Curriculum Table of Contents Title Page Author Profile Introduction Chapter One: A Brief History of Chess Chaturanga spreads from India to Persia to Arabia and beyond. Maps of the world, geography lesson… Chapter Two: The Chessboard our Battlefield All the battles in chess take place on an eight by eight checkerboard-designed battlefield. To be a good general of our army, we must learn all that we can about the battlefield before the battles take place! What is the high ground? Ranks, files, diagonals and algebraic notation. Did you know that each square of the battlefield has its own unique address? Chapter Three: Introducing his Majesty, the King The object of the game is to win the opponent’s King. The King is not actually captured, it is placed in a position where it is threatened with capture and when such a capture cannot be prevented, the King is said to be “checkmated” and the game is won; therefore the King is the most important piece in chess! We better learn as much about the King’s qualities as we can so that we can put our knowledge to good use. In this chapter we learn how the King moves as well as the element of Space; opposition and distant opposition. We do our learning while playing a mock battle, “the battle of the King’s.” Chapter Four: Introducing her Majesty, the Queen The Queen is the most powerful piece in our army. We must learn how to handle her well! Chapter Five: Introducing the Rooks, the second most powerful piece The Rook is a ‘free radical’ it needs no outposts it just needs to get inside the opponent's territory. Chapter Six: Introducing the Minor pieces, the Bishops Learning how to Checkmate with King & Two Bishops versus a King. The only winning technique is to drive the King into a corner to produce Checkmate. Chapter Seven: Introducing the Minor pieces, the Knights The Knight moves are the most difficult piece in Chess to master. It takes a lot of concentration and practice to get the movements right. Chapter Eight: Introducing the Pawn(s) The pawn is our lowly foot soldier - the infantry - learn to love your pawns you have eight of them. Chapter Nine: Obstacle Courses & the Second Element: Material Different types of obstacle courses. Material table and material count. Chapter Ten: Basic Checkmate Patterns & the Third Element: King Position/Safety Back Rank Checkmates; Smothered mate… Chapter Eleven: Basic Chess Tactics The double-attack; the Pin; the Skewer will be the tactics that we concentrate upon learning. Chapter Twelve: Two Inspiring Games of Chess Chess is also art. Chapter Thirteen: Tabiya Positions for Queen Pawn Openings The Queen’s Gambit Declined and the Slav Defense. Chapter Fourteen: Tabiya Positions for Classical King Pawn Openings The Ruy Lopez and the Italian Game. Chapter Fifteen: Tabiya Positions for Modern Openings Building a fortress. Chapter Sixteen: Tournament Chess Etiquette Recommended Reading Appendix Introduction May 31, 2014 Dear Teacher, Coach and Reader, A hearty welcome to each and every one of you! We are about to embark on our journey learning about the wondrous and beautiful world of Chess. The modern game of Chess has an extraordinary history going back centuries the direct origins being traced as far back to the sixth century Anno Domini (AD). When we learn Chess we discover a world where science, logic, art, geometry, math, language as well as competition are all fused together creating the Royal Game of Chess. For centuries Chess has been called the “Game of Kings” and is widely considered the single most popular board game in the world. Therefore I’m delighted, honored and more than humbled to be able to share my knowledge with you as we enter a journey of Chess discovery together. Before we begin I’d like to start with a brief background about this work, its goals and how it came into being as a Chess Curriculum aimed at teaching Chess to beginning players in a classroom setting. Today, in America and throughout the world, the ancient game of Chess is perceived in a most positive light. Increasingly, Chess is recognized as an important educational tool that can help teach what scholastic Chess coaches call the “Five R’s.” They are: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Reasoning and perhaps the most important “R” of all, Responsibility. When children play Chess they actively engage with all these disciplines. In addition, Chess forces all its practitioners to be creative as well as original while using their own critical thinking skills. During play (competition) as well as study (theory) the brain is exercised. Oftentimes most rigorously. As a result of this new-found recognition as a tool to sharpen the mind – better to say this forgotten reality – educators have increasingly been willing to teach Chess in schools as either an after-class activity or even within the school curriculum as an elective course. In a number of nations around the world, most famously, Russia, Bulgaria, Venezuela, and Armenia, Chess has been taught as a mandatory course in Primary schools. In some nations this has been the case for decades. In 2012, the European Parliament, recognizing the benefits that Chess offers to students, passed a proclamation encouraging schools within the twenty-eight nation group to teach Chess in their Primary classrooms. This decision was the culmination of a decade’s long initiative to have Chess officially recognized as an educational tool to help develop and strengthen young minds. Teaching the Five R’s in a game playing setting is a fantastic means of getting students to not only learn, but to actively exercise their creativity and to strengthen their own critical thinking skills. In many schools around the United States, Chess is also used as a treat. If the class should collectively hand in their homework early, for example, the rest of the class period allows for Chess play. Chess is fun too! World Champion Viswanathan Anand speaks In an interview published by the news agency IANS on December 20, 2012 in New Delhi, the five- time World Champion Viswanathan Anand from India was inaugurating an NIIT Mind Champions Academy at the Global Indian International School (GIIS). He explained that Chess is not only a game but a fun activity for schoolchildren as it inculcates useful skills for education as well as for life. "Playing Chess enhances the memory, gives confidence, teaches problem solving, and increases concentration..." The champion also added that, "Chess teaches you that all moves have consequences." That this too is an important lesson to learn for impressionable minds. Thank you Vishy! Children learn planning and consequences, and to take personal responsibility for the decisions made. What an excellent way to prepare the young for the challenges they will face in life. Chess Scholarships in Colleges and Universities More so than at any other time in my life, Chess is also being taught in Colleges and Universities where scholarships are being offered to students skilled in Chess attending these institutions of higher learning. Therefore it is a most auspicious time that a new, original, didactic Curriculum for Chess be developed and delivered. We hope that this effort will be a ground breaking exercise that will encourage teachers and coaches to teach Chess and that it will be used as an indispensable resource. My Chess Background Allow me to introduce myself by discussing my own Chess background. I started playing Chess at the age of twelve in the summer of 1972 in Seattle, Washington. It was a heady time for Chess and Chess players the world over as that was the year that America’s Robert James Fischer, challenged the Soviet World Champion Boris Spassky in a twenty-four game World Championship Chess match. I got caught up in the “Bobby fever” that swept the nation and from a challenging hobby, Chess became my passion. At the age of thirteen, while attending Meany Middle School in Seattle, Washington, I was invited by the school’s Principal to teach a Chess class as an elective in-class course. With trepidation, I asked the Principal if I could give grades to the students? The Principal confirmed that indeed, I could give my school mates a grade. My Principal told me that while there would be an adult in the class recording attendance all the lessons, homework, lectures, study were all up to me including grades. Disbelieving of this marvelous opportunity, I cautiously explained to the Principle that I intended to give myself an “A” grade. He laughed and said that he expected that indeed I would. I also told him that I’d give my classmates an “A” as well. He told me that if they deserved an “A” I should do that as well. A deal was instantly struck. As soon as the next semester began, I found myself teaching Chess to my fellow students. For the first day of class, seven students had signed up for the elective class but by the end of the semester there were forty-two students attending Chess class every school day. Happily for everyone in my class, including myself, we all got an “A” grade. It is fair to say that mine was a popular class. At that time I certainly could have used a lesson planner as well as a Curriculum. Unfortunately, to my knowledge none existed and I was thrown onto my own devices making lectures, organizing competitions, creating Chess puzzles daily and oftentimes on the fly. The graduating class of Meany Middle School came with me to Garfield High School in Seattle where a Chess dynasty began.