4-Move Checkmate (Scholar's Mate)

Beginning players need to learn this 4-move Checkmate- a common trap among beginners!

NO CLASS 11/27

There will be NO chess class on Nov 27th (the night before thanksgiving).
I am trying to arrange a special ONLINE event for the class- I will let you know about it, if we're able to get it going!
- Mark

BLACK Division - for our TOP players

The BLACK Division is for our TOP players (and our parent chess leaders).  These players are contenders for top spots in tournaments, and are some of the top players in the State.

Pre-Requisites:

·         Must attend MNSD

·         Must be well behaved and attentive in class

·         Red Division Player

·         Has achieved a USCF rating of 1300 or Higher

·         Must Demonstrate Knowledge of:

o   Advanced Tactics
o   K+2B vs K
o   Intermediate King and Pawn Endings
o   Exploiting a Large Material Advantage
o   Exploiting a Space Advantage
o   Basic Pawn Structure
o   One Classical game
o   Basic Minor Piece Endgames

 While a Black Division Player, a player should work on:

·         Openings

◦   Creating a Basic Opening Repertoire

·         Middlegame

◦   Pawn Structure

▪   Backward Pawn

▪   Isolated Queen Pawn

▪   Hanging Pawns

◦   Weak vs. Strong Pawns

◦   Stopping Enemy Counterplay

◦   Understanding where the Pieces belong

▪   Superier Minor Pieces

◦   Creation of Targets

◦   Bishop vs. Knight

▪   When the Bishop is stronger

▪   When the Knight is stronger

▪   How to fight Knights

◦   The Bishop Pair

▪   When and why to trade off

◦   Exchanging

▪   When to exchange

▪   WHY exchange

◦   Files

▪   Exploiting Open files

▪   Open files and attacking the King

▪   Outpost on an Open File

▪   7^th Rank

◦   Pawn Center

▪   Undermining the Pawn Center

▪   Closed vs. Open Center

▪   Wing Operations

◦   Sacrificial Attacks

▪   Sacrifice on f7 (Knight)

▪   Sacrifice on h7 (Bishop AKA Greek Gift)

▪   Sacrifice on g7 (Knight)

▪   Lasker's Combination

◦   Opposite Side Castling

·         Endgames

◦   K+P

▪   K and two Doubled Pawns vs Lone King

▪   Rook-Pawn (Stalemating the Stronger Side)

▪   Importance of Outside Passed Pawns

▪   Triangulation

▪   Outflanking

◦   Minor Piece Endgames

▪   Bishops of Opposite Colors

▪   King+Knight vs. Rook-Pawn on the 6^th or 7^th

◦   Rook Endgames

▪   Lucena Position

▪   Philidor Position

▪   Trapping the Enemy King Away from the Action

▪   Queen vs. King and Pawn

▪   Rook and Two Connected Pawns vs Rook

RED Division - Strong Tournament Player

RED Division players are strong for their grade level.  Note that a Blue division player who is in 8th grade could be better than a Red division player in 2nd grade!  These levels are somewhat relative to a child's age.

Pre-Requisites:

·         Must attend MNSD

·         Must be well behaved

·         Blue Division Player

·         Must have won 4 games in a 6 game tournament, or 3.5 games in a 5 game tournament OR have "tested into" the RED Division as approved by Mr. Seghers. 

·         Must Demonstrate knowledge of:

o   Intermediate Tactics

o   King and Pawn Endgames

o   Concept of Planning

o   Who is the World Champion?

o   Who was the only American World Champion?

o   Who was the first World Champion?

While a Red Division player, a Student should learn:

·          Advanced Tactics

o   Clearance

o   Interference

o   Zugzwang

o   Desperado

o   Decoy

·         Overkill Checkmate        

o   K+2B vs K

·         Intermediate K+P Endgames

o   Fox in the Chicken Coup

o   Deep Freeze

·         Minor Piece Endgames

o   Minor Piece vs a Lone Pawn

·         Middlegame

o   Exploiting a large material advantage

o   Space Advantage

o   Basic Pawn Structure

§  Pawn Islands

§  Isolated Pawn

§  Doubled Pawn

o   Importance of the Center

o   Attacking the King

§  Open H File

§  Cracking open a Fianchetto

·         Memorize One Classical Game Unique to the Player

o   Must be able to explain moves and relevant sidelines

o   Must be able to explain who each player is

Outside of Class, a Red Division player should:

·         Watch Red and Black level videos on MuskegoChess.blogspot.com
·         Practice tactics on ChessTempo.com
·         Study Master games
·         Choose a style of Play and at Least 2 openings for White and 2 openings for Black
·         Play online chess on Chess.com
·         Play in Tournaments!
·         Win 4 games in a 6-game tournament, or 3.5 in a 5-game tournament

BLUE Division - Ready for Tournaments!

The BLUE Division players have demonstrated they are ready for tournament play!

TO EARN YOUR BLUE WRIST BAND, YOU MUST PASS A TEST AND DEMONSTRATE THE FOLLOWING:

o   Thinking before moving- balancing offense and defense

o   En Passant
o   Battle Squares- counting defenders and attackers
o   Overkill Checkmates K+2R vs K and K+Q vs K
o   Avoiding Stalemate
o   Basic Tactics
o   Basic Openings
o   Opening Principles
o   Taking Notation
o   Tournament Basics- sportsmanship, manners, basics, etc.

AFTER YOU EARN YOUR BLUE DIVISION WRIST BAND, a Student should focus on earning their Red Wristband by demonstrating success in chess tournaments.  Here are the things a blue student should learn:

• Use Chess.com or other program to analyze game
• Intermediate Tactics

• Discovery

• Discovered Check

• Discovered Attack

• Double Check

• Deflection

•  Back Rank

• Trapped Piece

• Basic Endgames

• Overkill Checkmate

• K+R vs. K

• K + P vs. K

• USE YOUR KING! 

• Opposition

• Rook Pawn

• Rule of the Square

• Rook Endgames,  Rooks belong behind passed pawns

• Middlegame -  Concept of planning

Outside of Class, a Blue Division player should:

·         Watch Blue and Red level videos on MuskegoChess.blogspot.com
·         Practice tactics on ChessTempo.com
·         Play online chess on Chess.com
·         Take Notation and Analyze games
·         Play in Tournaments!
·         Win 4 games in a 6-game tournament, or 3.5 in a 5-game tournament

WHITE Division - Ready to Play!

Students in the WHITE Division are ready to play the game of chess, and begin to compete!

TO EARN THE WHITE WRIST BAND, A PLAYER MUST PASS A TEST, AND DEMONSTRATE THE FOLLOWING:

• Board setup
• Basic chess rules
• Piece movement, Castling
• Checkmate, 4-move Checkmate, Stalemate

AFTER EARNING YOUR WHITE WRIST BAND, you should learn the following to prepare for your next (Blue) Division:

·         Basic Opening Principles

o   Piece Development
o   King Safety
o   Controlling Center

·         Basic Openings: 4 Knights, Ruy Lopez, Italian Game, French Defense, Queen's Gambit
·         Thinking like other player – “why did they move there and what can they do to me?” 

·         Playing Slowly- THINKing between each move

·         En Passant and when to use
·         Battle Squares- counting defenders and attackers (Piece Safety)
·         Overkill Checkmates

o   K+2R vs. K
o   K+Q vs. K

·         Avoiding Stalemate
·         Basic Tactics

o   Mate in 1
o   Pin
o   Fork
o   Skewer
o   Mate in 2
o   Removal of the Guard

·         How to Take Notation
·         Tournament Basics- sportsmanship, manners, basics, etc.

Outside of Class, a White Division player should:

·         Watch White level videos on this Blog (http://muskegochess.blogspot.com)
·         Practice tactics on ChessTempo.com
·         Get a free Chess.com account and play online
·         Take Notation in Important Games
·         Ask about Tournaments- Pick one to shoot for!
·         Test into BLUE Division when ready!

GREEN Division - New to Chess!

This is the first of five articles explaining the different divisions of the Muskego Scholastic Chess Club.

The GREEN Division consists of kids who are new to chess, or who have not yet demonstrated the skills necessary to earn their WHITE wrist band.  There is no Green wrist band given out at this time.  Students in the Green Division should have as their goal to make it to the White division as soon as they can, so they are ready to really learn the game of chess.

TO BECOME A GREEN DIVISION PLAYER, YOU MUST:

·         Must attend a Muskego K-12 school
·         Must be well behaved and attentive in class

TO PREPARE FOR THE NEXT DIVISION (White), THE GREEN DIVISION PLAYER SHOULD LEARN:

·         Board and zones, setup
·         Basic chess rules
·         Chess pieces and movement
·         Basic moves
·         Pawn promotions
·         Castling
·         Three parts of the game
·         Basic Check and Mate
·         Stalemate
·         4-Move Checkmate

Outside of Class, the Green level student should:

·         Watch Green level videos on MuskegoChess.blogspot.com
·         Practice board setup and piece movement
·         Prepare to testThis is into White Division when Ready!