Centaur Chess

Posts Tagged ‘Learning’

Nimzovich vs Alekhine – demonstrates how tactically aware the great writer of “My system” was – and how the tactics of Nimzovich are difficult to comprehend even with a modern engine.

Interest, Application and Goals. These three basic but essential strategies are important when it comes to teaching the next generation of students. Educators have to up their game in order to engage this group of students.

One of the best ways for children to learn is when their interest is captured. Notice how children are very motivated in winning when playing games like Monopoly and Chess, or how an entire class of rowdy students become quietly enraptured by a rare video screening session.

Imagine if you could use Mathematical games in class to motivate all your students, including the weaker ones, into learning Maths of their own accord. Word-game sessions can similarly be organised to encourage the learning of the English Language, when students are allowed to pit their language skills against each other before the eyes of their respected teachers. Games such as Hangman can be organised for the entire class with a little preparation, and you can get free samples of Mathematics games which may be played with students at www.shimes-education.com/extra_info_pages.php?pages_id=43

Good videos for class instructions may be hard to come by, but you may surf YouTube and bookmark interesting videos which you may use for the next science lesson such as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r2YRkTSAG4.

Making subjects applicable to the lives of students makes learning liveable for the less motivated students. A lesson in Science on nutrition may be started with an announcement that “students who wish to grow as tall as Lebron James or girls who want a good figure should study this topic intensively!” Children have the most diverse dreams you can imagine and by reinforcing the message that they can learn it from the books would motivate a fair bit of self-learning.

Helping students set meaningful goals would give them a strong sense of direction and focus. This is needed most of the time as not all lessons may be 100% engaging to every single student of the class. Take the time to set personal goals with each of your students. These goals should put a smile on their faces when they think about it. A hard-working student may ‘Aim for 80 marks and above in all major tests’. A less academically inclined student may ‘Aim to be a pilot when I grow up’, which a teacher must explain, involves getting rather good grades in school. Have your student design an A4 poster of his/her dream or goal and have them paste it on their bedroom wall. Such ‘vision boards’ have proven to work miracles for adults, so can they for children.

It’s been told that chess is an art and not solely a game. Whether you are an expert, a master of strategies, a guru of techniques, or only a newbie, there is always something new and innovative, which you can try. The ideal qualities of a good chess player are not the product of empty dreams. Are you sharp, well organized and insightful? Perhaps you’re made for chess! The best part of chess is apparent: With new challenges always on the rise, it’s impossible to get bored. And unlike other board games, your possible manoeuvres on the chess board are limitless.

In chess, there is no such thing as Lady Luck, Kismet or Chance. Chess is all about skill, determination, manoeuvring, and that little something extra that we call intuition. Your knack to think and plan ahead of the enemy is of primary importance.

To “know thyself” is one Greek saying that is familar in chess. Additionally, it’s not only the game but also your rival that you need to familiarize yourself with. To know yourself; to have full knowledge of who you are is a requisite to becoming what you desire to be. In this case, it is becoming a top player. Nevertheless, being a top player isn’t just a matter of making decisions, but also knowing how you think, why you make them and possessing the courage to make them! It’s virtually impossible to win tournaments without taking some risks. So, concentrate. You’re good as gone if you’re not alert. Note that passive playing is dissimilar from defensive playing. If you’re a defensive player by nature, then this too shouldn’t pose a problem.

During the game, your focus needs to be concentrated on the positioning of your pawn. It’s understandable. You see, majority of the defensive moves occur in the front line. Watch and wait for the opportunity to break your opponent’s defense line. Try as much as possible not to exchange pieces. Spend the first few minutes by blocking the advance of your opponent’s pieces. Then wait. You can then spring an offense as soon as the opportunity arises.  If you are cool with the idea of taking a chance to gain the advantage, then play aggressively by strengthening your pieces.  Knights are extremely valuable with this sort of playing style.

The knights can in fact assist either the queen or the bishops for a checkmate. During the offensive, you can also use your pawns to distract the enemy. A lot of grand masters have successfully executed this ploy and there’s absolutely no reason that you can’t use it too. Nevertheless, you can always execute your own tactics as you deem fit. We are not all the same. Some fancy short cuts; others favour longer, more intriguing matches. Whether you’re a play-safe winner or the excitable thrill seeker, let your personality reign over your moves.

Pull a militant opening move and try to shore up the centre of the board. Don’t worry about swapping over pieces but be cautious to save your rooks and Queen for the later part of the match. This method is what you call the Butcher. This style aims to let your opponent move his king so that your pieces can attack it.

My advice is to practice the basics of chess well, and refine your game by playing more experienced opponents as frequently as possible. The old saying “iron sharpens iron” is never truer than in chess.

Study the famous strategies played by the grand Masters of chess and think about their thought processes. Then go out and do the same if you can!

Do not make the mistake of simply parroting others, no matter how good they may be. Be innovative. Design your own moves and playing style. Note that aside from an understanding of how you think, you must also have some inclination on how your opponent reasons. This is how chess matches are won!

They say that chess is one board game that really requires you to use your brains. In fact, it is said to be the game that really makes your brains work, unlike of course games like Snakes and Ladders which makes player rely on chance rather than really think of a strategy. With chess, it is different because you have to make sure that you defeat your opponent and you also have to think of the moves of the pieces before you because each piece has a different move.

Many have tried to learn chess but they found it difficult. However, if you are going to visit Gadget Epoint and check out the Chess For Dummies board game, you surely would be very thankful for this one. See, Chess For Dummies is a very easy way to learn how to play that game. You may want to learn this game so you can show off to your friends that you have got some brain hidden in your skull or maybe so you can play with your friends who know how. Any reason you may have to want to learn chess would be easily answered with Chess For Dummies.

Take a look at the Chess For Dummies board and you would be able to find that there are instructions even on the board itself so you would be able to learn easily. You would be taught how each piece moves and just what move you can make just by looking at the board. It would be like a really easy tutorial on how the whole game flows. That also lessens the times you would be asking questions so you would look like a professional really. As long as you are six years old or older, you can easily play with Chess For Dummies and add it to your stack of your fave board games

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“The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the Universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature and the player on the other side is hidden from us.”

Thomas Huxley

Life can be likened to a game of chess. In chess you have to read the board, look out for obvious signs of danger and even try to predict your opponent’s next move. However, human beings can be unpredictable and your opponent can often make a move that takes you completely by surprise. One thing is certain. Whatever happens, you have to respond to your opponent’s move and you keep doing so until – checkmate.

For some people decision-making is an agonisingly slow process. Yet, whatever decision you make, you will set in motion a series of changes or responses in your environment. Some will be predictable; others not. Some will be favourable; others not. Nonetheless, to make progress you will have to respond to those changes in your environment.

While you can influence the outcome of the game unless you are playing against yourself you cannot control how the game unfolds. This is what makes the game of chess and the game of life so fascinating. However, there is no forward motion until you make your move, until you make a decision and take ACTION.

One of the reasons why you are likely to hesitate in making a decision is because you want to make the ‘right’ decision. Lighten up, it’s a game – remember.

“You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it’s really a good idea and whether there are other better ideas.”

Stanley Kubrick

In life, you often immediately have the answer to what you should do. Your intuitive self is able to analyse situations far more quickly and accurately than you can do consciously. So by all means review your options but keep in mind the game grinds to a halt while you stall. Meanwhile, other games are also being enacted and, while you procrastinate, opportunities that these games create evaporate. Timing is everything so you need to hone your decision-making skills.

As you develop awareness you will be able to predict with greater accuracy how your opponent will respond. You will be able to evaluate possible moves and their outcomes more quickly and you will be able to develop effective strategies for dealing with each scenario. However, you will only develop this awareness by raising your game.

“Suddenly it was obvious to me in my analysis I had missed what Fischer had found with the greatest of ease at the board.”

Mikhail Botvinnik

You will need to study the strategies and tactics used by chess masters and you will need to play against more and more advanced opponents. In life, at times you will win; other times you will lose. Win or lose, you can always learn from the experience and so you can always make progress.

“I had a toothache during the first game. In the second game I had a headache. In the third game it was an attack of rheumatism. In the fourth game, I wasn’t feeling well. And in the fifth game? Well, must one have to win every game?”

Siegbert Tarrasch

At times you will struggle. You will want to throw your hands up and strike the pieces from the board. Stop! It is at these times when you must be calm and focused for they mark the advent to some of your greatest lessons and greatest triumphs. So welcome your challenges.

“I love all positions. Give me a difficult positional game, I will play it. But totally won positions, I cannot stand them.”

Hein Donner

In life, you will have mentors – those who have achieved what you are striving to achieve; and coaches – those who will help to elevate your level of thinking so that you not only develop your own success strategies but also your style of doing things. Modelling success has its place but you are also one of a kind with a unique contribution to make. Dare to be brazen. Play the game of life like no one else has. Dare to win.

You don’t get a second chance at life. This is it. You don’t get to reinstate the chess pieces back on the board and start over. The good news is that you can start today, right now to create your ideal life. No matter what your circumstances you were born free. You have the freedom to choose your life. Somehow, we forget this and we act as though we are in chains.

“Pawns are born free, yet they are everywhere in chains.”

Rick Kennedy

It’s a game remember – a grand illusion. You can break free of any self-imposed chains and live your best life now. All it takes is a decision. Play the game of life to win!

Recording chess moves or sometimes called chess notation can be done in many different interesting ways during a game of chess. The two most popular ways to record moves in a game is to record what specific moves were made and to record what game pieces were moved. These two ways to record are important for the output of the game and to make sure that novice players are following all the rules of the game.

Notations have been created in many different languages all around the world as well as notation systems for online chess playing. Online chess playing has become very popular as a way to practice for tournaments etc., and to increase your brains thinking and analytical skills. Chess is a very slow, thought provoking game that is quiet and never rushed.

In tournaments and competitions there will also be recordings of each move a player makes in case any questions on play may come up later in review of the game. Chess is a game of critical thinking and strategy. It is not a very fast paced game so therefore it is fairly easy to be able to make all necessary recordings of each players move.

There are several different ways of recording or notation. Those include, algebraic recording, descriptive recording and coordinate notation.

With algebraic notation, each different chess piece is either a letter or symbol and will have a number with it. Notation are not long written out sentences of what moves a player made but more of a shorthand description of what moves occurred during game play. Each move will have at least one letter or symbol and number.

Descriptive notation is similar to algebraic notation with letter and symbols but is not as popular today and is used to be. Most tournaments and competitions do not allow this form of recording to be used anymore.

Coordinate style notations can be more difficult to read then the other two types. The checker board, which is made up of alternating white and black squares is laid out like a grid with letters and numbers depicting the rows and columns of the board. In coordinate recording, each move is indicated by the start point on the grid to the end point of each piece moved. For example, B4-D3. This form of recording is typically not used in games or tournaments but more widely used with computer games.

Chess is played with two people, one on each side of a checker board. Each player has a certain number of chess pieces in their own designated color. Each piece is represented as either a king, queen, bishop or pawn.

The object of the game is to protect your king from the other player and “checkmate” or get close to capturing the other teams king. Once the other player cannot move their king, then you have won the game and checkmated that opponent. These few simple moves are recorded and notated while the game is in play. Learning the notations use will make it easier for you to followed the games and strategies of others through chess playing books and recordings of historic games.

Chess for long has been regarded as a game of strategies and tactics and several theoreticians have developed extensive chess strategies and tactics since the game’s inception. The game is not merely referred to as a source of entertainment but it also helps you to develop and enhance several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful for human development.

A good study of the game of chess can help you increase your analytical skills. Chess learning through practical methods such as online chess lessons can be an effective way of learning the game.  Chess is a very challenging game and it requires the player to be mentally active and have a deep concentration to perform well in the game. Chess can actually help in slowing the effect of certain terrible disorders & problems such as MS, Alzheimer’s and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

During the last few years, there has been a clear ascension in the number of kids who are diagnosed as having ADHD, and the numbers are on a continuous increase. The common treatment used nowadays to handle ADHD problems is the administering of medicines as they help to accelerate the slow brain processing-typical condition. Parents find themselves chasing after different kinds of solutions: psychologists, drugs etc. The doctors make all kinds of diagnosis, but unfortunately in most of the cases they admit that there is no 100% cure for these problems.

Chess has been characterized as a “brain using” game and forces the child to use the following skills:

Attention Long distance planning thinking Memory Ability to resist external provocations Global and General vision of what is occurring around the child Patience Forecasting of future steps

That is why it is believed that chess can be a great way to help ADHD kids improve their thinking skills. Educators say chess is a valuable tool for teaching creative thinking, math, reading skills and patience to elementary schoolers. Learning Chess will help the child to use his mind in an efficient manner that enhances their thinking skills. According to Chess teachers, the study of chess is effective in teaching patience and concentration to students with short attention spans and those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There have been no scientific studies on ADHD and chess, but educators say chess for kids is remarkable in its ability to make kids pay attention. In fact learning chess has been combined in the school program syllabus in more that 30 countries.

Learning chess is like learning a blend of strategies and tactics to understand the various dimensions of the game. All chess players, whether beginners or experienced, use a chess strategy to win the game. These chess players spend most of the time in exploring chess strategies for improvising defenses and attacks.

The chess game is divided, due to different chess strategic and tactical patterns, into three phases: the chess opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. The opening portion usually lasts around 10 to 25 moves. The chess opening contains the first moves, when both sides endeavor to develop their forces into the sphere of action where they will exercise the greatest power against the opponent’s defenses. The middlegame is the developed phase of the game and then comes the endgame, when most of the pieces are gone and kings start to take an active part in the struggle. There are dozens of different openings, varying widely in character from quiet positional play to very aggressive.

Monotonous gaming strategies never surmise any decisive outcome. Usually chess game starts with many applied techniques to overpower the competitor and many of these tactics become rather popular because of affirmative turning points. Hence a player needs to plan out a sound and new strategy to win the game. Such strategies can be deliberately and strategically planned out and delivered only by an expert chess coach.

There are several online chess portals, which enable people to register themselves to learn and play chess. IchessU is the leading website that offers online chess tutorial for beginners as well as experienced chess players. With their experienced and expert chess tutors, mentors and trainers, one can learn various new aspects of chess. These tutors make full use of their experience and educate the players about various game strategies and also keep them updated with the latest happenings in the chess world.