A Star Wars Guide To Beating The ChessKid Bots
Some people think that the Star Wars franchise is actual one giant allegory for Judaism.
Maybe. Maybe not.
But what I can tell you is that you can take the lessons from Star Wars to pass all of the ChessKid bots! Here's your step-by-step guide to becoming a ChessKid Jedi Master:
Level IV: A New Hope Yifan
You might think for 23 years you were starting in the beginning, but you're actually starting in the middlegame. In this level, prepare to become Luke McShane Skywalker and use the Forcing moves. You'll soon meet your mentor, Obi-Wan-FunMasterMike, and your best friend, Hans Niemann (who can do the Puzzle Run in less than 12 parsecs, which makes him unbeatable in a duel).
Listen carefully to the instructions of the queen, who gives her ChessKid lesson with the use of a hologram, and the you'll be able to destroy Kilobyte's castle, the Death Star.
Level V: The Empire Strikes Backward Pawns
Move quickly if you want to escape from Hort. Then, seek out your new mentor, Peshka, a small little guy with simplistic aphorisms. Peshka is not fond of the Dragon. "Fear is the path to the dark squares," he cautions.
He also seems to be a fan of Petrosian: "Use Forcing moves for knowledge and defense, never for attack."
Even though Hans Niemann's pieces get frozen, you can defeat Hyperlink despite being told that he's Luke McShane's father.
Level VI: Return of the Jedisolani
In order to rescue Hans Niemann from Jobava the Hutt, you'll need the help of your queen. She turns out to be Luke McShane's sister, forming a sort of bishop pair for the rest of the level.
Override, who is revealed to be Anandikan Skywalker, finally sees the light but you can kill him with the help of Lagno Carlsinian.
Now you must got back to do the first three levels. Why? Because it sells more memberships.
Level I: The F-file Menace
We learn that Qwerty is actually a despotic Sith Lord, you'll be OK if you escape to planet Maghsoodloo. Sure, there's suppose to be a blockade, but as we learn later, Carlsinian doesn't believe in them.
Also an annoying character named Har-Har-Zvinks should simply be avoided.
From there, make sure Anandikin wins the pawn race and earns his freedom (even though you now know he'll land on the sark squares one day).
Level II: Attack of the Mobile Phones
There is really nothing redeeming in this level, but we will say that in order to defeat Reboot J. Fischer, you shouldn't believe that Emperor Kirsan will ever actually give up powers. And you'll need the help of some clones, like Tigran Petrosian and Tigran Petrosian.
Level III: Revenge of the Fifth Rank
Since Emperor Kirsan's order, the clone grandmasters are now turning the other way on the board, but luckily little Peshka breaks out his lightsquared saber. You might also battle Safemode to a stalemate but Peshka reminds, "Patience you must have my young padapawn."
Meanwhile Luke McShane and the queen are both born. You should take her to planet Aagaardaron and drop off Luke to Tata-ooine, which looks a lot like the Netherlands.
Level VII: The Forcing Moves Awaken
The queen has now become the king, and so you'll want to seek out the rogue pawnstormtrooper Finn. Together with Hans Niemann and Jedi-trainer Kylo Rensch, you discover another attack called Quadcore and thwart it before it destroys the planet.
Before defeating the bot, Luke McShane should be found again (tip: he's day-trading lightsabers on the third rank). He will help with weird winning moves like Rook2-D2.
Level VIII: The Last Jedisolani
The Resistance is struggling to escape the First Rank Order, with Luke McShane thinking no more Jedi Masters will be created.
But if you find Rey Robson, a connection to Kylo Rensch will form and the Resistance will have a chance against the Firewall bot.
Level IX: The Rise of Skywalter Browne
You still currently have to pay $11.25 to learn how to defeat this level. But we think will involve Kylo Rensch returning to Tata-ooine to beat Circuitbreaker.
Level X: Unnamed Project (NN)
We fully expect George Koltanowski Lucas (the "Dean of American Sci-Fi") to surprise us with a release of Level X, where we will all learn of the evil and unbeatable Megahertz.
**Note there are two hidden bot levels entitled "Mate in Rogue One" and "Hans Benko: A Star Wars Story" but ChessKid won't offer any clues where to find those.
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Mike Klein began playing chess at the age of four in Charlotte, NC. In 1986, he lost to Josh Waitzkin at the National Championship featured in the movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." A year later, Mike became the youngest member of the very first All-America Chess Team, and was on the team a total of eight times. In 1988, he won the K-3 National Championship, and eventually became North Carolina's youngest-ever master. In 1996, he won clear first for under-2250 players in the top section of the World Open. Mike has taught chess full-time for a dozen years in New York City and Charlotte, with his students and teams winning many national championships. He now works at Chess.com as a Senior Journalist and at ChessKid.com as the Chief Chess Officer. In 2012, 2015, and 2018, he was awarded Chess Journalist of the Year by the Chess Journalists of America. He has also previously won other awards from the CJA such as Best Tournament Report, and also several writing awards for mainstream newspapers. His chess writing and personal travels have now brought him to more than 85 countries.
