Not every chess coach is capable of teaching lessons to beginners. It takes chess knowledge, teaching skill, and a friendly demeanor. I’m very excited to share an interview with one of our fantastic coaches, National Master Nolan Hendrickson!
Today’s blog is about the point of the game: Checkmate! You may be surprised to hear that our Step 1 beginner chess course doesn’t talk about checkmate in the beginning. In fact, we teach six different topics before the first checkmate lesson! Experience shows that it works perfectly. Why is that?
One simple realization can help all beginner and intermediate chess players learn more effectively. It can also help parents who are teaching their young children! A chess game is a test of skill. If you want to get better at soccer, what do you do? You practice the skills you intend to use in a game. If you want to get better at math, you solve problems repeatedly until you are confident in your ability. To learn a language, you have to have actual conversations that will prepare you to use it in the real world. To improve your chess, you must practice the exact skills you will use in a real game! This sounds simple, but most beginners don’t...
