Chess Terms

Chess Terms

Blocking – Usually refer to the King in Check. By placing a piece in the path of an enemy checking piece to stop it from reaching the King. But this method can be use for other piece as well.

Capturing – Taking an enemy piece and standing yours in its place.

Castling – A special King move involving a Rook (two moves are played as one).

Center – The four central squares – d4, d5, e4, e5.

Check – A move that attacks the King.

Checkmate – A check from which the King cannot escape.

Chessboard – A gameboard with alternating light and dark squares. It should always be placed with the white or light square in the near right-hand corner. Light on Right. The battle field for the chessman.

Diagonal – Corner to corner direction on the chessboard.

Discovered Attack – When a piece is moved that uncovers an attack by another piece on the enemy piece.

Discovered Check – This is a special form of Discovered Attack. When a piece is moved that uncovers an attack by another piece on the enemy King.

Draw – A result of a game in which neither side can win.

En passant – A French word means “in passing”. Immediately capturing a pawn that just advanced to place along-side.

Endgame –The final stage of a chess game after most of the pieces have been removed from the board. There are many study materials on the subject of Endgame. If one ought to play well in Chess then it requires special attention and studies.

Files – The rows going up and down the chessboard.
Forced move – When a player has no choice but to make that one move. (Options is not available.)

Fork – An attack by one man on two or more enemy pieces.

Middle game – The middle game typically starts when one part of the board is heavily contested by both players and a fight occurs. The fight will mostly move out into the center. Play in the middle game is dominated by attack and defense.

Move – White moves first, and then Black – Both constitute one chess move.

Open File – A file on which there are no pawns on both sides.

Opening – A term use for study to describe the development of forces from the original squares. It is completed when most pieces left the original squares, approximately the first 12 moves.

Passed Pawn – A pawn that is not challenge by an enemy pawn on its way down the file.

Pawn – A pawn is a pawn and they should not referred to as pieces.

Perpetual Check – When a King is put through a series of checks and cannot avoid and also it cannot be checkmated. This is a condition for Draw.

Piece – Any man except the pawn. The Queen and Rook are major pieces; The Knight and Bishop are minor pieces.

Pin – An attack on a piece which, if it should move, leaves a more valuable man open to capture. This is a tactical tool or weapon. There are three types of pin – Absolute Pin, Relative Pin and Invisible Pin.

Position – The arrangement of pieces on the chessboard.

Promotion – Getting a pawn through to the other side of the board where it can become a Queen, a Rook, a Bishop or a Knight.

Protecting – Same as Blocking.

Ranks – The rows running side to side across the chessboard.

Semi-open File – A file on which there are no pawn(s) on one side.

Smothered Mate – This mate can only be delivered by a Knight. When a King is surrounded by its own pieces and unable to move out of check from a Knight.

Touch move – A most important rule; If you touch a piece or pawn, you MUST move it.

A more complicated version of the previous puzzle

This is a more complicated version of the puzzle. This is the real one from the Susan Polgar Blog. Can you find the solution?


Thanks for Susan Polgar's Blog.
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/

Can White get away with this one?

It seems that White is in trouble. The Knight and Rook are forked by the Black Queen.

Thanks for Susan Polgar's Blog.
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/

Understand the Protection Triangle?

White is down a Rook? How can we salvage this position?
Hint: Remember the protection triangle?

Thanks to Susan Polgar Blog

What can White go Now?

Thanks for Susan Polgar's Blog.
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/

How to plan a Mating Net?

How to plan a mating net?

From the above position, it is clear Black is winning. But the key question is how can we make sure we win the game shortly? The answer is to checkmate your opponent as soon as possible. So it is up to the winning side building a mating net. Black to play and win. Where should the pieces be placed. Which piece will delivery the deadly blow? This is the question you need to ask yourself. Solution will provide later. The Solution will only need you find the correct placement of your pieces.

Have Fun!

Math and Chess

Math and Chess

Improving Math Performance One Move at A Time

First of all, Math provides the building blocks and foundation that children will need throughout their lives. If you think that the basics are adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing - think again! Today, we live in an information age where it's reported that information is doubling at a rate less than every two years. The basic skills need to function in the workplace today are decision making, problem solving, critical thinking and deductive and inductive reasoning along with the ability to make judgments and good estimates. We haven't loved math but we've certainly loved our games. That's when Chess comes into the picture.

Chess is a game that requires problem solving. Math requires problem solving, it makes good sense then to become a good problem solver means you'll do better in math.

Chess (and other games) require a mental workout, thinking ahead, planning, being systematic, and determining the outcomes of certain moves. Chess moves can't be memorized, weakness in math often stems from an over emphasis on memory skills instead of thinking skills. Research studies have indicated that students playing chess have improved problem solving skills over the group that have not been involved in the playing of chess. Ollie LaFreniere, the Washington Chess Federation's statewide Coordinator for Scholastic Chess, said in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer interview on May 31, "Chess is the single most powerful educational tool we have at the moment, and many school administrators are realizing that." There are also studies that indicate that many students' social habits improved when playing chess.

The late Faneuil Adams (president of the American Chess Foundation (ACF). believed that chess could enhance learning, especially for the disadvantaged. He with the ACF founded the Chess in Schools Program which initially began in New York's Harlem School district. Early in the program, the focus was on improving math skills for adolescents through improved critical thinking and problem solving skills. Remarkably "test scores improved by 17.3% for students regularly engaged in chess classes, compared with only 4.56% for children participating in other forms of enriched activities."

The ACF reports that chess improves a Child's:

Visual memory
Attention span
Spatial reasoning skills
Capacity to predict and anticipate consequences
Ability to use criteria to drive decision making and evaluate alternatives

Many countries are following suit. In Canada, a growing number of elementary schools have incorporated chess into the regular school curriculum. Looking specifically at Quebec, 10 years ago their math scores were the lowest in the country, Chess became a school subject and now the children in Quebec have the highest average math scores in Canada.

Overcoming Math Phobia through Chess

Why is it when we ask the majority of people what they think of math or if they're good at math, they immediately show a look of distaste? Think of what happens when a group of people are at a restaurant and the bill comes on one check instead of on separate checks. Usually, you'll hear 'here, you figure it out; I was never any good at math.' I'm sure you've been in this situation yourself at times. However, do they ever say, here you figure it out - I can't read. When we take a look at why people don't like math, we're told it's because it makes them feel stupid, or that they just don't understand it because there are too many rules, formulas and procedures to remember. But, can you think of a situation where there are rules, procedures and such that we enjoy? Games!!! Perhaps if our math instructors treated math like a game, more individuals would excel and would like mathematics. A more favorable attitude in math leads to better performance. Let chess pave the way to better math scores and improved problem solving strategies!