Chess for Beginners

In my quest for chess improvement, I have stumbled upon Markgravitygood’s excellent chess improvement blog. I recommend that you checkout his post on the generic training schedule, which is based on an article by chess trainer GM Irina Mikhailova on chessOk.

Mark’s post is exactly what I was looking for when I wrote my post on ‘My Chess Education’. I was so impressed by this training schedule, that I am going adopt it as part of my chess study routine.

Since I only have at most 2 hours per day to dedicate to chess, here is my adaptation of the schedule. If I cannot complete the daily curriculum,any topic not covered will be tackled on the next day:

Day 1

• Study openings (1hr)
• Solve tactics (30m)
• Solve strategy (30m)

Day 2

• Solve endings (1h)
• Play (30m ) either 1 G/15 or 2 G/6
• Solve tactics (30m)

Day 3

• Study strategy (30m)
• Solve strategy (30m)
• Play (30m) either 1 G/15 or 2 G/6
• Solve tactics (30m)

Day 4

• Study openings (1h)
• Solve endings (30m)
• Solve tactics (30m)

TEN OPENING RULES

1. Open with a center pawn.

2. Develop with threats.

3. Knights before Bishops.

4. Don’t move the same piece twice.

5. Make as few pawn moves as possible in the opening.

6. Don’t bring your Queen out too early.

7. Castle as soon as possible, preferably on the Kingside.

8. Always play to gain control, of the center.

9. Try to maintain at least one pawn in the center.

10. Don’t sacrifice without a clear and adequate reason. For a sacrificed pawn you must:

A. Gain three tempi, or
B. Deflect the enemy Queen, or
C. Prevent castling, or
D. Build up a strong attack.
(more…)

Chess Improvement for Beginners

Time and cost can sometimes make it impossible for an enthusiastic student of chess to hire a chess coach. I have, through trial and error, began devising a training curriculum to be used by me and others. This plan is in no way meant to take the place of a competent chess coach, but hopefully it will aid those who are unable to hire one.

In the next series of posts I will describe how the curriculum has come to be as well as my experience in using the plan. In creating this chess improvement plan, I have researched book and online content focusing on chess improvement and education. I have also made it as generic as possible so that it may be used not just by me but by others including children. I have much to learn both about chess and learning about chess, but the exercise of writing about it will not only assist me in mastering both of these elements, but will allow me to share my experiences with others so that they might benefit as well.

(more…)

The opposition is one of the most important things to learn in order to succeed in the endgame. The opposition allows you to make your King stronger than your opponents by simply controlling certain key squares on the board.

The rule of the opposition is: whoever is to move when there is an odd number of squares between the Kings does not have the opposition. So you want to make sure that you move your King to so that there are an odd number of squares between you and your opponent’s King. Another way to look at the opposition is if it’s your turn to move and your King is separated from your opponents by an even number of squares, then you do not have the opposition.

Example 1: The Opposition

In this example whoever is to move has the opposition. The same rule also applys to diagonals.

What if the Kings do not connect on a rank or file? If that is the case then the rule is to move the King to a square in which each corner is the same color of the square the opposing King is in. As illustrated in example #2.

Example 2: Opposition When Kings Do Not Connect On Rank or File

By moving Kb2 White maintains the opposition as long as the squares within the box are odd.

This Chess Course is broken down into 86 Lessons each lasting 60 minutes. Lessons should be taken a minimum of 2 times per week. The entire course lasts anywhere from 21-43 weeks.

(more…)