That's cool. Hope you have fun paying up.
Congratulations
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Wow, 1200 standard rating at 9. He's about a decade ahead of me! Wish I started so young. Sounds like a fun celebration :)
Mar 16, 2013
0
#5
Congratulations Paul and Eric!
Hope you and the fam have fun celebrating.
Of course we know you love your son whether or not he ever achieved anything, but it's always nice to see your kid accomplish.
Estragon wrote:
EricFleet wrote:
I would like to congratulate (and brag about) my nine-year-old son who goes by PaulEChess. He has known how to play chess for a couple of years now, but in September, began playing it more seriously.
In November, he got to a stable rating of under 1000. Yesterday, he crossed the 1200 rating on chess.com! I promised him a dinner out at a hibachi restaurant when he did so, now it is time to pay up!
Good for him! Congratulations!
But you messed up with the hibachi promise, now he's going to expect that or something bigger for future achievements. You should have just offered a fast food burger & fries, he would have gone for it. But no more!
There is a chance that I was looking for a good excuse to go out to the restaurant myself :)
In all seriousness, it is our standard when someone in the family accompishing something big... promotion, blue ribbon in speech meet, or milestone in chess. I believe we should work hard and celebrate to enjoy what we work hard for :)
I know your son
GSHAPIROY wrote:
I know your son
Where are you from?
EricFleet wrote:
GSHAPIROY wrote:
I know your son
Where are you from?
Cleveland Heights, OH!
I met him at a solon tournament at the mustard seed market.
Congrats! :D
Are you teaching him endgames?
Yes, he has king & pawn vs king down. Working on other endings but find a lack of good book material on the subject. Most stuff I find is far too scattered or far too specialized. Any advice would be appreciated :)
EricFleet wrote:
Yes, he has king & pawn vs king down. Working on other endings but find a lack of good book material on the subject. Most stuff I find is far too scattered or far too specialized. Any advice would be appreciated :)
You don't like Silman's book?
Oct 9, 2013
0
#13
Scottrf wrote:
EricFleet wrote:
Yes, he has king & pawn vs king down. Working on other endings but find a lack of good book material on the subject. Most stuff I find is far too scattered or far too specialized. Any advice would be appreciated :)
You don't like Silman's book?
I like Silman's book (Silman's Complete Endgame Course).
Only endgame book I own, and endgames are one of the stronger parts of my game for my rating.
I'd recommend Silman's Endgame Book and Fine's Basic Chess Endings. I have the Pal Benko version from 2003. Then you have Starting Out: Rook Endgames (from 2006) and others like it that build on the basics found in books like Basic Chess Endgames or Silman's book.
One reason I want to be a titled player someday is to make training software and have the credibility to justify it. I'd have a basic endgame (disc 1) then king and pawn (disc 2) basic rook endgames (disc 3) minor pieces, more advanced rook, and finally major piece endings.
I know there's already software out there from Chessbase but it looks like just passive learning, I'm thinking of something that has a PGN with a lot of words to explain concepts and alternative variations, a puzzle section to apply what one learns, and positions to play against the computer. Section 1 would be telling them concepts, ideas, and move orders whereas 2 and 3 would test knowledge and technique.
Everything would be from practical game practice.
Fine's book is pretty much useless. Honestly, I think the only good thing about it is playing online chess here on chess.com when resources like that are allowed.
JMB2010 wrote:
Fine's book is pretty much useless. Honestly, I think the only good thing about it is playing online chess here on chess.com when resources like that are allowed.
I've been reading it for the past three weeks almost exclusively (with the exception of some Chess Tempo tactics and studying games, some from people posted here) and really drilled the concepts of breakthrough, pawn race, placing the rook on the file near the king to block, the king dance around the rook so the checking opponent rook runs out allowing pawn promotion, tying down the opponent's defense, a feel for when to run the king where, triangulation, etc. I didn't like how many drawn positions there were, but it's better to draw a drawn position than lose it so I still looked at those.
I'm not saying you're wrong but I feel like I've gotten some benefit out of it. I didn't like the minor piece sections because most of them seemed like impractical compositions unlikely to occur in practical play.
JMB2010 wrote:
Fine's book is pretty much useless. Honestly, I think the only good thing about it is playing online chess here on chess.com when resources like that are allowed.
What would you recommend?
On Benko's revision, "A chance to bring this classic up to date was squandered. ... The layout has been improved, but still many positions are without diagrams and some positions have been removed. ... There is a small amount of new material, but it is mostly from Benko's games and studies, and some of the new material has been added clumsily. ... The chapter on queen endings has not been changed to reflect the discoveries since 1941. ... The greatest disappointment is the failure to correct many of the errors in the original book, some of which are well-known. ... No systematic computer-checking of the analysis was done. ... Some errors have been corrected but many remain. ... Despite this, the book is recommended for Fine's groundbreaking general explanations, but it is not completely accurate or up-to-date" (Nunn 2007:246–50)."
-GM John Nunn
Could explain why a "drawn" position was called a forced win for black in one of the diagrams by computers. Then again I've seen computers give +6 advantage in a perpetual check queen endgame I don't take computer evaluations too seriously for many endgames.
As for positions without diagrams I prefer them so long as it's black to play and win since I can set up easier from its perspective.
Whatever book one decides on we can all agree that endgame study matters. Whether it's through Basic Chess Endings or another text 
Drawn position given a six point advantage to white here:
Congrats to you and your son!
I've started studying chess at 29 because my father beat me. After 6 months he didn't want to play with me anymore because I was winning most of the games :)
Unfortunately 6 month ago he passed away and now I can't enjoy a game with him anymore. But at least I'll continue my study and always remember why I've started
I would like to congratulate (and brag about) my nine-year-old son who goes by PaulEChess. He has known how to play chess for a couple of years now, but in September, began playing it more seriously.
In November, he got to a stable rating of under 1000. Yesterday, he crossed the 1200 rating on chess.com! I promised him a dinner out at a hibachi restaurant when he did so, now it is time to pay up!