Nolan has an interesting chess background: He played in his first tournament at the age of 13, didn’t have a non provisional rating for two years, and became a National Master before his 18th birthday.
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.
Our Step 1 online chess class for beginners is picking up pace: On Monday, students learned how to attack, how to capture, and how to move the pawn! Again, there are some terrific mini-games you can play to practice these skills.
