You teach your students all tactics, give suggestions. You play games with them. You watch them trying to get better than you. You start playing a game with your 8 year old student. All of a sudden you watch him smile and tell you that you will be checkmated. You sigh and continue playing but get checkmated in few...
I encountered such a situation today in practice. I played this game today (my rating swings between 1400 - 1500 just FYI) with one of my students, 8 yr old. He said you lost the game, well I couldn't figure that even when he said that. Ha! Black to move, Mate in few (you figure that out....!).
I have few posers to you:
1) Try solving this problem - Black to move
2) Tell me the rating of this tactic (Don't tell me I shouldn't be rated around 1400 hahaha.....)
3) I guess I have to admit and accept that this student is beyond my skill. He is 8 yr old and has been growing very fast in chess. What should I do with him?
Nevertheless, it is delight to see him do tactics everyday. It is a delight to see him yell that he solved XYZ puzzle while he does that. That is all one thing but I was delighted to see him show his skills in a game to beat me to pulp and laugh at me. I couldn't help but smile back at him......
I encountered such a situation today in practice. I played this game today (my rating swings between 1400 - 1500 just FYI) with one of my students, 8 yr old. He said you lost the game, well I couldn't figure that even when he said that. Ha! Black to move, Mate in few (you figure that out....!).
I have few posers to you:
1) Try solving this problem - Black to move
2) Tell me the rating of this tactic (Don't tell me I shouldn't be rated around 1400 hahaha.....)
3) I guess I have to admit and accept that this student is beyond my skill. He is 8 yr old and has been growing very fast in chess. What should I do with him?
Nevertheless, it is delight to see him do tactics everyday. It is a delight to see him yell that he solved XYZ puzzle while he does that. That is all one thing but I was delighted to see him show his skills in a game to beat me to pulp and laugh at me. I couldn't help but smile back at him......
Well, you need to stay along with the principles of chess too.
ReplyDelete2.d3 is a bad move, Why? It is against the principles of the opening
Every move in the opening should help to develop, and get control of the center and you should not move pawns if not necessary
With 2.d3 you help to develop Bc1 BUT you block the Bishop at f1, and you move a pawn with no real need and you dont realy influence the center
Better are 2.Nf3, 2.d4 2.Bc4 or 2.Nc3
Best is of course 2.Nf3
5.b3 is bad for the same reasons, Its a pawn move = bad and it is not really influencing the center and it don't help to develop a piece because the bishop at c1 already have nice squares at the c1-h5 diagonal.
Count after 7.Bb2 the possible moves of white and black
White rook at a1 = 0 moves
White knight at b1 = 3 moves
Bishop at b2 = 5 moves
Queen at d1 =2 Moves
Bishop at e2 = 1 move
Knight at f3 = 6 moves
Rook at h1 = 2 moves
plus white can castle
White has 20 moves with pieces
Now do the same with black pieces...
Black is already better
Now look at the same position after 7.Bb2 : who has more control of the center and of squares in the opponents space?
Black controlls: b4 d4 f4 g4 h4 these are all squares which are at white side of the board
How many squares are controlled by white which are at the side of black?
ONLY e5
So black is already much stronger
12. 000
there are only 2 half-open files e and c. To castle long with less space and into a halfopen file of the opponent is suicide, now you are almost lost
with 14 d4 you did weaken c2 at the halfopen file
with 15 dxe5 you did open the position which is suicidal if you are defending: a principle of chess says: if defending close position
and the rest is only a consequence of being already lost
I am a big fan of tactics but this game is an excample of the importance of the PRINCIPLES of chess
Axoxomoa wondering, Thank you so much for your reply.
DeleteWe do teach chess here in a systematic manner including the opening principles. Principles, yes. Openings & variations - not so much because of 1) the level of kids I teach and 2) I am limited in my ability (may be I can teach few openings but cannot go deep there...). We teach principles of openings but do we practice the same? Very less in practice due to 1) sometimes the games just change directions based on what the opponent plays, what is the best move etc and 2) we choose to play openings which don't fit the principles very well.
I was not taught/ coached systematically like my students are taught now. We started playing on our own, hence our approach to chess is different. I am glad to see my students don't follow my game, but they should follow what I teach. And then advance to the next level higher than me. That is surely the goal, and I will be proud to see my students go higher.
All your suggestions above about the correct moves are excellent. I printed your suggestions and talked to my student about the same, Thanks for your help.
I made a collection of all the principles of chess i could ever find anywhere ( more than 1000 lines in a textfile ). Opening, Middlegame, Endgame, Pawnmoves, Bishopmoves,.. Attack, Defence, Play for Draw, Play for win, play with lead of material..... and i read them from time to time to keep them fresh in my mind.
ReplyDeleteFirst you need to know the rules, then you need to be able to follow the rules, then looooooooooooooooong time nothing else... and then, when you are an expert in chess you may think about the few exceptions in the rules.
A sub 1600 dont need to learn any opening theory IMO as long as they realy understand the principles
Here is a collection of the PRINCIPLES of a chess opening : http://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/ten-rules-opening . This are mainly rules for a single move.
Here a collection of METHODS how to compare the success of the development of both players : http://www.chess-game-strategies.com/superior-development_page-3.html
I usually just count how many moves everyone have to do to finish the development. You may use "connect the rooks" as the last opening move. The player who can do that quicker "has the lead in development".
Every move in the opening ( until the rooks are connected ) should follow as many of these principles as possible
Exercise:
1)
a) Explain ( in the light of the principles of the opening, name all the influneced principles ) 1.e4
b) Explain 1.d4
c) What are the differences?
2)
After 1. e4 e5
Explain why 2.Nf3 is the best second move
3)
After 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6
Explain 3.Bb5
...
As an Example : Solution to 3 )
Positive:
Bb5 moves a piece and not a pawn
It develops a minor piece and not a major piece
it dont move any piece twice
it enables a quick castleing
It enables a short castleing
it influence the center INDIRECTLY by attacking the Knight at c6 which is defending e5 and makes preassure at d4
Fuzzy: it potentially pins the knight ( after d6 or d5 ) and by doing this it will reduce potentially the mobility of the Nc6
Negativ:
It develops a Bishop and not a Knight ( Laskers rule )
The Bishop at c1 already has some activity by beeing able to move to interesting squares so to some extend we "break" the Rule of the least active piece, but the Rh1 is least active too and you prepare to activate it.. )
Fuzzy: The Bishop might get attacked by the pawn a6 but thats a pawnmove....
Result: The positive effects of the move outnumber by far the negative effect, its a good opening move
As a result of this analysis we may think about the alternative moves 2.Nc3 or 2.Bc4
Advanced exercise
Student explains the first 12 moves ( at the demoboard?) of the last game in the light of the opening prnciples and evaluates after move 12:
Who has a lead in development -> discuss
Who has more controll of the center ->discuss
Who has more space ( and where: kingside,queenside,center )= the number of controlled squares IN THE OPPONENT CAMP ( simply ask yourself: would a opponents piece/pawn be (easily) lost at this square ) -> discuss
Compare the comparable pieces of each side:
Who has the better Knights
Who has the better bishops
Who has the better Rooks
Who has the better queeen
Who has the more save King
-> discuss
Of course the answers to such questions are most of the times "fuzzy" , there is often not a single true answer to it, but you need to ask them to develop an eye for these things
Such a training will improve the play of a beginner dramatically, your students should win much more games ( playing others of course, which did not get these instructions ;)
Thanks for the training tips again, axomoxoa.
DeleteI saw the smothered mate instantly. It should be easily doable by a 1400-1500 player. I'd rate the problem around 1100. I see that theme many times in tactics books.
ReplyDeleteVery nice Silentknight for solving the puzzle. I had few students to solve this puzzle from 800 - 1520 rating, I did n't tell them if there was a mate or not. I asked them what is the next move..... None of them solved. When I said there is a mate, the student with 1520 solved this puzzle. Others did not solve it even then. When I said there is a mate in 4, only the players above 1300 solved this puzzle. No, the players below 1300 did not solve this puzzle even when I said there is a mate in 4. Thanks so much....
Delete