04 Aug 06
One problem with teaching friends is that sometimes they don't care much about the game and since they are friends you want to teach them if they ask.
I had 3 friends ask me, I taught them. They were like great I know how to play chess. Next day I told them I can show you more, to play better? No, that's fine I'm good.
Why did you ask me to teach you if you don't want to get better?
And what I got was, So when people ask me I can say, Yes I know how to play chess!
That was 1 of my friends, the other 2 are satisfied with being 1200 players.
04 Aug 06
i've never been satisfied once i reach the next level i think to myself its not that much harder to go higher. i have had my lumps and bumps and i'm improving my play but at first i thought 1300 people knew what they were doing and i got there and after a while i found out that you actually know what your doing at around 1650. i want to teach my g/fs brother but he just wont listn and then he wants me to play him and ever time i beat him he gets pissed.
04 Aug 06
Originally posted by RahimKYou have to understand and accept that we are an odd lot. It's kind of a sickness really, for most of us. 🙂
One problem with teaching friends is that sometimes they don't care much about the game and since they are friends you want to teach them if they ask.
I had 3 friends ask me, I taught them. They were like great I know how to play chess. Next day I told them I can show you more, to play better? No, that's fine I'm good.
Why did you ask me to teach you if ...[text shortened]... play chess!
That was 1 of my friends, the other 2 are satisfied with being 1200 players.
04 Aug 06
Originally posted by kmac27just keep pounding him he'll learn, or quit.
so i've been trying to help my friend and a couple of other people get better at chess. i know that if you beat them every time they will not want to play for a while. so when teaching somoene should you make purposful blunders so they can win for once? i just want to help teach them without crushing their hopes of playing chess for fun.
04 Aug 06
Originally posted by kmac27I coach a scholastic chess team and play tons of games with people that are considerably worse at the game than me, and I end up having a great deal of fun doing it.
so i've been trying to help my friend and a couple of other people get better at chess. i know that if you beat them every time they will not want to play for a while. so when teaching somoene should you make purposful blunders so they can win for once? i just want to help teach them without crushing their hopes of playing chess for fun.
I don't recommend just wildly hanging pieces, but with a little more creativity you can set yourself up for various forks and pins and such for them to find and exploit. If they miss the move, which they frequently do, you need to slow them down and help them find it.
I also make a point to wind the end game down to something that becomes helpful to them. I will make sure all the exchanges wear down to the point where it ends up in an endgame variation like R+K vs K for a real beginner so they can learn that mating technique. More advanced kids will have to endure a R+K vs R+Q or something like that.
It can be a great deal of fun, and it still makes you think during the game because you have to take into account the wildly random moves a beginner makes while creating your plan to generate a specific weakness in your position for them to exploit, all the while making sure you don't end up with such a material imbalance that the end game is so trivial they don't learn anything.
04 Aug 06
Originally posted by RahimKI understand. The problem is that when most of those people say that they want to "learn chess", they mean that they want to learn how the pieces move, and maybe some very basic ideas. Those of us that want to really improve to the level of tournament players are a rather small percentage, at least here in the US (in my experience). Might be helpful to try to get an understanding of what their goals are when they say that they want to "learn".
I have no proble if that is the case. My problem is wasting a hour teaching them the game and then they are satisfied. Waste of my time.
PS Take anything I say with a grain of salt, my teaching experience is limited to my wife and kids, none of whom even want to see a chessboard anymore. 🙁
04 Aug 06
Originally posted by BLReidMaybe it because they think chess is so fun and it must be like checkers and then when they learn they have to work to play chess they back out because it's not fun anymore.
I understand. The problem is that when most of those people say that they want to "learn chess", they mean that they want to learn how the pieces move, and maybe some very basic ideas. Those of us that want to really improve to the level of tournament players are a rather small percentage, at least here in the US (in my experience). Might be helpful to try to ...[text shortened]... ience is limited to my wife and kids, none of whom even want to see a chessboard anymore. 🙁
05 Aug 06
Originally posted by kmac27How about showing them "Searching for Bobby Fischer"?
so i've been trying to help my friend and a couple of other people get better at chess. i know that if you beat them every time they will not want to play for a while. so when teaching somoene should you make purposful blunders so they can win for once? i just want to help teach them without crushing their hopes of playing chess for fun.
Show them the book "Logical Chess Move by Move"
06 Aug 06
1 edit
[Some of us will be quite content hovering around the 1200 mark
That was 1 of my friends, the other 2 are satisfied with being 1200 players.[/b]
and realise that we're not likely to proceed much further, but we still like to play someone rated higher or lower; surely all players were in this position at one time or another. It's called experience, and is invaluable.
