Author Topic: Chess in Schools and Communities  (Read 2947 times)

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Chess in Schools and Communities
« on: 10 December, 2013, 11:13:59 am »
Shameless plug time.

I have spent the past three days at Olympia, where lots of interesting chess events are going on, from a Chess Education conference, International Grandmaster Tournaments, and events for young children just starting in chess. One initiative that was announced yesterday and is being launched today is a new website, http://yes2chess.org. Schools can register on this website and their players can take part in games against others in the participating countries (the organisers hope to make it a worldwide venture during the next year).

If you are a parent, or have any other interest children an schools, you might like to visit the site and draw teachers' attention/persuade schools to take part.

The site will provide areas for playing chess completely free of the ability to chat, so there is no possibility of "cyber-bullying".
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #1 on: 10 December, 2013, 11:15:30 am »
 :thumbsup:

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #2 on: 10 December, 2013, 11:21:36 am »
That sounds like a very good idea, especially since chess tuition is so patchy.  It can't replace specialist tuition, but having stronger opponents available is a very good way to learn.
Getting there...

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #3 on: 10 December, 2013, 11:27:59 am »
I know my son's school has chess tutors come in from somewhere and they take some children up to a tournament in London, but I've no idea it it's related to this scheme.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #4 on: 10 December, 2013, 02:18:06 pm »
Almost certainly, Cudzo. Schools are attending every day this week.

Yesterday was excellent - indeed, the class teacher, with at least 25 years' teaching experience but no particular interest in chess, said it was the best day trip she had ever taken a class on. She handed her kids over to the team and had a mostly relaxing day.

We started off with the "Chris & Danny Show" in which two GMs, Chris Ward and Danny King, showed the kids some games on the show boards, which will be the top 4 boards in the GM event. There is a Laser Display Board which displays the positions on a large screen. Then a number of children were selected to play games on these boards with their positions displayed all around the room. The standard of play was mostly of the "complete beginner" variety, which made it great fun.

Then there was a teaching session in which the kids were split into small groups. Unfortunately the guy teaching a goodly number of my kids knew the game he was trying to teach them less well than I did. :) Then he played a simul against 8 kids, who are raw beginners, so I "helped" a couple of them and one of them won.

Then we had lunch, and while I was eating my sandwiches I grabbed a floor set and showed the kids how to win from one of the positions we had seen earlier which, in the game, had ended with just two kings on the board. Black's final blunder cost him a rook.

After lunch the kids all played in a tournament in their own age groups and I really liked the way they scored it: the schools' scores consisted of the scores of their top 5 players. Our school came 7th= out of 13, and I was dead chuffed with that, considering none of them knew any of the moves until I started teaching them in September.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #5 on: 10 December, 2013, 06:47:17 pm »
The site will provide areas for playing chess completely free of the ability to chat, so there is no possibility of "cyber-bullying".
I dunno. I reckon that, if I tried it, my King would get cyber-bullied quite badly :-[

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #6 on: 11 December, 2013, 09:38:30 pm »
I tried out one of the "mini-chess" games from the weekend event, which was demonstrated to us by a German delegate. It is a variant of the well-known Knight's Tour puzzle called "The Horse Poo Game" - could any other nation have come up with a scatalogical version of chess?  ;D

It's a simple game. The two players have a knight each and a box of counters. The knights start in opposite corners and white goes first. Every time a player makes a move they place a counter on the square the knight has left (horse poo). Players are not allowed to land on a square with a counter and if one knight can capture the other, so be it. The loser of the game is the player who becomes stranded or whose knight is captured.

I wonder if the panel can establish whether this game is evenly matched or if one side or other has a built-in advantage...
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #7 on: 11 December, 2013, 09:50:56 pm »
There is a Laser Display Board...
... I really liked the way they scored...
and I was dead chuffed with that, considering none of them knew any of the moves until I started teaching them...

You are the ever-delightful Samantha, AICMFP.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #8 on: 11 December, 2013, 09:56:03 pm »
I think, Wow, given the number of combinations of moves before they meet, even if fairly directly, any inherent advantage of one side is probably insignificant, but I'd have to play a few games to check that out.  Sounds like fun, but you can trap yourself very easily.
Getting there...

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #9 on: 12 December, 2013, 05:54:55 pm »
It's all in the nature of the knight's move. Because it changes the colur of the square it sits on every time it moves, according to the rules I outlined above, white is never in a position to capture Black, because when it it white's turn both knights are on the same coloured square. When it is black's turn the opposite is true and white is continually having to dodge squares when the two knights are in range of one another, which is most of the time.

That, of course, is provided that the players are sufficiently skilled to get the moves right every time, and they remember whose turn it is! Tha's the purpose of the game: to give them lots of reinforcement of a reasonably complicated move.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #10 on: 13 December, 2013, 01:11:40 pm »
What's the youngest they can start would you say, Wow?

mcshroom

  • Mushroom
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #11 on: 13 December, 2013, 10:34:09 pm »
As soon as possible. There are Under 6 tournaments and my brother played a tournament when he was about 4, so age isn't really an issue.
Climbs like a sprinter, sprints like a climber!

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Chess in Schools and Communities
« Reply #12 on: 15 December, 2013, 12:35:29 am »
What's the youngest they can start would you say, Wow?

That depends enormously on the child. I started mine pretty young - my youngest was playing in tournament at the age of 4, as Mcshroom says. She didn't really "get it" though, until a bit later. I once picked a 4-year-old to play for Essex in the under-9 team. He scored 2/3 in the reserves, but he was the only 4-year-old I have seen who I would say was properly competent. I understand he won the Southend Open a couple of years ago, now aged around 20.

Mostly, I reckon 7 or 8 is a good time to teach them and it's a good idea not to try to teach too much at once. Pawns first, then the long range pieces, then the short range pieces. In my experience there is always a big hiatus between teaching the basics, which I spread over 4 weeks, assuming an hour a week, and the players grasping harder concepts like seeing captures, understanding protection and seeing check. Until they and their opponent can recognise check, they are not capable of a checkmate and the game is pretty meaningless. That where lots of useful puzzles, like the "horse poo game", mentioned above, come in.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.