Author: Russell Reagan
Date: 20:48:35 07/06/03
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On July 06, 2003 at 19:42:35, Peter Hegger wrote: >Hello, >Perhaps this idea is already implemented in some engines, but if not it might be >worth considering. >First off, I have a 9 year old grandson who is really getting interested in >chess. He's probably 500-600 rating or thereabouts at this stage in his chess >career. Like so many others his age, one of his main problems is moving too >quickly. When I play against him I deliberately take 30 seconds or so even on >the most basic opening moves just to try and set a slow pace that might get him >to consider his moves longer. It does seem to work to some extent and he has >slowed down against me when we play. However, when he plays his chess engine, >(chessmaster 2100) it will let him move as quickly as he wants to. This seems to >get him back into quick move mode and undoes to some extent the teaching of >patience. >Are their any chess engines that can be set so that a move will not be accepted >by the program before 15 seconds, 30 seconds or whatever the user types in has >elapsed? Would it be a good teaching aid or would it just bore beginners into >taking up some other game instead? >Regards, >Peter My personal experience is that when I play quickly, it's because I don't know what I should be thinking about. It would probably be more effective to teach him what to spend his time thinking about rather than just advising, "Play this computer program and spend at least 15 seconds on each move." Probably it would be better to let him think as long as it takes, with no clock at all (at least at first). So, here's my two cents... You improve at chess when you get faster at what you already do. For instance, a player who just learned the game will spend most of his time trying to remember the names of the pieces. Once the player can recall the names of the pieces instantly, he will have more time to think about other things, and will spend most of his time trying to remember how the pieces move. Minimize the time it takes to remember how the pieces move, and he can move on to learning simple tactics. Once seeing simple tactics becomes "instant", he can move on to combinations, and so on. You have to learn to walk without thinking about each step you take before you can run without falling. So first you need to learn what your grandson thinks about when deciding upon a move. He may be moving fast because now he knows how the pieces move and he knows simple tactics, and he can recognize them quickly, so he moves quickly, not knowing that there is something more to be looking for. You have to find out what level he is at and then teach him about the "next thing". For instance, if he has not yet mastered how the pieces move, instruct him to look at each piece and scan each move that it can make. If he hasn't mastered that, that will probably make him slow down and take his time. Eventually he'll be able to do whatever you teach him very quickly, and you'll have to find something new to occupy his thinking, and before you know it he'll be seeing non-trivial combinations quickly. An excellent book for identifying what a player spends his time thinking about (and just a good book for beginners in general) is Dan Heismans's "Everyone's Second Chess Book". In this book, he describes what players of various ratings will usually spend their time thinking about. He covers ratings from as low as 100, on up to around 1200 I think. From this book, you could probably get a good idea of what he spends his time thinking about when deciding upon a move, as well as what the next thing will be. Ok, maybe that was more like a dollar than two cents :) Hope this helps.
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