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Subject: Re: How can a 9 years old child properly train with a Chess Program ?

Author: Uri Blass

Date: 10:32:47 03/06/01

Go up one level in this thread


On March 06, 2001 at 11:18:22, Jorge Pichard wrote:

>On March 06, 2001 at 07:54:26, Jorge Pichard wrote:
>
>>My nephew Enrique just turn 9 Sunday and my sister which lives 300 miles away
>>from me told me that Enrique has been telling her that he would like to learn
>>how to play chess like his uncle. When my sister told me that, I told her that I
>>would send him one of my chess programs (Nimzo 8) as a gift for his birthday.
>>Now I also told her that she should start by getting him a good chess teacher
>>who can spend a least 3 hours every saturday, but that he could also pratice
>>against Nimzo 8 to improve the opening and middlegame, where Nimzo 8 can help him
>>improve on his tactics.
>>
>>PS: Can somebody provide good tips which will help a child to improve his chess
>>skills by using Nimzo 8. Please provide step by step intructions, so I can
>>paste it and email it to my nephew. For instance, what features of this
>>chessbase product will help him the most etc...
>
>I just called a Russian chess intructor Leonid who have plenty of experience
>teaching young children. First he regreted that Enrique was so far away, but
>then he suggested Enrique to start using the Handicup Mode under the Level, and
>to start using the lowest playing strength 1350, even if it is too high for him
>to get him started, but this feature in conjuction with the Explain All Moves
>under the Help tab would get him started in the right direction. According to
>Leonid, Enrique should first start with no more than 30 minutes per games, since
>according to his experiences with young children, any longer time control would
>lower their interest in chess. By playing at least two games every day Enrique
>should get up to at least 1200 rating strength within 6 months, plus with the
>help of a good chess intructor, he should be able to absorve the reasoning
>behind every move. This little phone conversation cost me $25.00 Dollars, but it
>will help Enrique start in the right direction.

I believe that there is a better way to learn chess and players can get at least
1500 in 6 monthes if they are serious in learning chess but it depends on the
question if Enrique wants to use it.

My idea of how to learn chess(I understand childs that do not want to use the
method that I suggest but I think the method can be productive to achieve at
least 1500 in 6 monthes)

Enrique should use the computer to analyze the games to show him all the
tactical mistakes that he did and print all the relevant diagrams when he
blundered.

Enrique can use all these positions as test positions when the target is only to
find a move that is not a tactical mistake.

He can test himself every day in the positions that he blundered.
He should also ask himself if there is a general rule of thinking that he can
use in order to avoid similiar blunder in games.

One rule for tournament time control games is simply to try to look at all the
options of yourself and all the options of the opponent after the move that you
want to play because a common mistake of beginners is simply not seeing the next
move.

I understand the fact that beginners may hate trying to use this rule but if
they care about winning and not about enjoying from the game then I believe that
they should try to use this rule.

It can take only a minute per move and in tournament time control you have 3
minutes per move.

I say trying to use it because I know that humans are not computers and that
they can do errors in 1 ply searches but if they try they will see more things.

Trying to use this rule at tournament games helped me to get better when I was
better than 1500(I did not train on it at home and only tried it in tournament
games) and I am sure it can help beginners because the rule is more productive
for weak players.

Uri



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