future. Don’t forget: it’s your child, and your money.

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Pawn Promotion in Chess | Chess Essentials

David Thompson — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 09:17:11 +0000

Pawn promotion is one of three special rules in chess. The others are castling and en passant.

First, I discuss some basics about pawn promotion for players just learning the game. Then, a section for tournament players. If you play in FIDE-rated events, don’t skip the last section!

Things to Remember about Pawn Promotion

This is one way to think of pawn promotion!

Only pawns can promote.
When a pawn reaches the end of the board, it must become a different piece.
You must promote to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight. You cannot get a second king, and you cannot leave a pawn on the last rank.
The queen is the most powerful piece in chess, so she is chosen most often by far. That is why promotion is sometimes called queening a pawn.
The pawn is completely removed from the board, and the new piece replaces the pawn on the queening square, not a starting square!
Captured units have nothing to do with your choice of promotion piece. If you still have a queen, you can get a second queen. You could have three rooks or five bishops, for example, if you promote enough pawns.
Replacing a pawn with an upside-down rook (“inverting a rook”) is understood to be a new queen. But see below if you play in tournaments!

Casual players can stop here. Tournament players, read on…

Pawn Promotion in Tournaments

You are allowed to stop clock and get a tournament director or arbiter to assist you in locating your desired promotion piece if one is not nearby.
How to Notate. A white pawn moving from e7 to e8 to become a queen is written e8Q.

Special Rules for FIDE-rated Events

As I recently learned, promotion rules in international play have been updated:

If you promote a pawn, leave it on the last rank without replacing it, and press your clock, this is an illegal move. Your opponent receives two additional minutes on their clock, and the pawn is replaced with a queen.
Remember: a player loses the game on a second illegal move!
The promotion piece is determined when it touches the board — literally. If you place a rook on the board upside down (intending it to be a queen), the arbiter will turn it right-side-up and it will become a rook!

That pretty much covers it. If you have questions or comments, don’t be shy! I will provide as much assistance as I can.

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The Canal Trap

David Thompson — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 13:10:18 +0000

The Canal Trap arises from the Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4):

This has been extremely popular at high level for many years now. The consensus among top players seems to be that black’s strongest reply is 3…Bc5, entering the Giuoco Piano:

From there, White typically plays the modest pawn pushes c2-c3 and d2-d3 and develops quietly. This, the Giuoco Pianissimo, has become perhaps the mainline of the open games:

Instead, White can develop a knight to c3 and go for piece play. The Canal Variation comes about after 4.d3 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5:

Black has some different choices, and that can be a problem. After the sequence 6…h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Nd5 Qd8 9.c3 (other moves will be analyzed in the notes below):

Black should play 9…a6 which preserves the dark-squared bishop from exchange from white’s d2-d4 or b2-b4 pawn advances. Instead, he loses after the normal-looking 9…Be6?

Can you see why? This is the Canal Trap.

Use the Canal Variation (and maybe the Canal Trap) to win games!

Sound, Solid, Infrequently (Well-)Played…

Peruvian GM Esteban Canal (1896-1981). Photo: ajedrez365.com

Three characteristics of an opening line to consider! By my count I am 3-0 in tournament play with the Canal (all against lower-rated players, so take that for what it’s worth).

More important, my students score quite well with it, and always get good positions out of the opening. Since it’s a forgotten line, their scholastic opponents don’t know the subtleties of defending it.

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