Coach James will be showing the following video at this week’s club meeting. It reviews what “check” means, how to check your opponent and how to get your King out of check. If you have time before the meeting, he asks that all Pawns watch this video to be well prepared for Friday.
September 15th Club Meeting
Today is the last day to register for Chess club. Make sure you turn in a signed permission form and your registration fee if you haven’t already.
Today we will show the Pawns group a video on Chesskid about opening moves:
https://www.chesskid.com/video/player/first-moves—part-1
Make sure you login to Chesskid before watching it or it will only let you see the first few seconds of the video.
The Knights, Rooks and Kings will also watch a video about opening moves:
Pawns training for October 7: The Fork
FunMasterMike introduces us to the fun tactic called a Fork in the video below from Chesskid.com.
In chess, a fork is a tactic whereby a single piece makes two or more direct attacks simultaneously. Most commonly two pieces are threatened, which is also sometimes called a double attack. The attacker usually aims to gain material by capturing one of the opponent’s pieces. The defender often finds it difficult to counter two or more threats in a single move. The attacking piece is called the forking piece; the pieces attacked are said to be forked. A piece that is defended can still said to be forked if the forking piece has a lower value.
Pawns Training for September 22
All beginning students in the Pawns skill group are requested to watch the following videos for this week’s lesson preparation:
Chesskids video: First moves
- Every chess game begins with the opening — but what moves should you play? FM Mike Klein shows you the fundamentals behind the ideas of good openings, so you know why to play them, not just how. Learn how important controlling the center is in a chess game, and apply that lesson to your choice of first moves.
How to Castle:
Club Meeting September 25th, 2015
The Panther pawns will review the following two videos:
Every chess game begins with the opening — but what moves should you play? FM Mike Klein shows you the fundamentals behind the ideas of good openings, so you know why to play them, not just how. Learn how important controlling the center is in a chess game, and apply that lesson to your choice of first moves.
Chesskid video: First Moves
Howcast video: 3 Basic Opening Stratety Principles
The Knights, Rooks and Kings will review the following video on the Ruy Lopez opening:
The Ruy Lopez is one of the most popular openings in chess. We will look at some of the common themes you might see when playing the Ruy Lopez.
Beginner Chess Player Recommendations
PLAY 10 MINUTES EVERY DAY
Spending 10 minutes a night playing chess with your child, or having them play their sibling(s) will make a huge difference. If you are a beginner parent, learn chess along with your child. Chess has less rules than Monopoly. Allow your child to play on chesskid.com. Leaving your chess board out and set up ready to play, greatly increases the amount of chess played by your child.
GET A PORTABLE CHESS SET WITH ALGEBRAIC NOTATION
A good chess set with roll up board and algebraic notation is strongly recommended. Learning to identify the squares on the chess board significantly increases the speed at which a beginner player is able to learn. This set which has a missing piece guarantee, can be used by your child and family for years:
http://www.wholesalechess.com/
PARTICIPATE IN TOURNAMENTS
Tournaments are integral in building confidence, teaching self-reliance and how to compete. Beneficial on many levels, not just for chess. Most children who attend will play as much chess in a single day as they do in a month of Chess Club. Students play their peers. Many develop friendships that last for years.
RECOMMENDED BOOK: “CHESS FOR CHILDREN” BY CHANDLER
Strongly recommended by the Chess Club Coaches. This great hardback, kid-friendly book can be used for the first and second year of Chess Club. It significantly contributes to and augments the students’ understanding and enjoyment of chess. The Spicewood Chess Club beginner program is based loosely on this book. It’s a great investment. Amazon link
REGISTER FOR AN ACCOUNT ON WWW.CHESSKID.COM Spicewood Elementary Chess Club Students are online a few times a week. Children who frequently play on this site improve very quickly. Allows children to play independently. Free version allows children to play their friends from Chess Club, as well as children from all over the world. Gold account allows access to wealth of educational tools, including video’s and puzzles. The site tracks the kids’ chess (non-USCF) rating in real time.
DINOSAUR CHESS App
https://itunes.apple.com/us/
Excellent teaching tool for beginner players.
Club Meeting September 11th, 2015
The Panther Pawns will review how to setup the board, how the pieces move and the rules of castling. They will watch this video:
ChessKids video: Castling!
The Knights will watch a video on the the Ruy Lopez opening, also known as the Spanish opening.
ChessKids video: Ruy Lopez Opening
HowCast video:
The Rooks and Kings will begin a 3 week series on the Italian game lines. (fried liver, two knight defense, evans gambit)
ChessKids video: Italian Opening
ChessKids video: Italian Opening 2
HowCast video:
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