Chess Square One. Lesson Two

A CHESSMEN INTERACTIONS-BASED TEACHING AND LEARNING METHOD.

AUDIENCE

Chess educators of any level; the post is also aiming at school teachers and parents who want to introduce children to chess by way of mini-games (the material may serve as a preparation aid as it explains the underlying basic concepts of chess).

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Chessmen are not self-standing entities with their characteristics, such as their ability to move. The nature and meaning of things in chess can only be interpreted in terms of chessmen's interrelations and interactions.

It is therefore critical that we start teaching and learning with the piece relationships from Moment One for students' understanding and success. I used such an approach in Lesson 1 where Joe played the 2B v 2R mini-game.
(The choice of mini-games is irrelevant here, you may come up with ones of your own. The important thing is to start with the piece interactions from the very beginning (something like I did here) and then talk the mother tongue of relations with the student throughout.)

Feel free to comment the views expressed here as they are virtually putting things upside down, radically challenging the traditional teaching to complete beginners that invariably starts with "the moves." Your feedback may initiate a open public discussion within the chess community, long over-due ever since Nimzovich claimed that the early 'moves' approach was "fundamentally false," (Shakhmatny Listok, 1929, my 2011 translation from The Chess Journalist), which, sadly, prevents millions of entrants from moving further than "the moves" and from being able to truly enjoy the game.

QUEEN

After Joe has reached a level where his board vision playing 2R v 2B is pretty good, it is time to move on to his second mini (for the rationale for using mini-games, please go check Richard James' Minichess site).

Next, Joe meets Queen. I tell him that she combines the powers of Rook and Bishop and, first thing, I have him draw her lines of Force (not the moves, of course).

Then I set a position with several pieces, could be something like this

and ask Joe these questions,
- Is there any black piece under Q's Attack in this position?
- How many? (four)
- How can Queen Attack the Bishop? (Qd7/a7/b6/b4)
and so on.

As you may have noticed, Joe and I always talk piece RELATIONS; I try to avoid the use of the word MOVE at any cost, rather I ask, how can you ATTACK the Bishop? This is critical for the development of good habits and the right chess mindset.

Now, it is time to play. The Q v 2B mini-game is about Queen chasing Bishops (the goal, whoever takes an opponent's man first, wins). The new thing is that a mutual attack is possible btw Q and Bs. This means that poor Bs will be punished in case they ever dare attack Q; being on the defensive, they try, in vain, to delay the worst .

Joe already knows (from Lesson 1) that Q wins when Bs line up. I show him that Q can also win by another type of (sort of L-shaped) double attack, like this

This is just another pattern Joe is storing early in the mental library of piece configurations ("chunks") that he is going to use for the rest of his chess career.

So we start playing with the starting position below. Joe is the second player. I tell him to play first. Sure he wins on the spot with his knowledge from Lesson 1 (Qd1).

QUEEN v BISHOPS MINIGAME. JOE AS AN ATTACKER

So Bs must play first. I play 1.Bg5?

This is a good opportunity to familiarize oneself well with RESTRICTION, one of the four basic piece contacts in chess. Pieces possess power to attack enemy. That power can also be used to limit the movement of enemy pieces. In the starting position above, Q controls (="attacks") g5 from her initial post, thereby restraining Bc1 from landing on g5 as a mutual attack would be established and a capture possible. The relationship Bc1 has with the g5-square is Restriction; or, in other words, Qd8 is reducing the Bc1's radius of action.

Restart. 1.Bh6. If Joe plays something like Qd6, I tell him he missed a win and ask whether he can see it (Qf6). Note: Unlike the previous example (1.Bg5) where Qd8 was restricting Bc1's movement due to a direct attacking contact between Q and B, in this case Q is restricting B's move due to a Threat of Double Attack (indeed, GM Averbakh considers threat of attack as the 5th basic piece relation!)

Restart. 1.Be3 Qd3? Joe saw a double attack was possible; unfortunately for him, Bxd3 follows. You can see how Joe is getting a feeling for Restriction, and doing so he is improving his board vision (which, btw, is an unfortunate first victim of the traditional approach).

Restart. 1.Be3 Qe8 2.Ba7. Does Joe see Qf7?

Restart. 1.Be3 Qe8 2.Bf4. Does Joe see the Bs lining up to execute Qf7 (Qf8)?

You (a coach, school teacher, (grand)parent) are getting a sense of how this mini is an excellent exercise for the development of a good board vision by Joe.

JOE ON THE DEFENSIVE

We switch sides, Joe is White. From a pleasant position of an attacker, he must now assume defensive stance. He is going to primarily defend from constant threats of double attack.

We start with a few games where I am chasing his Bs with forcing moves, attacking them.

Restart from the starting Q v Bs position. 1.Bg2 Qd4. Joe may have expected an attack on his Bs to occur, but what Qd4 is for? it may be going through his head now.

Now it is a good moment for Joe to also learn something about... Centralization! What he is going to realize soon is how enormous Q's power is when centralized. This quiet move by Q leaves Bs only few safe squares left. Let us check how many of them there are for Bg2, first on the long diagonal:

- 2.Bh1 is unsafe (Restriction due to lining up; there are two wins by double attack possible Qd1/Qg1)
- Bf3 unsafe (Restriction due to L-shaped double attack possibility, Qc3)
- Be4/Bd5 both clearly unsafe
- Bc6 unsafe (Restriction due to Bs lining up, Qc3/c4/c5)
- Bb7 is safe
- Ba8 unsafe (Restriction; Qa1)

Now the short f1-h3 diagonal:

- Bf1 is unsafe (Qd1/g1)
- Bh3 unsafe (Qc3)

So, only one out of nine possible moves for Bg2, a manifest of restrictive power of a centralized Queen). How about Bc1?

2.Bb2 is unsafe (Restriction)
- Ba3 is safe
- Bd2/e3/f4 unsafe (Restriction)
- Bg5 unsafe (Restriction due to Bs lining up)
- Bh6 is safe

Only two out of seven possible moves for Bc1.

So what all this is teaching a beginner? The benefit for him is two-fold.

First, he mentally practices visualizing positions and piece patterns, which in turn is steadily improving his board vision;

Secondly, he is forced to carefully consider his/her next move by visualizing possible threats. He has to see and interpret the underlying piece relations without making a hasty move, as opposed to aimless woodpushing, a move for the move's sake, the signature product of the classical approach.

(Compare these benefits with what the traditional method focusing on "the moves", the rules, the trivial, like piece nicknames, etc. is doing for a freshman - I reviewed Susan Polgar's approach last time, though it could have been any other beginner's course equally lacking in meaning and pleasure of playing right from the start for the pupil.)

WHAT WAS COVERED IN THE LESSON

1. How Queen double-attacks/multi-attacks
2. How Queen uses its power to restrict the movement of enemy pieces
3. Three-piece set up/geometrical motif/x-ray attack (##1-3 represent the three out of four elementary piece interactions)
4. Notion that Relationships between pieces and ability to read power structure on the board has precedence/prevalence over mechanical execution of moves so common with the traditional teaching method
5. Importance of Centralization
6. Making the habit of always watching for threats after the opponent's move
7. Developing the habit of looking for targets
8. Creating the habit of checking for unsafe squares before making a move (sanity check)
9. Visualizing/Developing piece patterns mentally