Messages posted by: Lior_Caspi

Aviv might join. I will let you know later.

Artists, leaders, educators and pretty much anyone in any field can enhance our world through creativity and imagination. So what does this have to do with chess? Everything!

Chess helps a child develop his or her imagination. After all we’re just looking at a board with 64 squares and a bunch of pieces that can move around in different ways until the players breathe life into their games. As the pieces take their place on the battlefield, positions form and opportunities open up, but only if you can see them in your mind’s eye.

As a person improves, each position communicates more and more to him or her. One starts recognizing patterns and becomes able to plan future attacks. The way to win a game of chess is to plan out a strategy and follow through with it. You must be able to imagine your goal and then take the necessary steps to carry it out.

Apply this to any aspect of your life and you will do well. Decide what you want to accomplish, set the goal and then do what is needed to make that happen. Maybe you have a new business idea. Maybe you want a buy a home or you want to write a novel. The possibilities are endless and are under your control.

If we can teach our children early that it is okay to dream and that those dreams can come true, we might just be looking at an unstoppable next generation!

By Laura Sherman

Laura Sherman co-owns Your Chess Coach (www.YourChessCoach.com) with her husband, Dan Sherman. Together they teach children to play chess through various schools in Pinellas County, Florida, as well as privately in students’ homes and online.

Many children learn to play chess at home. You, the parent, teach them how to move their pieces, set up the board and begin play. Depending on your skill level these lessons may be rudimentary, but know they are invaluable. You have started him down an exciting path. Inevitably he will venture off and play others in school or perhaps even take lessons. As this happens expect him to come home one day and beat you. As he continues to learn and expand his knowledge those victories may become commonplace.

How you handle these losses will determine your child’s future in chess.

If you are upset in any way your child will probably give up playing chess rather than risk hurting you again. Count on that. If you are elated and proud, you will give him the greatest win of his life. Just try to stop him now!

When your child is trouncing you consistently, that is the time to allow him to teach you something about the game. Yes, it may involve swallowing your pride a little to allow your cute little nine-year-old child to show you the ropes of this ancient game, but you will actually be continuing his instruction in the best way possible. And he will in fact be able to help you improve your game.

When anyone is given the opportunity to teach someone else a skill, their ability improves in that area. Teaching is a powerful way to learn. Breaking down a subject so that someone else can grasp it involves a challenging process that brings about a greater understanding for the teacher. It is truly a way to master a subject.

Last month I put out a promotion offering our local parents a free 1-hour lesson in exchange for a coffee and a scone. It was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I hoped someone would take me up on it. When I received numerous enthusiastic replies I decided to extend the offer.

I discovered that some parents were taught by their parents and some learned from a two-page instructional sheet they got from a recently purchased set. Needless to say there were some misconceptions and missing information, which were then passed down to our students. I’m sure you can imagine the confusion it created for the kids.

Here are two common misconceptions I uncovered:

1.

You can capture the king. NO! You never take the king off the board. Checkmate is the only way to win (unless your opponent gives up). Checkmate simply means the king is in danger and can’t get out of it by any means.
2.

A pawn can only be promoted to a piece that has been captured. NO! You can promote a pawn into anything but a king. You may have multiple queens on the board! Some sets provide you with 2 queens, but if yours doesn’t simply flip a captured rook over and voila you have a queen.

Congratulations on having a brilliant chess champ in your family! Their victories on the board will translate into life wins, which will carry forward into adulthood. Remember your child’s victories are in fact yours.

by Laura Sherman

Laura Sherman co-owns Your Chess Coach (www.YourChessCoach.com) with her husband, Dan Sherman. Together they teach children to play chess through various schools in Pinellas County, Florida, as well as privately in students’ homes and online.

Think back to when you first learned to play chess. Did your mother or father teach you? Maybe a grandparent? Over the years I’ve heard many wonderfully warm stories about people’s first introduction to chess. Those memories are cherished through adulthood, as chess is truly a bonding experience.

My father taught me to play when I was 9 years old. I was fascinated by the boards set up all around the living room, each displaying a different position. I was so eager to learn. My father loved something called postal chess, where he would play people from far away exotic lands through the mail. Most of his opponents lived in Russia, so it took months for each move to arrive. It was always an exciting day when that postcard arrived with its intriguing stamps. It held the mysterious code known only to chess players, informing my father of the next move.

I quickly fell in love with the game and when I beat my father for the first time I quickly made the decision to try out tournaments. Although Dad was more interested in postal chess than over the board play, he joined me in my first tournament, so that I wouldn’t be alone. Now the first thing I noticed, in that small Connecticut tournament, was that I was the only girl and the only child. A little intimidating, but Dad was there, so it was okay. I soon became engrossed in my games, throwing myself into the battle, eager to conquer my opponent, forgetting that the odds were stacked against me. I’m not sure who was more surprised and excited, my father or I, when I won second place.

As an adult I spent a year traveling around the country playing in tournaments. When I attended the NY Open, Dad came up on the train from Connecticut to watch me play. After each game we would talk about the high and low points, analyzing my play, sometimes disagreeing about my strategies (especially when I chose to sacrifice a piece for a dubious attack).

Throughout my life chess has aided me in real life situations. The skill set I learned from getting good at the game gave me true advantages in life. Not only did I learn how to think logically, but I discovered I could create successful long-term strategies and short-term tactical plans, which would give me many victories on and off the board. To this day I see any challenge in life as simply a king on the board ready to be checkmated.

Of course most people do not get into competition play, but chess is still an amazingly adventure and wonderful bonding experience for any family. Whether you take a set on family camping trips or out to the beach or just stay home enjoying family-time after dinner there is nothing like chess for bringing a family together.

In this day and age with television and video games, wouldn’t it be wonderful to see families playing chess with one another? And just imagine for a moment what heights our children can reach if they gain the self confidence and strategic prowess that a sound knowledge of chess offers.

by Laura Sherman

Laura Sherman co-owns Your Chess Coach (www.YourChessCoach.com) with her husband, Dan Sherman. Together they teach children to play chess through various schools in Pinellas County, Florida, as well as privately in students’ homes and online.

I get this question a lot. Many parents wonder when they should dust off the old chess board in the attic and introduce the game of kings and queens to their child. I would venture to guess most parents wait too long. In our household I started teaching our son when he was 4. The lessons were very short and fun, many occurred on the beach. As he learned more and more of the basics the lessons became longer and longer. Now that he is 5 and has more experience we can go 45 minutes without a problem. He has also played in two tournaments which lasted over 1 hour.

Since we teach our son regularly our 2-year-old daughter started to hop up on the chair in front of the board in the dining room and declare “Chess!” in a quite demanding way. At first glance this may seem to be an impossible task, but really, if you look at it, any familiarity with the game, with the pieces and board is good. So what’s the first step? Introduce and name the pieces. This is true of any student of any age. So I started with the pawn.

Holding up the pawn and said, “This is a pawn. Can you say ‘pawn’?” She eagerly repeated “Pawn!” and I handed it to her. Then I picked up another pawn and asked, “What is this?” “Pawn!” she chirped happily and received another pawn. I let her place these pawns anywhere on the board that she wanted, after all they were her reward for a job well done. I repeated this a few times and then I held up a rook. “This is a rook,” I said. “Rook,” she repeated and received the treasured piece. We repeated this a few times and then I held up a pawn to see if she remembered that piece. Seeing that she was having trouble I reminded her, “This is a pawn.” “Pawn!” she exclaimed and took it from my hand. I focused on these two pieces for a few minutes and then ended the lesson, making sure to tell her that she did a very good job and that I was really proud of her. She, like her brother, request regular lessons from us.

A month or so later she can now name all the pieces. Her brother helps to teach her. This will greatly improve his understanding and appreciation of the game. Any time a child can teach another a skill they will advance immeasurably in that area.

We actually caught a lesson on tape and posted it on YouTube so you can see them in action. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIaW0jCNKMc . You can see here that she is still learning the difference between a king and a queen, but now she has that down.

The next step will be to go over the movement of the pieces. Patience is the key. It doesn’t matter how long it takes for your child to grasp the next step. The only important thing is that he or she fully get one step before moving on. Remember you are building a foundation of understanding.

by Laura Sherman

Laura Sherman co-owns Your Chess Coach (www.YourChessCoach.com) with her husband, Dan Sherman. Together they teach children to play chess through various schools in Pinellas County, Florida, as well as privately in students’ homes and online.

Chess and Nutrition Print E-mail
Written by Mark
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
[FROM www.chessbase.com 12/19/07]

Chess and Nutrition – how to feed a chess grandmaster
19.12.2007 – Many aspects of the extraordinary abilities of top chess players have undergone the scrutiny of science. Mental and physical exercises have been devised to optimise their performance. Now a nutritional scientist has systematically studied the eating habits of grandmasters – 72 of them. His paper culminates in a catalog of dietary instructions for serious chess players.
Nutritional Practices of Chess Grandmasters
By Roberto H. Baglione, RD
Departament of Nutrition, National Sport High Performance Center (CeNARD),
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
High-level competitive chess is considered a demanding sport, not only mentally speaking but also, physically. A tournament chess game can take more than seven hours under stressful conditions for players.
Investigations carried out by the German International Chess Grandmaster Helmut Pfleger, MD, et al. have demonstrated that the elite chess players have comparable physiological parameters in competition as those who practice sports such as shooting, car racing and golf; consequently, chess could be classified as the same category of sport as those according to these criteria.
As a result, it will be necessary not to limit preparation to hours of study on the board, but to extend it to a more complete program involving physical training and an adequate nutritional plan for the demands, among others.
In order to analyze the sports habits of active International Grandmasters, a world survey was conducted in 2006, with particular emphasis on dietary habits.
We haven’t found previous studies referred to nutritional practices of elite chess players, and we expect that the results of this research can be interesting and useful for chess players, including Grandmasters, as well as medical doctors, nutritionists, and physical trainers.
The present study involved seventy-two active International Grandmasters (17 women and 55 men, 18-55 years old) from thirty-five countries who answered an e-mail questionnaire including fifteen topics. The average Elo rating of the surveyed players (according to the FIDE list, October 2006) was 2402 for women and 2551 for men.
Nutritional Habits
66.7% of the surveyed Grandmasters ate at least three meals a day and 36.1% often skipped breakfast.
Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day because of its direct impact on the mental (and physical) performance in the morning. It has a direct effect on the glucose concentration in the brain and liver, and supplies a number of nutrients which are essentials to produce neurotransmitters, chemical messengers which act over neuronal cells communications.
Many investigations have shown that mental concentration can be affected when doing intellectual activities in the morning without having had breakfast previously, and that a proper breakfast helps to keep the mental performance in that moment of the day, according to tests on memory and attention. Even if specific investigations are still necessary for chess on this matter, it can be inferred that the performance of chess players who train or compete during the morning hours could be affected in the same way.
Among the reasons why breakfast is skipped, the most common one is that some players study chess until late in the evening and then get up after breakfast time.
Regarding the specific nutrition scheme for tournaments, the main results were the following.
The majority of Grandmasters (66.7%) avoided overeating or having food of difficult digestion before the games, while the rest preferred a regular or habitual intake.
It is known that after eating, the bloodstream of the organs involved in the digestion process rises and, consequently, the blood and oxygen supply to other organs, as the brain, decreases. If the quantity of food is voluminous or of difficult digestion, consequences will be even more severe or last longer, and people may feel sleepy and tired, less alert and focused, and prone to make more mistakes in relation to attention and search tasks.
During games, a great number of chess players (95.8%) ate some sort of solid food or fluid, while the rest did not. The most preferred solid food by Grandmasters included chocolate (80.5%), fruits (14.6%) and cereal bars (9.8%). Regarding types of fluid, main preferences were water (72.1%), coffee (42.6%), tea (29.5%) and fruit juice (23.6%).

From a qualitative point of view, these liquid and solid foods choices can be considered as satisfactory, for their supply of glucose, water and other nutrients, and their adequate digestion times.
Half of the surveyed players (thirty-six) took some sort of fluid even without feeling thirsty.
Feeling thirsty is a sign of needing a drink but it is a late symptom and, as a result, it is not the right indicator to determine the state of hydration. A percentage of the quantity of water in the body may be lost before feeling thirsty, enough to affect and decrease the mental performance in attention, efficient arithmetic and short-term memory, in comparison with a proper hydration condition, as shown by a research. Also, thirst is an uncomfortable sensation for a player.
During competitive chess games, it is common to lose water by sweating and, many times, the environment is hot and/or humid. Furthermore, sweat losses can vary a lot among athletes because of a multitude of factors like skin surface area, gender and maturation, work intensity, cloth, fitness, heat acclimatization, diet, etc., and therefore individual recommendations to effective fluid replacement are difficult to make.
A very important finding of the present study was that a minority of Grandmasters (two players) reported to follow a diet supervised by nutritional specialists, designed to reach their mental and physical demands of energy and nutrients.
Approximately one third of the chess players (twenty-three) reported dietary supplements use. The most frequent ones were vitamins, minerals, amino-acids and proteins.
Even if all the dietary supplements taken by the surveyed Grandmasters are permitted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for their use out and in-competition, we must take into account that a wrong use of this kind of products can damage the health condition and that there is scientific proof that an important number of these supplements may contain prohibited substances, not specified on their labels. Despite the controversy about the implementation of anti-dope controls over chess, these are being carried out in some of the top-level competitions (World Championships, Olympiad) and, therefore, a player can be penalized due to the consumption of a prohibited substance, voluntarily or involuntarily.
Other related habits
Regarding to physical training, 87.5% said to do some kind of physical activity besides chess training. 51.4% reported to do it on a regular basis (three or more times a week) as part of their general training, while 36.1% claimed to do it less times a week or on even a more sporadic basis. The rest 12.5% referred not to do any kind of physical activity at all.
Grandmasters within the group of those who did some kind of physical activity on a regular basis chose among swimming (nineteen players), jogging (fifteen players) and gym (fourteen players), followed by football, tennis, long-distance walks and cycling.
The physical activity done on a regular basis, specially aerobic, may help the chess player in many ways: it makes body posture better, improves resistance and endorphins production (substances produced by the body that have a positive effect on the emotional state, causing a sense of comfort) and can reduce anxiety, depression, tension and stress, and can slightly improve the cognitive performance (memory, intelligence, creativity), vigor, and keep mental clearness. It also contributes to manage and keep an ideal weight and reduce body fat, it reduces the concentration of lipids in the blood, raises the HDL cholesterol level (“good cholesterol”), it is one of the basis for the treatment of mellitus diabetes, and strengthens bone mass, among others.
It is a fact that, from decades until now, many ex-world champions and other top-level chess players have been undertaking programs that included physical training.
One question about tobacco consumption was included in the survey, for the well-known negative effect of this habit on health condition. Smoking is an important cardiovascular risk illness factor, it predisposes to cancer of the lung, larynx, pharynx and mouth cavity; may cause emphysema; etc. And also this habit affects nutrients negatively. Tobacco nicotine reduces the possibility for the body to make use of calcium leading to osteoporosis, and smokers suffer from vitamins (and precursors) deficiency, like B1, B12, C and ß-carotene, among others.
In this research, we found that 15.3% of the surveyed chess players claimed to be smokers.
Conclusions and recommendations
The results of this research provide information about sport and nutritional habits of the active International Grandmasters, but it is necessary to take into account that more investigations on these topics are needed.
Regarding these results, author carries out some practical recommendations about healthy habits to athletes, which could help to improve a sport performance too.
• Chess players should try to have breakfast daily.
• Avoiding “heavy foods” or foods of difficult digestion before games must be adopted as a regular habit for chess players. The last “main” meal before a game has to be had at least three hours in advance. If a player wishes to have something to eat nearer the time of the beginning of a competition (one or two hours before, e.g.) he/she should choose among fruits (whole ones, fruit salad or juices, raisins), cereal bars, pretzels, cookies, low fat yogurt with fruit or cereals, sports drinks.
• During the games, it is recommended fluid ingestion, and, if the chess player wants it (or when the game becomes long), solid foods. Mineral water, fruit juices, tea, coffee, sports drinks, cereal bars, fruits, raisins, dry fruits (almonds, e.g.), chocolate, cereal cookies, can be chosen. In all cases, moderate quantities should be taken.
• The best strategy to hydration is to drink small quantities at regular intervals, instead of greater quantities at a few intervals, and avoid being thirsty. The same indication should be followed during board training and physical activity. It is also important to begin the activity properly hydrated.
• It would be good for chess players “to train” the quantity of fluid to be drunk while playing training games in situations similar to the tournament’s; in order to determine if the options and quantities are well tolerated (and to become familiarized with them) and then, avoid drinking quantities during an important game which may result in concentration loss. The same routine should be taken into account for solid foods.
• Some characteristics of the urine can show the state of hydration, which gives players a very good reference. If at any moment of the day the color of the urine is dark yellow, it is small in volume and has a strong smell, then all these signs could be showing that the chess player might not be properly hydrated and, consequently, should drink plenty of water or fluids containing water in considerable proportion.
• It would be advisable for the elite chess players to count on scientific nutritional consultancy in order to cope with all the requirements that top-level chess entails, because nutrition plays a significant role in the sport performance.
• The improper use of dietary supplements, mainly under self-supervision or non-professional supervision, can cause health problems and may result in a positive anti-doping control. It is advisable that chess players take dietary supplements only if these are prescribed by a medical doctor after a complete general check, and, in the case of top players, only those ones which are not on the list of the banned substances and methods for chess. The players must be informed about the current World Anti-Doping Code.
• Physical activities should be considered as an important component of the chess player training. It is necessary to attend clinical- cardiologic tests before starting doing this type of activity and this program must be designed by a doctor or a physical trainer.
The author would like to express his sincerest thanks to all the International Grandmasters who kindly took part in this research, and to those who conveyed their apologies for not being able to do it.
Copyright © 2007, Roberto Baglione

E-mail: baglio@ciudad.com.arThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Roberto Baglione has a degree in Nutrition from the University of
Buenos Aires, UBA. He is head of the Department of Nutrition at the National Sport High Performance Center. Additionally, he is the Medical Department's member at the Argentine Tennis Association. During 2002 he was the nutritionist of the Independiente de Avellaneda Football Team Club, Champion Team of the Argentine Cup that year.
Roberto is an amateur chess player who feels great passion for this sport. He played a number of tournaments when he was young. In 1984, he was really lucky to be able to defeat an Argentine IM (IGM today) at a simul session.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), one of the most important sport-medical institutions of the world, accepted an abstract of the above work, and it was scientifically presented during the Annual Meeting in New Orleans, USA.

Selected Basic Principles of Chess Opening Print E-mail
Written by John Knightly
Friday, 29 September 2006

Chess opening refers to the first 6-8 moves of the game, in which the players aim to bring their forces into a position which will give them the greatest potential power against their opponent. The following principles apply to this stage of the game.

Avoid moving a piece twice.
Unless a piece has been attacked, forcing you to move it, you should refrain from moving a developed piece until the other pieces have also been developed. The case of an attack means it is probable that your opponent has deviated from this rule to your advantage.
It is better to develop the Knights before their respective Bishops.
The rule refers to each side (King or Queen) separately and does not mean that both Knights should be moved before developing a Bishop (see following principle).

It is best to develop both Knights before the Queen's Bishop.

Make sure to develop the pieces on both sides.

It is not advisable to play a piece beyond your own side of the board during the opening stage.
This means that you shouldn't play a piece beyond its 4th square until the other pieces are ready to back up the invasion. One of the exceptions to the rule is the Ruy Lopez form of opening, in which this principle is disregarded in favour of attacking an important piece, which the opponent should need for his defense.

If you have castled, do not allow the opponent to open a file on your King.

It is good to refrain from pinning the opponent's King's Knight before he has castled, all the more so if you have already castled on the King's side.

Avoid making exchanges which develop another piece for the opponent.
If deviation from this rule results in the development of the Queen, one can compensate for the loss of balance in the development of the forces by attacking the adverse Queen. As a rule though, the Queen should not be brought into action too early.

Refrain from exchanging Bishops for Knights early in the game.
As in the early stages of the game Bishops have a longer range than Knights, it is best to keep them in the field as long as possible. Later in the game this difference becomes smaller until in the end it is the Knight which is often more powerful, not being limited to one colour of square like the Bishop is.

Do not attack prematurely.
An attack should wait until there is sufficient force in the field to render it successful.

Search for weak spots in the opponent's position.
Even assuming that no gross mistakes have been made by either player, eventually one of them will make a doubtful move and it is up to his opponent to recognize the resulting weakness and take advantage of it. This is a skill which can only be mastered by practice and observation. A good learning tip is to set up the pieces from a diagram being consulted and try to solve the puzzle alone (which side has the better position, what is the weakness and how to attack it) before playing the moves given.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JnTWyl6Gx8

http://www.mychessgame.org/chess/genpage.jsp?page=test/test2.jsp

Pizza, paster, salad, PJS?

Looking for a good tournaments out of the Seattle Chess Club.
Please reply with any,

Does your student have the desire to learn by her/him self?
Do you feel that spoon-feeding our students has an impact on this?

Quite a few articles out there about the connection between business and chess.
Here are few:
Think fast. Think under pressure. That's how you win in business - and in chess:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/24/chess.html

Chess and Entrepreneurship:
http://www.scottburkett.com/index.php/entrepreneurship/2007-12-12/chess-and-entrepreneurship.html

Can I force mate with King and Bishop, 2 Bishops?

1. Control the center
2. Activate the minors
3. Get your king to safety
4. Connect and aim the rocks