Q. I am looking for a chess book to offer my 7yr old nephew, that is entertaining and does more than just teach how the pieces move, but goes into Why they move and When they should be moved.
Thanks!
Thanks!
A. Bruce Pandolfini has one called Beginning Chess that is excellent. It is actually a book that you can use to test your progress as you learn and it really does a great job of showing why certain moves are better than others. It's a fun book to work through. Another very good book is a new one by Susan Polgar called Chess Tactics For Champions. This one really shows you how to be creative in your game play by creating forks, pins and skewers. She does a good job of explaining why some moves that look good at first may not be the best move. My game improved greatly after just going through the first 10 pages! I got both of these books at Barnes and Noble, but I have not seen another copy of Beginning Chess on the shelves lately. You may want to visit Polgarchess.com because Susan Polgar is in the business of teaching chess to children and her site offers alot of good books and videos.
There is another really good alternative for your nephew that actually may do a better job of teaching him the "why's" of moving the pieces. It's a software program called Chess Mentor. You can Google search it and find it. It is chess training software that comes in three options, depending on how much you want to spend and the depth of teaching that you want. I highly recommend this to you because it does exactly what you're asking for. It gives you a chess diagram (board position) and you click on where you think the best move is. If your wrong, it explains in great detail why you're wrong and lets you try over and over until you get it right. And then it gives a very thorough explanation for why it's right. But that's not all! You can ask for hints; either vague, more helpful, or obvious. You can also get a free trial download ( a very generous sample of the program). After I played with the free download I was hooked and bought the complete package! It's well worth it!
Another chess program you may want to consider if he doesn't already have it is Chessmaster 10th Edition ($20 at Best Buy). The tutorials are top notch and you can ask for advice during game play against the computer and a very natural speaking voice reads the explanation text for you. Just like having a Grandmaster at your side as you play!
Also, if he hasn't seen the movie Searching For Bobby Fischer, it is a MUST SEE for every chess player! An excellent family film. It is the true story of Josh Waitzkin (who by the way is featured on Chessmaster) and his becoming a chess champion at the age of...dare I say it...SEVEN!!!!
It's a great flick you'll want to watch over and over again.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed my recommendations. Chess is a beautiful game and clearly you are a pretty cool uncle to want to do this for him. Good luck!
I hope this was the 10 point answer you were looking for! :)
There is another really good alternative for your nephew that actually may do a better job of teaching him the "why's" of moving the pieces. It's a software program called Chess Mentor. You can Google search it and find it. It is chess training software that comes in three options, depending on how much you want to spend and the depth of teaching that you want. I highly recommend this to you because it does exactly what you're asking for. It gives you a chess diagram (board position) and you click on where you think the best move is. If your wrong, it explains in great detail why you're wrong and lets you try over and over until you get it right. And then it gives a very thorough explanation for why it's right. But that's not all! You can ask for hints; either vague, more helpful, or obvious. You can also get a free trial download ( a very generous sample of the program). After I played with the free download I was hooked and bought the complete package! It's well worth it!
Another chess program you may want to consider if he doesn't already have it is Chessmaster 10th Edition ($20 at Best Buy). The tutorials are top notch and you can ask for advice during game play against the computer and a very natural speaking voice reads the explanation text for you. Just like having a Grandmaster at your side as you play!
Also, if he hasn't seen the movie Searching For Bobby Fischer, it is a MUST SEE for every chess player! An excellent family film. It is the true story of Josh Waitzkin (who by the way is featured on Chessmaster) and his becoming a chess champion at the age of...dare I say it...SEVEN!!!!
It's a great flick you'll want to watch over and over again.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed my recommendations. Chess is a beautiful game and clearly you are a pretty cool uncle to want to do this for him. Good luck!
I hope this was the 10 point answer you were looking for! :)
Can you give me some simple tricks to improve my chess playing?
Q. I have heard that you should try to take the middle...is this true? How do you do this? I have looked up chess tips and tricks but mostly get strategies which are good but I want to just know some simple things I can do to avoid sucking at the game. Can you give me some good tips? I've been playing my friend he is very good and I haven't played chess much at all.
A. What will help more at this stage than general tips will be tactics, and playing a lot of games. Try here to learn about tactics http://www.chesscorner.com/tutorial/learn.htm
and here to practice some: http://chess.emrald.net/
Try one of the many free chess sites online to get some games in.
Also you can check out http://www.chessgames.com/ play though a few games and see how masters play. Notice pieces seem to always be protecting eachother and in the opening they develop their pieces quickly. Don't worry if you don't know why they don't capture or recapture sometimes, this is just to get a general idea.
There's no quick and easy way to get really good really fast, but if your friend is just an advanced beginner, you can catch up to him quickly. I'll go over some general tips, I was going to talk about what each type of piece likes individually, but my answer was too long.
Whenever you feel at a loss for a move, try to identify your worst placed piece, this will usually be your least active piece, and find a good square for it where it's helping in the action -- this relocation may take several moves.
Now to get to your question, control of the center is a golden rule even masters don't ignore. Even Nimzowitsch said to control it, just from afar. Yes, you should move pieces to occupy or control the four middle squares.
To do this you'll want to move at least 1 pawn into the 4 center squares. If your opponent lets you get two pawns side by side in the center go for it. In the opening move only a few pawns, most of your first 10 moves will be used to get your minor pieces (knights and bishops) off thier home squares and influenceing the middle, then casteling and connecting your rooks on the back rank. For example, if you move your King's knight out to 2 square above the bishop (the f3 square) it's inflencing two center squares.
In the opening try to develop each piece with as few moves as possible, this usually means just one move. If you spend 10 moves and only get 3 pieces out while you're opponent has developed his whole army you're in trouble. Castle before your 11th move is played, but not before you 6th move, and for at least now do it every game.
In the middle game as you play, try to keep your pieces defending eachother. For example, if you're debating on a few different squares your queen retreat to, try to find one that moves it to safety PLUS influences the center PLUS keeps an eye on that weak pawn across the way. "Loose pieces fall off." And as you learn tactics the frst thing you'll learn to look for is undefended/inadequatley defended pieces or a vurnerable king.
The endgame has to do with getting your king active, generating passed pawns, and helping them to promotion. Your opponents passed pawns should be restrained.
Google or Wiki these different types of pawns: passed, isolated, doubled, backward, islands, chains. My answer was too long and had to cut it way back.
My system is generally considered an advanced book, but in the into where Nimzowitsch introduces the elements of chess, as a primer for the meat of his book, a beginner could learn a lot.
That said, I believe there are more appripriate beginner books, such as Logical Chess Move by Move by Irving or the winning chess series by Seirawan / Silman.
and here to practice some: http://chess.emrald.net/
Try one of the many free chess sites online to get some games in.
Also you can check out http://www.chessgames.com/ play though a few games and see how masters play. Notice pieces seem to always be protecting eachother and in the opening they develop their pieces quickly. Don't worry if you don't know why they don't capture or recapture sometimes, this is just to get a general idea.
There's no quick and easy way to get really good really fast, but if your friend is just an advanced beginner, you can catch up to him quickly. I'll go over some general tips, I was going to talk about what each type of piece likes individually, but my answer was too long.
Whenever you feel at a loss for a move, try to identify your worst placed piece, this will usually be your least active piece, and find a good square for it where it's helping in the action -- this relocation may take several moves.
Now to get to your question, control of the center is a golden rule even masters don't ignore. Even Nimzowitsch said to control it, just from afar. Yes, you should move pieces to occupy or control the four middle squares.
To do this you'll want to move at least 1 pawn into the 4 center squares. If your opponent lets you get two pawns side by side in the center go for it. In the opening move only a few pawns, most of your first 10 moves will be used to get your minor pieces (knights and bishops) off thier home squares and influenceing the middle, then casteling and connecting your rooks on the back rank. For example, if you move your King's knight out to 2 square above the bishop (the f3 square) it's inflencing two center squares.
In the opening try to develop each piece with as few moves as possible, this usually means just one move. If you spend 10 moves and only get 3 pieces out while you're opponent has developed his whole army you're in trouble. Castle before your 11th move is played, but not before you 6th move, and for at least now do it every game.
In the middle game as you play, try to keep your pieces defending eachother. For example, if you're debating on a few different squares your queen retreat to, try to find one that moves it to safety PLUS influences the center PLUS keeps an eye on that weak pawn across the way. "Loose pieces fall off." And as you learn tactics the frst thing you'll learn to look for is undefended/inadequatley defended pieces or a vurnerable king.
The endgame has to do with getting your king active, generating passed pawns, and helping them to promotion. Your opponents passed pawns should be restrained.
Google or Wiki these different types of pawns: passed, isolated, doubled, backward, islands, chains. My answer was too long and had to cut it way back.
My system is generally considered an advanced book, but in the into where Nimzowitsch introduces the elements of chess, as a primer for the meat of his book, a beginner could learn a lot.
That said, I believe there are more appripriate beginner books, such as Logical Chess Move by Move by Irving or the winning chess series by Seirawan / Silman.
Are there any Blackberry applications for playing chess against other people?
Q. I would like to be able to play correspondence chess against people using my Blackberry Curve. Any recommendations?
A. Try the link. It's a google search but looks promising. I used to play online at several different sites but don't know much about Blackberry applications. The link looks like there should be plenty available.
Al
Al
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
No comments:
Post a Comment