By Deb Porter, CEO of HOLD Hearing Out Life Drama Getting psyched for a chess tournament – isn’t stress a natural part of that? Excessive stress can actually prove detrimental to your performance. Science has shown that heightened stress levels limit your access to the very higher-order cognitive functions crucial for excelling in chess. Let …
Reduce Stress to Improve Your Chess Game: 3 Practical Tips Read More »
By Aiden Rayner, Founder of Don’t Move Until You See it In a virtual Q&A in February 2022, a lucky Chess enthusiast named Max had the opportunity to ask Fabiano Caruana a question. The question he chose was one we have all wondered, but one we rarely hear interesting answers to. But on this day, …
By CEO National Master Evan Rabin Do not overthink it! As no chess player could calculate every detail in a position, it is important to calculate a bit, use your prior knowledge, and trust yourself, even if you are not 100% sure that your solution is correct. After being an inactive player, focusing on the …
By National Master Evan Rabin We currently serve 80+ schools and no two contracts look alike. We customize programs based on on schools’ current chess cultures, interests, goals, budgets, etc. Last week I spoke to several hundred educators from all around the world at our The Montessori Event exhibit. These are three common misonceptions about …
By Jonathan Platt, Operations Intern Although I am by no means a chess grandmaster, I do enjoy the strategic and calculated nature of the game. In daily life, decision making and time management are crucial. Chess forces one to make calculated decisions, often looking multiple moves ahead, in the face of a ticking clock. Evidently, …
By Bronx/Westchester Instructor Jose Leon How can students know the difference between check, checkmate and stalemate? Check- is when a players king is threatened directly by another players piece or the king is being attacked and in danger. Checkmate- is when the king is in check (danger) and has no legal moves to escape. In …
By Peter Panopoulos We live in such a busy world, silence can sometimes be mistaken for a lack of attention, especially when it comes to our kids. I find this quite interesting, and have realized just how important pauses can be during a lesson, even if they go on for longer than one might be …
By Derrick McCullough Chess is a two-player strategy board game played on a chessboard, a checkered gameboard. The game is played by millions of people worldwide. Each player begins the game with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two knights, two bishops, and eight pawns. The goal of the game is to checkmate …
By CEO National Master Evan Rabin Capture, attack and pressure are words that beginners often use interchangably but mean different things. Each words relates to creating complications for one’s opponent but they are not synonymous. Let’s discuss the nuances: Capture means the act of taking one’s opponent’s piece, which is symbolized by an “x”. For …
By CEO National Master Evan Rabin Occasionally I will see a beginner count the number of pieces of the board and say “the position equal. white and black have the same number of pieces.” Of course every piece is not equal as the pieces have values: Pawn 1 Knight 1 Bishop 1 Rook 1 Queen …
