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.
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?
