By now, I understood that typical American approaches to teaching beginners are incorrect, moving so quickly through the basics that most students never master them. I knew how to help a young beginner develop their vision of the board, building up their chess as if constructing a castle.
Our Step 1 beginner chess class reached an important milestone yesterday: Students learned about check! A check is an attack on your king. Parker told them that being in check is like hearing a fire alarm: You have to stop whatever you’re doing and deal with it.
A Master Chess Step 1 class started yesterday, with a lesson on the chessboard and pieces. Our students learned about ranks, files, diagonals, names of squares, all the pieces except for the pawn, and their ranking order! Until learning more, what should students do to consolidate their knowledge?
Parents - don’t worry if you don’t have any chess experience. All you need to play with your child is some basic rules! Here is one mini-game you can play with only knowledge of the knight move. Because the knight is (by far) the trickiest piece, this is great practice for kids.
