Only Chess
15 Oct 07
17 Oct 07
Originally posted by MahoutYour right but wrong, good chess players can be good coaches but the teaching skill is something completely diffent to chess skill. Great players can sometimes hold a room because everyone in that room wants to hear what they say, but if you can communicate with that demographic half the coaching is already done. Thank you for your comments, most good players think they are good coaches, but most try to teach juniors the same way they would teach an adult. Thats so wrong, I can't believe they are let out of their secure units.
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Renegade's suggestion that we're crap teachers is worth bearing in mind. Assuming that because we are good at chess we will also be good a coaching juniors would be a mistake. Thinking that we're crap and that we have to prepare and learn before we run a session is quite a healthy approach.
renegade
18 Oct 07
Originally posted by WulebgrI like your style. I know I would have enjoyed the challenge as a kid, but about your Knight ranking
I've been doing scholastic chess since 2000. Most of the time a one hour chess club meeting begins with a problem on the demo board and discussion of 5-10 minutes. I still lose a few in this brief perion.
I use an award system--with certificates for each level--pawn, knight, bishop, rook, etc. Kids always want to be tested, and that keeps me busy during t ...[text shortened]... or others.
4. Earn NWSRS rating above 700 (grades K-3), 900 (grades 4-6), or 1200 (grades 7+).
Knight: the Knight Award recognizes that the recipient has learned certain fundamental checkmate skills.
1. Previously earned Pawn, or achieve a NWSRS rating over 500.
2. Demonstrate understanding of checkmate of lone king with heavy pieces:
* queen and rook,
* queen and king, and
* rook and king (each from two random positions selected by the coach).
3. Demonstrate understanding of “fox in the chicken coop” pawn promotion technique.
4. Complete “Knight Award: checkmates and tactics” worksheet.
5. Demonstrate ability to read chess notation.
#3 isn't it important for them to demonstrate correct K + P vrs. K (and K vrs. K+P) play prior to this?
18 Oct 07
Originally posted by jvanhineI saw an International Master and very well respected coach use almost exactly those words a few weeks ago at a tournament when he was going through a game in the analysis room on the same table as I was using. I think he intended it as a joke, but if so it fell flat and the poor boy he aimed the comment at was burning with anger and shame.
just dont call anyone "retard" after they miss something... people so sensitive these days 😛
18 Oct 07
1 edit
saying good players are bad teachers is like saying redheads are bad teachers. some are, some are not. most bad players are bad teachers. most people are bad teachers.
I'm sure most good players know they're crappy teachers. but they also know they can share better quality information. which one is better, who can say. the kids won't learn anything if they can't keep themselves interested. on the other hand, it doesn't matter how entertaining you are if the info you give is crap.
I've run into loads of people who have been coached for years and are still crap. now, it could of course be that they haven't been doing what they're told, but more often I get the feeling they've been filled with irrelevant trivialities. it's like they've been instructed on feng shui while their house is on fire. a good player will deal with the fire, a bad one will fuss with the decoration.
I just love it when lower rated double my pawns, opening a straight line for my rook to ambush their castled king. or when they give me free tempos for a kingside pawn storm because they think it's 'bad' for me to 'weaken' my king. or when I get a strong, safe centralized king when they think they've stopped me from castling. oh, and this is my favourite: they waste tempos like crazy to get a 'strong knight on an outpost' which has absolutely nothing to do.
these things are obvious to all good players, but most beginners to intermediate fail miserably because someone once said to them that those things were 'bad'.
18 Oct 07
Originally posted by zebanoYes.
I like your style. I know I would have enjoyed the challenge as a kid, but about your Knight ranking
Knight: the Knight Award recognizes that the recipient has learned certain fundamental checkmate skills.
1. Previously earned Pawn, or achieve a NWSRS rating over 500.
2. Demonstrate understanding of checkmate of lone king with heavy pieces:
* queen an ...[text shortened]... it important for them to demonstrate correct K + P vrs. K (and K vrs. K+P) play prior to this?
In practice, they learn basic opposition skills first, and will need to demonstrate those as part of the "Fox in the Chicken Coop" test for Knight. The tests/criteria listed for each award is short, but there are many subordinate skills necessary to teach these to beginners (especially young children just learning the game).
Incidentally, I get that term from Silman's Complete Endgame Course and do not know if anyone else has employed that phrase for an outside passed pawn.
For the bishop award, when opposition skills are listed, the test problems are a bit more difficult.
Yesterday, the group lesson started from:
The entire group watched three efforts to win with white (each by a different team member) while I played black. The first pushed the g-pawn and stalemated me. The second defended the g-pawn long enough to get to the e-file, but then erred in a manner that let me stalemate him with his king on a8 and the pawn on a7. The third seemed successful until he pulled his king out of the way of the a-pawn back to b4 (instead of b6) and my king managed to get to b8 and draw).
The attentive ones will be able to win it now.
The "checkmates and tactics" worksheet for the Knight consists of twelve problems (eight checkmate; four win material). The skills in these twelve consist of piling on a pinned piece, swallowtail mate, x-ray, Legall's mate, double-check, discovery, queen and rook mate, skewer, bishop and rook mate, taking advantage of the immobility of a pinned piece, decoy, smother mate, fork, back-rank mate, Damiano's mate, removing the guard. Likely there are others not listed here. The Bishop Award set increases the problems to 24, reducing the checkmates to 50%, adding more tactical ideas and mating patterns (which are sequenced more logically in the parallel "checklist of checkmates" exercises).
I get some mileage from the game:
[Event "Wch U10"]
[Site "Oropesa del Mar"]
[Date "1999.10.24"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Bonnet, Edouard"]
[Black "Banusz, Tamas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2147"]
[BlackElo "2129"]
[PlyCount "47"]
[EventDate "1999.10.24"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.11.18"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. O-O e6 6. Nc3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 Be7 8.
d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 O-O 10. Bd3 Qc7 11. c3 b6 12. Bb1 Bb7 13. Qd3 g6 14. Bh6 Rfd8
15. Ng5 Bf8 16. Qh3 Be7 17. f4 Rdc8 18. f5 exf5 19. Rxf5 Bxg5 20. Bxg5 Na5 21.
Bf6 Qxc3 22. Qxh7+ Kxh7 23. Rh5+ Kg8 24. Rh8# 1-0
In the Knight Award problems, they are looking for White's 23rd move; in the Bishop set, White's 22nd begins the solution. Such repeated use of the same positions pushed back one move is a fundamental principle of instruction in Dean Ippolito's Chess Tactics for Scholastic Players--a workbook that I think many would find useful.
10 Nov 07
Originally posted by WulebgrThanks for all ye're tips. Very useful.
The "checkmates and tactics" worksheet for the Knight consists of twelve problems (eight checkmate; four win material). The skills in these twelve consist of piling on a pinned piece, swallowtail mate, x-ray, Legall's mate, double-check, discovery, queen and rook mate, skewer, bishop and rook mate, taking advantage of the immobility of a pinned piece, decoy, ...[text shortened]... which are sequenced more logically in the parallel "checklist of checkmates" exercises).
Wulebrg, as you probably know, the search for educational positions takes up most of the class preparation time. Would you be prepared to share the positions which you use, as sampled above?
The club has been donated some money, and the club have asked me how it should be spent. As they currently have no books, I think a mini library would be perfect.
So far, I think I'll get them the entire Winning Chess series by Seirawan, Silman's works (Reassess, Workbook, Endgames, Amateur Mind), Understanding Chess Tactics, and Reinfeld's 1001 books.
Does anybody have any other recommendations? Especially books for very young players, and complete beginners.
Thanks,
Donal
10 Nov 07
Originally posted by TyrannosauruschexAFAIK, there are 2 queen mating motifs that could be referred to as the swallow tail.
I havent heard the term swallowtail mate before, I suspect I have performed one at some stage in my life however.
What are the specifics of the mate?
1 is where the Queen can mate in the center of the board if the two squares are unavailable to the opposition king, whether occupied by his own pieces or attacked by yours.
So in the position posted, white mates due to the fact that d6 and e7 are unavailable (the swallow tail).
But I'm guessing wulebrg is referring to this very similar mating pattern, posted below.
D
12 Nov 07
2 edits
Originally posted by RagnorakThat one's a dovetail. Dove's tails are narrower in angle than the swallow's.
AFAIK, there are 2 queen mating motifs that could be referred to as the swallow tail.
1 is where the Queen can mate in the center of the board if the two squares are unavailable to the opposition king, whether occupied by his own pieces or attacked by yours.
So in the position posted, white mates due to the fact that d6 and e7 are unavailable (the s ...[text shortened]...
But I'm guessing wulebrg is referring to this very similar mating pattern, posted below.
D
Here's a sample that I use from the game Rau-Denecke, corr 1983
See also Game 1571540
12 Nov 07
Originally posted by wormwoodI do all those things alot and they aren't obvious to me in game but when I analyze to see why I have lost I find them obvious this is something that I will have to work on.
saying good players are bad teachers is like saying redheads are bad teachers. some are, some are not. most bad players are bad teachers. most people are bad teachers.
I'm sure most good players know they're crappy teachers. but they also know they can share better quality information. which one is better, who can say. the kids won't learn anythin ...[text shortened]... l miserably because someone once said to them that those things were 'bad'.
12 Nov 07
Does anybody have any other recommendations? Especially books for very young players, and complete beginners."Winning Chess Puzzles for Kids" by Geoff Coakley...kid friendly (7-13), large print, cartoons, quiz questions, mates in one, mates in two, tactics puzzles etc...same author has also done "Winning Chess Strategy for Kids" and "Winning Chess Exercises for kids"
Thanks,
Donal[/b]
Publisher is: Chess'n Math Association - www.chess-math.org
12 Nov 07
Thanks for clearing up the dovetail and swallowtail mates, it makes sense when you see the pieces behind a king looking like the forks of a swallows tail. I have done them many times, in fact I just finished a game with one forced Game 4226604
More usual for that dovetail is the one where there are two pawns which the king is stuck in front of when it gets mated (I dont know how to create a mini board but could show you otherwise)