Tips for Chess Tutors

Any chess tutor who has taught youngsters knows it’s not always easy to keep the students’ attention. Some kids have a short attention span, many get fidgity and need to move, others simply get bored with lectures. Learning chess should be exciting and fun and can be by using some hands-on techniques. I’d like to share these lessons with you.

I call this section of lessons Pawns vs Pieces and can benefit anyone from beginner to a USCF Expert. The lessons allow each student to take part in a ‘game’; a game of movement and strategy which allows their minds to grasp the interaction between playing pawns against pieces. Students will progress at a faster rate when they figure this relationship out for themselves. These lessons also give a good foundation to build endgame play upon.


Knight vs Pawns
I’m sure you have defined the value of the chess pieces to your students… did you tell them a bishop is worth more than a knight? “Ahhh”, you say, “but a knight can be worth more than a rook in a closed position!”. Yes, and a pawn can be worth more than a queen if it delivers mate… but getting down to the nitty-gritty and to not confuse students, most tutors will teach the following values:

Pawn = 1 point
Knight = 3 points
Bishop = 3 points
Rook = 5 points
Queen = 9 points

I’m not sure who came up with these original values but I think it’s a good place to start, so let’s compare these figures against the 'fighting value’ of a piece. If we adopt the pawn as equal to ‘1 point’ then we can derive a correlation for all the other pieces as to their actual fighting value.

Hence, place a white knight on the square b1 and across the board place black pawns on squares b7, c7, d7. The object of this lesson is to have one student play the pawns against a fellow student playing the piece. The piece always moves first; and the objective for the player with the piece is to win all the pawns. The objective for the player with the pawns is to queen one of them without losing it. If the player with the pawns can queen one of them without it being captured then he/she wins.

Tell your students to do this exercise... did the pawns win? Did the knight win? Ask them and you will find that they disagree as to who should win! Tell them to swap sides and repeat the exercise. After completing the 2nd exercise ask your students again, “Should the knight always win? Or should the pawns always win?”

The fact is that the pawns will ALWAYS WIN when played correctly! Now then, try this exercise with two pawns vs a knight.
Conclusion: The knight can always hold two pawns but can not hold three pawns against correct play.


Bishop vs Pawns
Place a white bishop on it’s original starting square of c1. Place the three pawns across from it on b7, c7, d7. The bishop moves first. Can the bishop hold three pawns? Ask your students before trying the exercise. Have them play thru it and then ask them again. Then have them swap sides and try the exercise again. How many players think the pawns win over the bishop?
Conclusion: The bishop will ALWAYS WIN against three pawns when played correctly in this exercise.
Author’s note: adding a king to each side compensates the handicapped knight since the king can control the opposite colored squares of the bishop.


Rook vs Pawns
Well, if a bishop can hold three pawns, can a rook beat five pawns!? Place a white rook on a1, place five black pawns on b7, c7, d7, e7, f7. The piece always moves first. I suspect that if you were to ask your students who should win, by now they’ll be betting on the rook… which is correct. Make sure you have them swap sides so they can play both sides.


Queen vs Pawns
Yuppers, she’ll catch all nine of them! Place the extra pawn directly across from the queen and put the queen on it’s original starting square. She gets to move 1st, but I don’t think it really matters.


King vs Pawns
Yessirree! The king has a fighting strength of... well, it’ll be more fun if you have your students figure it out. Start with three pawns and then advance to four or more.

I hope these lessons are helpful to all you dedicated chess tutors, who may change the world by promoting creative thinking! 😵 Good Luck!

I've just started coaching children, and I agree about the short attention span. Fortunately my wife is a teacher, and she game some tips:

1) Don't talk too much. Keep their attention by asking individuals lots of questions (not "who knows..." but "Sebastian, what do you think..."😉

2) Have a break. I always forget this and teach for an hour and a half before realising that I've forgotten to give them a five minute break after 45 minutes. The young ones in particular get really tired after an hours thinking.

3) Let them learn from each other. One of my most successful ideas was to pair the kids up and then let them play me in a game. I leave the room after my move so that they can discuss the game properly between themselves.

4) Show them stuff that will win them games. Show them how to win a pinned piece. One of my students could spot a pin from a hundred paces, but once he'd achieved it he just sat there wondering what it was for. Last week, I put a black pawns on a6 and c6, a black king on h8 (out of the way) and a white king on a4. Even the relatively strong players were amazed that White couldn't pick off the "weak" pawns.

5) Finish with something fun. My kids all love exchange chess and the end of session matches often go on for half an hour past the official end of the lesson.

6) No-one else agrees with me, but I think that letting a child beat you does them good when they are learning. I don't blatently leave pieces en pris, but if they pin something I will "miss" the fact that they have a pawn push to win it.

One of the more talented girls is learning the Yugoslav attack against the Dragon, so in our game I played a passive Dragon for the first ten moves so that her attack was all but unstoppable.

Everyone else I know says that you should never deliberately play down to children, but I believe it helps them enormously.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
One of the more talented girls is learning the Yugoslav attack against the Dragon, so in our game I played a passive Dragon for the first ten moves so that her attack was all but unstoppable. Everyone else I know says that you should never deliberately play down to children, but I believe it helps them enormously.

Once a child becomes adult aged they can easily be divided into A-D class through their ratings.

However you can't sday a 7 year old with a 1300 rating is mediocre! so what is a timeline of sorts for children and what the advanced and average ratings are for each time range?

Originally posted by Fat Lady
I've just started coaching children, and I agree about the short attention span. Fortunately my wife is a teacher, and she game some tips:

1) Don't talk too much. Keep their attention by asking individuals lots of questions (not "who knows..." but "Sebastian, what do you think..."😉

2) Have a break. I always forget this and teach for an hour and a half never deliberately play down to children, but I believe it helps them enormously.

Originally posted by arrakis
[b]Bishop vs Pawns
Rook vs Pawns
Queen vs Pawns
King vs Pawns
[/b]

I teach and tutor a bit. At the club its mainly kids, "lessons" take two formats the first is sitting around a show board which contains a chess problem then getting the kids to each say what they think about the position, seeing what they believe is happening, key features etc then asking the kids to work out the position. After that showing what I think is the right features/plan/move is the position.

The second part is the kids playing chess this involved them playing each other and myself. Iv found that getting the kids to swap positions in the middle of a game can get them thinking for both colours, kids tend to think a lot of me me me me without ever thinking them. Swapping positions and knowing that this might happen at any time tends to get the kids to think for both sides. Also when swapping positions with say myself, I normally have a winning position and as they play from my position and I from theirs I find it helps to talk them through each move and the ideas behind everything.

I totally agree with Fat Lady it helps to let them win some games, the more entheastic they are the easier it is to teach them. They wont groan when they sit down oppsite you (or anyone else) sure in knowledge that they will lose, but look at it as a challenge which they might win and can be proud of.

You think teaching kids is tough .. try teaching adults! A kid will go down game after game after game and still come back for more, where as adults can very quickly become disheartened since chess takes such a long time to get good at .. something we aren't used to as adults. On the subject of mini games i prefer to make them real endgames, it enforces the fact that in the endgame your king can be your most powerful piece .. so many beginners fail in the endgame because they don't utilize the king to its full potential. I think "endgame games" are a great way to teach pawn structure too which leads in to teaching the middle game.

Rather than "lose on purpose" I give them (my kids) a time benefit with say 2 mins on my clock 5 on his - this is usually enough for him to win on time at least and I get to practice playing quickly. Then if we "play on anyway" after my flag has dropped he has still won the real game whatever the eventual outcome.

Less ethical: I agree to pay for their Warcraft accounts in exchange for an hour a week of chess. Have only just started this last week and it's going well so far.

Even less ethical: Plonk a knight on the board, blindfold them and give them a piece fudge or some other sweet treat for every accurate knight move they can make.

Equally as unthical as the last one: Again place the knight on the board with a smartie (small sweet) on the same square and place a smartie down for every square they can land the knight on without landing twice on the same square - quite a challenge to get every square on the board.

As a footnote I'd say that they very rarely get sweets or chocolates at other times 😕

Time odds or piece odds are the traditional ways of giving a weaker player a chance in game against a stronger one, but I don't think it teaches them much about how to win a game against someone near their own strength.

I've known a few people who mostly played much strongers and have become "stodge merchants" - afraid to attack because their attacks are always refuted; afraid to put pawns in the centre because they're always undermined and picked off; afraid to swap off pieces because they've never won an ending in their life. They spend their games moving their pieces around with no clear plan and with the sole objective of lasting as long as possible and perhaps winning on time.

By playing down to beginners, I hope to encourage them by letting them see that if they play good moves then they will be rewarded!

Obviously there is less in it for the stronger player, as he is not really trying to win. You have to be selfless about it and think of the improvement of your opponent and the success of his fledgling attacking ability as your victory!

Originally posted by Fat Lady
Time odds or piece odds are the traditional ways of giving a weaker player a chance in game against a stronger one, but I don't think it teaches them much about how to win a game against someone near their own strength.

I've known a few people who mostly played much strongers and have become "stodge merchants" - afraid to attack because their attacks are ement of your opponent and the success of his fledgling attacking ability as your victory!

i remember when my dad started teaching me, this was after i had the basics down, somewhat of a foundation, he instituted "dad's rule" which was he could arbitrarily remove my queen, or some other piece, and i had to play from that position, to adapt my play..

My experiences from running a junior chess club go 20 years back in time, but I think what worked then would still work today:

1.It's important have 2 tutors in the club; One for the serious pupils
and one for the more unsettled pupils. The tutors should witch
between the 2 groups...The reasoning for using the 2 tutor system is
obvious; The kids are very different in their approach towards
chess, and learning in general, for that matter.
2. Make sure to socialize. Giving them more than one reason (chess)
to show up in the club every week is a must to guarantee long term
success of the club. And make sure they move a lot in the breaks;
play soccer in the school yard or whereever!
3. Chess lessons MUST be fun!
As little talk as possible, fun excercises, chess variations, tests etc

I also remember being a junior chess pupil myself and after a couple of years actually got the chance to play Curt Hansen (who later became Denmarks 2nd GM ever and for numerous years was Denmarks strongest player) in a match against Tinglev. I eventually got thrashed in 25 moves...:'(