CHESMAYNE

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Child

Little explorers Picture dictionary - link

Child’s Play: Artist: Jonnie “K.C.” Chardonn. Pieces: 550.

The part of your childhood continues to play in adult life. The child Hermes, messenger between the gods represents the principle that will relate and unite the complexes within. The glowing child - and radiant children - that feature frequently in myth, legend, fairy-story, and fiction. Potential new growth emerging into the light of consciousness. At best the child within is full of creative imagination and spontaneity, and is the personification of the playful side of life. Often where there is conflict between two, the golden rule, as always, is to take both sides. The child is a symbol of an enduring feature within the psyche, a force that is there to the end of life whether recognized or not. Dwarfs, elves or any little people may represent the enduring qualities of the child in subsequent periods of life. Peter Pan is a detailed representation of the ambivalence of the child, partly a source of wonder and partly an infantile horror. Water Babies (Charles Kingsley), the child is authentic but inadequate, demanding. Many outstanding personalities, in history as well as myth, but especially the Sages, often act direct from the simple child self, but appropriately. People who fulfill their destiny have rarely excluded the child from their life. “Enfant terrible”, the exclusively adult personality lives in increasing dread of his/her sudden emergence. Relating to this child and discovering its valuable qualities can amount to a symbolic rebirth, which may salvage a life from ruin. Dionysus is also a personification of the playful side of life. Children are the greatest wealth, the most treasured asset of life, signs of God’s favour and His gifts (Genesis). Drawing a home with little hands and crayons is an inseparable part of our childhood. No science can make theories to explain why children around the world draw homes, surrounded with lush green garden, a blossoming lawn, a smiling sun and a river flowing alongside. It is perhaps because at every stage of our life, we continue to dream about our home. As we grow up, this idea of our dream home acquires a clear and a distinct shape. The home that we drew with our little hands becomes an important dream in our life eventually.

Children Of The World. Artist: Greg Olsen. Pieces: 1000. Size: 16” x 34” Panoramic.

Melody: “The Man With The Child In His Eyes”

En Passant

ChessKIDS Academy

So you wanna learn how to play chess?

Chess for Success

The Beginner’s Chess Page

Animated Chess

50 Chess Games for Beginners

Chess Rules

Checkmate

Learn that

Chess Corner

Chess Realm

Chessking

The rules of chess

The Basics of Chess

Chessking

The rules of chess

The Basics of Chess

Chess is fun

La Rosa Sebastiano’s Page

So you Want to Play Chess

Virus Chess

Traveller Chess

Scacchi!

Per chi vuole iniziare a giocare

http://first-school.ws/

Jesus is the most frequently painted baby in art and most grotesquely traduced by 2,000 years of artistic misdepiction. He has been depicted by many painters: Pieter Bruegel the Elder (‘Adoration of the KIs’, painted in 1564), Lorenzo di Credi Boltraffio, Dieric Bouts, Jacob Jordaens, Jan Gossaert, Piero della Francesca, Leonardo and Michelangelo’s (Doni Tondo). In these paintings he never seems to smile, laugh, gurgle or regurgitate, fiddle in Mary’s arms in his swaddling cloth, cry or sleep with His mouth open, or even seen enjoying Himself on earth. Trying to find a convincing depiction of the newborn Child in Bethlehem, is a hopeless task (there aren’t any). Symbol of naivete and innocence – ‘become as children’.

Melody: “Mary’s Boy Child” Harry Belafonte

Chess is more popular with schoolboys and schoolgirls than ever before and the number of younger players increase each year. The children’s chess world thrives as an institute of creative thinking for young minds. However, they are only encouraged to play on Level-01 of this game. Only 1^st place means anything and many pay the price for such precocity in this totally abstract, esoteric cerebral hobby. At scholastic tournaments their naïveté and optimism are infectious. One of the many reasons parents put so much into their children’s chess playing has to do with its myth as an intellectual game. Some are in love with the idea that they have spawned a genius, incubated for years in a conservatory, stretching their brains like muscles, growing stronger and stronger and finally spiraling off as an adult into their own chess universe. It is an unexplained and wondrous phenomenon that in chess, as well as in music and mathematics, a gifted child is capable of the creativity and genius of a mature adult. Art, music and chess are in the real world but are they real or creatures of imagination?

The advantage of children in Russia is simply their constant exposure to the game. The secret to chess training at the elementary level is nothing more than devotion to the game and hard work. Even a young chess player can usually gauge h/er talent because the game has a severe analytic nature that makes self-deception difficult. This is evident from the fact that children respond with remarkable frankness and accuracy when asked about their playing strength and potential in comparison to their peers.

Despite the steady improvement of a talented child, there is always someone a little smarter, waiting to win the gold at the end of the rainbow. A young chess player must study and play at least an hour every day. It is the same as being a musician. No matter how large the gift, a player must know h/er instrument - organon, in just the same way as a great pianist plays the ivory keyboard. The Polgar sisters devote 50+ hours a week to Level-01.

Many children of junior school age - the average age seems to go ever downwards every year - learn the moves of traditional chess either at home or at school. The majority of children, because of lack of instruction fail to master even the rudiments of the game. It is to these children that this text will be most helpful - hopefully - Chess Kids Home Page. Most of the children who achieve success at chess up to the age of twelve fall into one of two categories: either they go to a school in which chess is encouraged and played regularly or, they have regular contact with a mature player - usually daddy but sometimes mammy - who, without necessarily being a strong player him/herself, has both sufficient time and knowledge of the game to take the children on h/er knee and teach them on a regular basis, in the confines and privacy of the home in a one-to-one relationship. One of the reasons why few children make the grade is that while there are many books available for adults, there are very few written for children which go beyond the basic level.

An aptitude for chess does not necessarily translate into general intelligence. People with learning disabilities play chess proficiently. Any adult with a normal intelligence can become a GM over time with regular study. Still, in our culture, interest and proficiency in chess connote superior intelligence. It is easy to explain the elementary points - the moves of the MPs/mps, the new notation etc, but it is a little more complex to explain the advanced features. The Chesmayne chess dictionary starts by bringing the reader from the novice stage - traditional western chess, and advancing slowly into the various levels of Chesmayne - including Chinese chess, Shogi, Shatranj, Burmese, Cambodian, Thai, Korean, Mongolian and some of the other new levels. After working through the text and diagrams you should be able to play a sensible game. You will have some idea of how to proceed in the middle game - :MG - and to win endings - :EGs - in which you have a decisive material advantage.

“Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action. We cannot learn men from books”.

Rather than develop sophistication, erudition, or cunning, one should return to the “uncarved block” or “return to infancy” - Lao Tzu. As we grow and learn we become habituated and complicated, losing our openness and flexibility. Uncarved blocks are capable of becoming anything - once carved their options are foreclosed. Nothing is deeper or more effective than simplicity. From: “Great Thinkers of the Eastern World” by Ian P. McGreal.

Disney

Little Explorers - Picture Dictionary

From: Chess Kids Home Page

1.	The Battlefield and the Armies	Learn about the chessboard, the names of the squares, the names of the pieces and how they move, then have a go yourself and see how you get on.
2.	How to Win at Chess	Check, Checkmate, Stalemate: what they mean and what happens when they occur in the game. Learn the three ways of getting out of check.
3.	More About Checkmate	More checkmate positions: we learn the three most common mating ideas: the Kiss of Death, the Firing Squad and the Guillotine.
4.	A Few More Rules	The more complicated rules: how to castle, the en passant pawn capture, different types of draw. The Touch and Move rule.
5.	The Value of the Pieces	How much the pieces are worth, the importance of having a stronger army than your opponent, how to win pieces and how not to lose pieces.
6.	Looking for Mates	How to look for checkmates in your games. How to get Fool’s Mate and Scholar’s Mate. What happened when Paul and Mischa played their first games.
7.	Attacks and Threats	Learning to look for your opponent’s threats before making a move. How to stop Scholar’s Mate.
8.	Starting the Game	What to do at the start of the game: an introduction to basic opening principles. How to read chess notation.
9.	Putting it all Together	A recap of the last few lessons, and the nine letters which, if you remember them every move, will help you play better chess.

New Course!

This is a new course for young beginners which is still under development. Further chapters will be published on this web site when available. Quiz answers are not yet available but at this level you shouldn’t need them!

PART 1
This covers the board, the names of the squares and the moves of the pieces.

PART 2
This covers check, checkmate and stalemate, and castling.

Please e-mail me and let me know what you think of the course.

Openings

RUY LOPEZ
The most important opening after 1. e4 e5 - the choice of most grandmasters.

OTHER OPEN GAMES
Giuoco Piano, Two Knights Defence, Scotch Opening, King’s Gambit, Vienna Game etc.

FRENCH DEFENCE
A very popular opening which scores well in Junior Chess.

SICILIAN DEFENCE
Favoured by Kasparov, Fischer and most other top Grandmasters.

OTHER SEMI-OPEN GAMES
Caro-Kann Defence, Pirc Defence, Modern Defence, Scandinavian Defence etc.

QUEEN'S GAMBIT
White’s usual choice after 1. d4 d5 - with a high plus score at all levels.

NIMZO-INDIAN DEFENCE
Also includes Queen's Indian and Bogo-Indian Defences - solid and strong choices for Black.

KING'S INDIAN DEFENCE
Includes Gruenfeld Defence, Modern Benoni and Benko Gambit - aggressive replies to d4.

OTHER QUEEN'S PAWN OPENINGS
Includes Dutch Defence, Colle System, Torre and Trompowski Attacks, Catalan Opening.

ENGLISH OPENING
A popular Grandmaster choice - also includes Reti, Bird’s, Nimzo-Larsen Attack etc.

CHESSKIDS ACADEMY SYLLABUS

Children will be able to take a test to demonstrate their knowledge of each level. If you pass the test you will receive a certificate and badge and be able to move up to the next level.

GRADE 1

01. How to set the board up the right way round (White in the right hand corner)

2. How to set the pieces up correctly (Queen on her own colour)

03. The names of the pieces: King (with cross on top), Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Pawn.
04. How the pieces move and capture: (Rook backwards, forwards, sideways, Bishop diagonally, Queen like Rook or Bishop, King one square only, Knight in L shape, jumping, Pawn forward one or two squares, then one square, captures one square diagonally forward.)

05. Understanding that White moves first and the players then take it in turns to move.

GRADE 2

01. The meaning of CHECK (the King is under attack, must be met by capturing checking piece, blocking the check or moving King to safe square).

02. The meaning of CHECKMATE (the King is under attack, you cannot capture checking piece, block the check or move King to a safe square) - if you CHECKMATE your opponent you win the game.

03. The meaning of STALEMATE (the player to move has no legal moves but his King is NOT in check) - if you are in STALEMATE the game is a draw.

04. CASTLING (King move 2 squares towards Rook, which jumps over King to next square. Cannot castle if King or Rook has moved. Cannot castle IN, THROUGH or INTO check.)

05. PAWN PROMOTION - when Pawn reaches end of board it turns into Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight. Promoted piece appears on promotion square (replacing Pawn) not on starting square. You can have more than one Queen at once.
06. EN PASSANT - if you have a Pawn on your fifth rank and opponent moves a Pawn two squares to end up alongside it you can, on your next move, capture it as if it moved one square.

GRADE 3

01. The names of the squares (algebraic notation).

02. The value of the pieces (Q=9, R=5, B=3, N=3, P=1).

03. Looking for captures which win material: avoiding captures which lose material

04. Finding ways to get out of check.

05. Looking for simple checkmates (Two Rooks, Queen next to King, back rank mates).
06. Basic Opening Principles (Develop your pieces, control the center, get your King safe).
07. The Two Rooks Checkmate.

GRADE 4

01. Looking for harder checkmates.

02. Simple tactics: forks, pins, skewers, trapping pieces.

03. Understanding the Four Knights Opening and the Scotch Game.

04. The King and Queen Checkmate.

GRADE 5

01. Checkmates in 2 moves.

02. Simple tactics: discovered attacks, discovered checks, double checks.

03. Understanding the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knights Defense.

04. The King and Rook Checkmate.

GRADE 6

01. Sacrifices for checkmate.

02. Simple tactics: decoy/destroy.

03. Understanding the Ruy Lopez and the Petroff Defense.

04. King and Pawn v King.

GRADE 7

01. More difficult sacrifices.

02. Simple tactics: opening and closing lines.

03. Understanding the King's Gambit, the Danish Gambit, the Vienna Game and the Philidor Defense.

04. Simple King and Pawn endings.

Chess and Latin American children

Among board games, chess has the status of being a royal game. It is immensely popular across the world, and large amounts of money are offered in competition prizes. Chess is also accorded a great deal of esteem since it epitomizes human intelligence. Whereas many other board games (such as checkers) can be programmed to play by rote or probability tables, chess also involves intuition, insight and human psychology. In fact, chess has been used as a testing ground for the scientific discipline of artificial intelligence (AI).

Chess is a game that can be played by any two persons according to the standard rules. As such, chess exhibits network externality, in the sense that the utility rises when there are more people who play the game. Grass root participation is therefore important to the future of the game. According to the 1998 Pan Latin American Kids study, 19% of Latin American kids between the ages of 7 and 11 have a chess set at home. The following table provides the breakdown by geodemographic characteristics:

Geodemographic Characteristic / Class	% Own Chess at Home
Geographic Region Argentina Brazil Chile Colombia Mexico Venezuela Balance of Central America / Caribbean Balance of South America	26% 9% 24% 24% 34% 10% 7% 23%
Sex Male Female	23% 15%
Socio-Economic Level Level A Level B Level C Level D	33% 33% 22% 11%
Highest Education Level of Head of Household Less than 6 years of school 6 to 11 years of school 12 years of more of school	14% 29% 33%
TOTAL	19%

Source: Pan Latin American Kids Study 1998, Audits & Surveys Worldwide

The incidence of chess ownership is higher in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and the Balance of South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay) and lower in Brazil, Venezuela, Central America and Caribbean, (Note: This survey does not cover Cuba, where we would expect high interest in chess because the legendary José Raul Capablanca was the world champion from 1921 to 1927). Chess ownership is highly correlated with affluence and educational level, as befits a pastime that has a reputation for being an intellectual pursuit for people who have surplus leisure time. It is also a male pursuit, as were virtually all of the top players in the history of chess.

Games like chess are essentially procedures that are played under an arbitrary, but clearly defined and commonly accepted, set of rules. In some cases, a game such as checkers can be completely abstract in nature devoid of any other context. In other cases such as chess or cards, the set of rules may be coloured by socio-cultural metaphors. As such, they may be unwittingly promulgating specific cultural values. In the case of chess, the names of the pieces and their strengths and admissible moves reflect a certain hierarchical vision. Thus, we have a world consisting of the king, the queen, the bishops, the knights, the rooks and, at the very bottom, the “peons”.

Yet, the chess world is not strictly a patriarchical kingship system enforced by physical force and religious terror. Here are some interesting deviations:

The strongest piece on the board is the queen, not the king. The game would have been matriarchical in nature, except for the fact that the game ends with the fall of the king.

The king is very much a coward who helps his own cause best by cowering behind a protective phalanx of bodyguards. This is perhaps a reflection of reality.

The two bishops begin the game by the sides of the king and the queen. However, each bishop can move diagonally along squares of one colour only, as if it is colour-blind (or monochromatic).

After the queen, the most powerful piece is the rook (or “castle”). Thus, the kingdom’s second most powerful people are the lords sent out to govern the provinces in the name of the king, not the religious advisors (“bishops”) nor the king’s personal attendants (“knights”). Again, this is perhaps a reflection of reality.

A “peon” can be ‘promoted’ in rank if it reaches the other end of the board, although it becomes an ‘Other’ (but never a king) rather than a “peon” given greater powers.

Return to…….

Zona Latina’s Home Page

Ajedrez Digital [Argentina]

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Super Ajedrez HispanoAmericano

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