Category: Free Inquiry

For my final blog I wanted to make sure I covered all the chess vernacular any would-be grand master would need in their beginnings. After this, we will see our first and final Check Check Check out where I aim to break my rating record live for this blog and wrap up the chess journey I’ve so enjoyed taking… at least this leg of it!

Chess terms/vernacular

Castling is the maneuver wherein a king may swap places with either of it’s rooks provided neither has moved yet during the game.  While it is certainly a versatile move, because it activates your rook and can often bring your rooks together so that they are then protecting each other, it’s most important purpose is to provide king safety.  So much so that most professional players would recommend you castle within your first 7 moves, if not less… A king in the center is more vulnerable to attacks.

White to move. You can see by the movement dots that white is able to move their king to g1 (castle).

White castles.

A fork is when one piece is attacking two pieces at once. This can be a devastating way to trade one of your minor pieces like a knight, for one of your opponents major pieces like a rook or their queen. This is often accomplished through targeting both the king and another piece so that your opponent, who is in check, is forced to move their king and leave the other piece to crumble. However, a fork can simply target two pieces and accomplish the same goal. If you are forking a rook and a queen, the opponent will likely be forced to save the queen and sacrifice the rook.

White’s knight forking the king and the rook.

A pin occurs when you are attacking a piece with a major piece behind it. Again, while this can be accomplished on any piece, it is most effective when pinning a piece to your opponents king because then that piece will be literally pinned and unable to move because they would be putting their own king in check. This means that piece cannot move until the piece behind it does, which can leave you in disastrous positions such as the one below where black’s best option is to trade their queen for a lowly bishop.

White pinning black’s queen to their king.

Skewers are similar to a pin, but the key difference is that the more valuable piece is the one being directly attacked. As we see below, black’s queen is being forced to flee, sacrificing the rook and leaving white in a winning position. An easy way I like to think of it is like a shish-kabob skewer.

White’s bishop skewers black’s queen and rook.

Gambits are any move that risks a loss for another advantage, often synonymous with sacrifice. The gambit we will be looking at below is oddly titled The Queen’s Gambit; however, it is named after the queen’s pawn, not necessarily the queen itself. In this example white sacrifices their queen’s pawn in order to gain center control and hopeful improve their position as so much so that it is worth being a pawn down (also blacks pawn is in quite a susceptible position so you are typically able to take it back quite easily).

White offers the gambit.

Black accepts and white pushes for center control.

En passant is the maneuver wherein a pawn can take another pawn that has already passed it given it used its two space move and lands adjacent to the attacking pawn. This rule was introduced to limit the quick attacks enabled by the two space pawn rule. This can easily catch a newer player off guard, and can be tricky to remember at any level.

White pushes their pawn two spaces and lands adjacent to black’s pawn.

Black utilizes en passant.

In conclusion I will not stop playing chess anytime soon, I am currently looking at buying some new resources such as books, some memberships to online sources, as well as a physical board for myself that I may setup in my classroom someday! I would love to put out a daily puzzle for my students! I hope you were all able to learn something and maybe explore the world of chess on your own. Please enjoy my final check check check in (out) where I attempt to break a milestone in my chess career!

Check Check Check Out.

Bonus

While getting to 1000 rating was my greatest accomplish during this project, my favorite moment would have to be finally pulled off this (terrible) gambit in a live game! The line involves sacrificing a pawn, another pawn, a knight, and trading a bishop for a pawn in order to isolate the opponents queen and put yourself in a winning position. I put terrible in brackets because an experienced player could defend it easily and be ahead in material, but at my level its a nice gimmick to have in my back pocket! You can play through the moves using the tools at the bottom right of the screen.

Keep your peace of mind and your mind for pieces!

Best, jordan

Something made abundantly clear by my last blog, is that chess is dominated by men. This blog will serve as a short introduction and resource overview into the patriarchal history and present of chess. This blog will not cover the symbolic or literal interpretations of the physical pieces themselves. There are thousands of comment sections or posts on the internet where one can go and argue about why the queen is more powerful than the king, or why the white pieces get to move first, and while these inquires are interesting, those debates are often a little less than productive.

The patriarchy of chess is not entirely unique. Chess is something only a few people can make a living off of, the best of the best, so the rest of the rest have to have some sort of privileged background in order to commit enough time to improve. The socioeconomic factors separating men and women translate directly to chess.

How many famous female chess players can you name? Before I wrote this blog I couldn’t name one.

This article by Sports Illustrated describes the downfall of Lisa Lane, the First U.S. Women’s Chess Champion. One of the only widely known women in chess, she was largely praised because “she played “like a man” and trash-talked opponents” – EMMA BACCELLIERI DEC 17, 2018.

The general argument that you will find constantly online is one about affirmative action. This thread asks this question, with a great response from user itty53. However, in less open forums, the discussion is not as productive. Here we see a similar question being asked, but instead of hearing the various obstacles women face in chess that prevent them from playing, the discussion is one of discontent and anger, often hung up on supposed biological differences. It does not help that iconic world renown chess players like Bobby Fischer or Garry Kasparov have both in their lives discounted women’s chess as lesser, or state that women are incapable of performing at the same level as men.

Here Is a wonderfully segmented interview with two-time U.S Women’s Chess Champion Jennifer Shahade, who also authored a foundational feminist chess book “Chess Bitch.” Shahade goes over the specifics of questions like “why do we need separate tournaments for women” and also talks about the frequent harassment and abuse women can face in the current culture.

The Queen’s Gambit

Not only is the queen’s gambit my go-to opening, It is also a new featured Netflix series following a female chess player. The release of this series actually inspired me to write this blog, so it’s effects on influencing chess culture and breaking down patriarchal norms are literally tangible right here.

The intersectionality of discrimination is not lost on me, and I am aware this blog only briefly covered patriarchal impact on women, not race, non-conforming genders, or most other marginalized communities. These areas obviously deserve research as well, and given that all the men I have mentioned in this blog and the ones before were of European descent, it is also certainly an area of exclusion.

While this blog is supposed to emphasis our learning journey through a specific task or skill, these social issues surrounding our learning are integral to the tasks themselves. If you’ve watched my Check Check Check ins you’ve seen that I am constantly correcting myself from defaulting my opponents as “he.” Obviously this is due to some of my own ingrained bias, but also the bias I have been unconsciously learning through engaging with the chess community (one of my favorite creators actually always refers to the other player as “my opponent” so maybe I will try that out). On a larger scale, knowing what I know now I can work to undue the social disparity in any way I can, and call out inappropriate behavior that might be accepted otherwise.

Check Check Check in!

Hello hello! This week we are delving behind the scenes of my learning, because while I could probably become better just by playing constantly, it is often exciting and more informative to watch much better people play. This week we are reviewing the handful of content creators that I have been viewing both for fun, and to improve. For each of the three creators I will recommend a favorite video of mine if you are intrigued and wish to check them out for yourself!

Eric Rosen

Eric Rosen is an American International Master (ranked roughly 3379th in the world) who uploads a ton of content to YouTube and streams on Twitch. The reason I enjoy Eric’s content is that he is constantly learning. This player has tens of thousands of games under his belt, but in each video he exudes curiosity for his opponents moves, and takes each loss excitedly as a learning opportunity. Alongside this Eric has many in-depth videos explaining fun traps which make the game more exciting! My recommended video to exemplify the above is Eric using the Stafford Gambit (which I have not been able to pull off yet) against a Grand Master. The opponent (ficorrales) also displayed the same curiosity that brings me to Eric’s videos in the first place!

Agadamator

Agadmator (Antonio Radić) is a Croatian content creator. While not a Grand Master himself (ranked roughly 38493rd in the world so still amazing), Agadamator content is focused on analysis and the storys of typically higher ranked players.  His channel reviews historic games of chess, explaining complex moves very plainly for the common folk like myself. Alongside the amazing analysis, Agadamator makes sure to describe the history of the match, the environent the players found themselves in, the town the tournament took place in, and any other details that really capture the entire story. Obviously video does not exist of these games, so he recreates them in an online setting, so having that backstory really helps imagine the psychological factors of the game. For my recommendation, his analyse of a match between Woody Harrelson (the actor) and Garry Kasparov (a world renowned chess master).  This video highlights his storytelling alongside astute analysis.

Daniel Naroditsky

I have only just started watching Daniel, an American Grand Master (ranked roughly 168th in the world!!!) and chess author, but his content has helped me improve immensely. Particularily because he has a series where he has been teaching moistcr1tikal (an albeit crass person, so if you’re not a fan of flippant vulgarity then steer clear), who is a beginner ranked similarly to myself, how to play chess! Obviously I could learn plenty just from watching Naroditsky play, but 90% of the things he’s had to teach or correct for Cr1tikal have been things I’ve needed to know or mistakes I’ve been making because were at the same point in our chess journeys. Basically I am treating these videos as personalized lessons from one of the best chess players in the world that I can sneak into and use for myself! My recommendation of course would be the first video of these lessons.

I have decided not to add a Check Check Check in this week as I have already overloaded the blog with video content, but I have improved slightly and am sitting at 950 rating! If I can break 1000 before the end of this project I will be simply ecstatic, and if I do not that’s ok too, as long as I’m learning!

Keep your peace of mind and mind for pieces, and I’ll see you next week!

This week we’ll be having a little bit of fun, partly because I am on a losing streak in standard chess, and partly because I’ve wanted to try variants for some time now.

Historically speaking there have always been variants in chess, most agree that chess itself is a variant or evolution of Chaturanga. While now we have the internet and the rules of chess are easily learned and proliferated across the globe, it is endlessly fascinating to imagine the evolution of such a ubiquitous game occurring only though physical translation. The chess played in India would be different than the chess played in England, not only in style as we see with the London System or the Indian Defense, but in rule variations that hadn’t traveled that distance.

When changes were made, such as allowing pawns to move to squares on their first move, I can only imagine the amount of confusion and brawls that occurred when people will still spreading this rule change. As I see chess, I simply cannot imagine a rule ever changing, chess in my mind is this unequivocal standard of the board game genre. The last rule change in chess was in the 1800’s, and that was simply to make it illegal to promote a pawn to a piece of the opponents color! It is extremely niche, but in scenarios like the one pictured below, white can actually find checkmate by promoting the pawn to an opponents knight, preventing any escape for the black king. I think my perception of chess being unchangeable can also be attributed to the elite reputation it has developed for itself over time, yet that is certainly changing now with its proliferation, especially in public schools and its accessibility online.

Chess involving more than two players is also a huge area of interest. Here is an article pouring over all of the variants for only three player chess, and even that list is not exhaustive. For today’s check check check in we will be playing a game of “bughouse,” an absolutely off the rails variant of chess. The game will involve four players playing separate games of chess, the catch? When a player takes an opponents piece, they then give that piece to their teammate who can play it on any open square (except for placing a pawn on the back line) in lieu of moving a piece on any one of their turns. The game ends when either game is won. So if your teammate gets scholar’s mated well that’s just too bad for you. Chess.com has a variety of these variants which you can find here.

Game 1

Game 2

Keep your peace of mind and mind for pieces, see you next week!

If you’ve listened to my “check check check ins” you’ve heard me say things like “shoot I’m 2 points down,” or make evaluations such as “oh nice I can trade my bishop for their rook!” These thoughts are based in each piece’s respective point rating (click the picture below), and how those point rating’s statistically impact your chance of winning based on programs such as Stockfish.  For a more detailed breakdown of these point values and examples of in-game moments where knowing them is beneficial, check out this article on chess.com. Stockfish also evaluates each individual piece’s static position in relation to each other piece on the board each turn, so as you can guess the algorithm is pretty intricate.

As a small side-note, in my last EdTech blog I talked about the benefits of open-source software’s focus on innovation over profit, and Stockfish’s mandate pushes that envelope to the extreme. The program is not only free to download, but also free to distribute and even SELL on its own or packaged in any software you create or bundle. The only caveat is that you must include, or cite, the source code.

To properly show exactly what this means, for this week’s check check check in I won’t be commentating my game in real time, but instead recording a reflection on the engines analysis of my game. Showing off both the statistical analysis of the engine, and the depth of it’s suggestions and utility for players to improve their gameplay.

A lie! A trick! A misdirection t’was slick! We are not in Pittsburgh we reside in BC, but puzzled we are as you will soon be.

Chess puzzles are an excellent way to keep your mind for pieces active while not burning out playing game after game in a row. Chess puzzles are typically taken from actual games that have occurred at the professional level. They are typically awkward situations with interesting solutions.

First of all, you are given an objective. “White to Win” means you are playing as white, and that there is a sequence of moves that may or may not checkmate your opponent, but will at the very least put you in a winning position. “White to regain material” means you will not end up in a winning position, but you that you are currently behind and will lessen your deficit through a good trade or trap. “White to draw” is just as it says, finding a pattern of moves that will result in a tie.

Below is a H5P interactive video showing an example of a puzzle!

While I am a big fan of puzzles, I find that they are not very helpful for my actual matches of chess, which typically follow similar patterns since I am rehearsing the same openings over and over again. I could see puzzles becoming more useful in the future when I am expanding my arsenal of tricks and finding myself in more abstract positions, but for now please enjoy another Check Check Check in!

The first half of this blog is a rant; a rant directed at this thing…

More specifically, when this thing ends up like this…

The timer is a necessary evil, one that I have appreciated when my opponent is stalling out a lost game on purpose, but one I detest when backed into a corner. I would estimate 15-20% of my lost games are not due to my opponent, but due to this ticking nuisance ticking me off. This may also be a symptom of being newer to the game, as it takes quite a lot of focus and attention for extended periods of time to figure out my next move, but even spectating masters you see the timer show its force.

In terms of game length, there are multiple options and categories available for play.

“In chess, the categories of short time limits are: “bullet“, “blitz“, and “rapid“. “Bullet” games are the fastest, with either a very short time limit per move (such as ten seconds) or a very short total time (such as one or two minutes). “Blitz” games typically give five to ten minutes per player, and “rapid” games give between ten and sixty minutes”.

The game mode I have preferred is ten minute “rapid” which seems to be the standard in online chess communities. I enjoy rapid the most as it seems like almost enough time for me to fully think out my moves, which forces me to learn patterns and commit to lines I otherwise might not commit to if I had more time. Although blitz (5 minutes) and bullet (1 minute) have also challenged me in different ways, I often find I learn less from those games as I end up guessing a LOT. Maybe the next Check Check Check in will feature a different time category! Speaking of…

For this week’s blog I thought we would also do our first “Check Check Check in” which will be accompanying videos where I narrate my thought process while playing the game. The hope of this series of videos will be to see my knowledge and thought process expand over the course of this inquiry into chess. At least that is the hope!

Thanks for reading/watching, keep your piece of mind and your mind for pieces!

Best, jordan

While I do already understand the fundamentals of chess, I thought it would be appropriate to start this blog at the very beginning, the board and the pieces.

The board of chess could likely be described by anyone, even those who have never played. It’s ubiquitous in it’s simplicity: Alternating (typically white and black) tiles creating a checkered pattern. It’s on this playing field that our pieces begin their journeys, but not all of their journeys are equal. Some are strong and decisive, charging head on into the enemy. Some are more calculated, attacking at unexpected angles. Some avoid straight paths altogether, favoring a more surprising advance. Some are some combination of the rest, but some, some are simple, and none are more simple than the humble pawn.

The Pawn

Pawn Movement

Eight strong at the start of the game, the pawn’s confidence is unrivaled. While typically the pawn is limited to moving one space at a time, it’s first move can be up to two spaces forward. The interesting thing that sets pawn’s apart from the other pieces, is that the pawn’s movements and attacks are separate. For every other piece, their movement and attack’s are synonymous, but for the pawn, they may only move forward UNLESS they are attacking, in which case they take a piece at a diagonal.

Pawn Attack

The Rook

Rook Movement

Ditching some of the complexity of the pawn in favor of brute force, we find ourselves observing the rook. Considered the second-most powerful piece, the rook can move horizontally or vertically and attack at any distance. This makes the rook not only a constant threat as its presence is sure to be known, but also a consistent defender as it can protect an entire row on its own.

The Knight

Knight Movement

@zury14benitez

This agile horse has been the most confusing and surprising piece for me to both use and encounter, and I can only assume that many new players will have the same experience. Typically it is most commonly described as moving in an “L” shape pattern.  In first imagining it’s capabilities, that seems rather simple, but as you can see by the picture above, depending on the knight’s positioning it can have up to eight potential moves! Notably, the knight can also “go over” other pieces and attack positions your opponent may have felt were defended.

The Bishop

Bishop Movement

The bishop is the rook if you rotated its movements 45 degrees. Moving only at a diagonal, but again infinite in it’s potential distance for an attack. While slightly less revered than the rook as it can be dealt with far easier, it opens up potential sneaky attacks the the rook’s bumbling nature could never attempt.

The Queen & the King

@randyfath

King Movement

Finally we find our way to the Queen and the King. While the King is technically the most important piece in the game, as it is the sole factor deciding whether the game is won or lost, I put the queen first as it is far more powerful and can often decide the game itself. The other reason for grouping them together is that they share the same directional movement, that being ANY direction; however, the king may only move one tile, whereas the queen (essentially a combination of the rook and bishop) can move infinitely in any direction. Typically if the queen is lost (without a substantial trade such as the opponents queen) it will not be long before the king follows.

Queen Movement

Conclusion

So we know how the pieces move! Yay!

While each piece deserves hundreds of it’s own blog posts, this is certainly the first step, yet knowing how to throw a football and where to throw it are substantially different things. Now that we know the how, over the coming weeks I hope to get into the where and why of piece movement.

While these are all the fundamental movements of chess, look forward to learning a couple more movement options that are lesser known in the coming weeks: Castling, and en passant.

Keep your Piece of Mind and your Mind for Pieces and I will see you next week!