Monday, 6 June 2016

Chess Strategies for Beginners: Develop Problem-Solving Skills

Chess is a game where the continuously evolving strategy helps players to develop their problem solving skills. These skills develop over the course of learning how to play the game. The natural progression in improvement of these abilities can be witnessed in the way a player learns to adapt and change as he or she moves on from being a beginner to an expert. 

Here’s how chess helps enhance a player’s problem-solving skills.

Learn the basic moves

As a new learner starts to understand the basic moves of the game, he or she slowly realizes the potential of each piece. From the lowly Pawn to the might Queen, each piece has its own role to play in the game. They learn to negotiate through the various problems that surface when they encounter the opponent’s plays and make use of the pieces to learn to win the game. This helps the player to understand the importance of small steps and how they can help them achieve success in life.

Understand the strategies

There are numerous strategies in chess that a beginner has to learn to become a great player. These can range from simple ones like castling and how to avoid a stalemate to more complex ones like how to control the center and how to successfully execute a game play. In addition, there are many innumerable moves for opening, closing, controlling the center and so on, that help a player to win a game.

Understanding these strategies and moves help the beginner to understand how to get out of any problem through focused plans and putting them into action. They also understand how the same strategy can be applied to life and ensure the person can avoid any of life’s problems with careful planning.

Focusing on the goal

Learning the various opening moves such as Flank openings, playing open, semi-open or closed games, the Indian defense, etc. help the beginner to understand how a series of simple moves can help achieve a win. They understand that whatever move they make, the focus on the final goal can help them get to the finish line. This learning also translates to lessons in life as the learners plough through the various challenges life throws their way without losing sight of the final goal.

Chess Lessons for Beginners: Improving Your Execution Ability



One of the fundamental things chess teaches is the ability to plan and execute a course of action. Being a strategy game, it makes players think of different options before they make a move and the implications each move has on the opponent. They also learn to think of the possible actions that the other player may make to counter their line of attack. Such logical thinking enhances the ability of the player to think, plan and strategize.

Let’s look at the ways how this thinking helps beginners to improve their execution ability.

Chess is a game with an objective: The simple objective of chess is to get a win, or a checkmate in the game’s parlance, against the opponent. All plans, strategies and moves are made to this end. Since players have this objective in mind, they use every game plan and trick in the book to get to the goal. All this is done over a board of 64 squares. Since winning is possible only if the players make the moves, they learn about well-planned execution that helps them get to the final objective.

Innumerable options: Chess provides a player with innumerable moves and options. They can choose between any of the pieces they have and devise plans that take shape over the next few moves. This, in turn, being part of a larger strategy to win and helps the beginner to think and choose between the different moves they have. Such an approach helps people to differentiate between various choices and opt for the one that makes sense to them in terms of the end objective. This helps in the development of the ability to take action based on logical reasoning and enhances the player’s overall execution ability.

Strategies that evolve: In chess, one can go with a certain plan of action in mind and see that go to pieces within a few minutes. This means that each strategy has to evolve innumerable times over the course of a game. This requirement to plan, evolve and re-plan helps people to take action based on changing circumstances. This consequently helps them to move ahead despite the setbacks and makes them learn how to execute strategies based on newer alternatives.

Blog Source URL: http://www.chesscoachonline.com/chess-lessons-for-beginners-improving-your-execution-ability

Thursday, 5 May 2016

How to Improve Your Logical Thinking by Playing Chess

Researchers over the years have found enough evidence that show a direct correlation between playing chess and improvement in logical thinking. The fact that these researches, conducted across different countries and different timelines, show the same result reflect what chess players have always known – that the game is more than a pastime – it is a way to increase concentration, strategic planning, analysis, rational reasoning and critical thinking, among others.

Here is how chess helps improve your logical thinking:
  • Helps you to think strategically: Chess gives each player the same shot at winning. Each has the same number of pieces and has to play the opponent on the same 64 squares. With the millions of possible moves and gameplays, it allows you to plan, adapt and rebuild your strategy every few minutes. Such a frequent change in plans allows you to adjust your ideas very fast and builds your strategic thinking abilities.
  • Build your planning abilities: With each piece being able to move only in certain ways, you can see the possible outcomes of each movement. As you get better at playing the game, you also develop the ability to think 2-3 or more steps ahead. This aptitude helps you to build your logical abilities as you are able to plan better.
  • Enhances your critical thinking aptitude: Chess makes you think about every move you make and its consequences in the short term and long term. You are able to analyze dispassionately what each of your moves can do. You can also see what your opponent’s plans are. This helps shape your critical thinking capabilities and your logical reasoning abilities.
  • Increases brain muscles: The more you exercise your brain, the better its abilities become. Playing chess regularly will help you increase your intelligence levels. You will be a more balanced individual and more in control of your destiny as you will define your own path in life. Also, your enhanced abilities will have other positive side effects such as you getting better at studies and at work. The increased brainpower will also help you improve your logical thinking abilities.
Chess has now become an integral part of daily lives and games are available for desktops, tablets, and smartphones – online, offline and through apps for people to play and enjoy whenever and wherever they want. You can also enroll for classes online and get the best teachers to guide you through the learning curve.

Blog Source URL: http://www.chesscoachonline.com/how-to-improve-your-logical-thinking-by-playing-chess

Learn To Play Chess Online – It Makes You Smarter

There are various traditional ways you can learn to play chess – by yourself, with the help of family or friends or by enrolling in a chess learning class. However, with the growth of the internet, a new form – online coaching – has become popular because of the convenience and level of training it provides.

Here’s a look at why online coaching is beneficial and helps make you smarter.

Ease of access: Unlike learning by yourself or from family or friends, learning from a professional is always better. Unfortunately, not many people have easy access to chess training centers. These places, for instance, may be far away or have hours that are not very convenient. This is where online centers score better as they are accessible 24×7. You can learn whenever you have the time, day or night, and from anywhere. You do not have to miss a class simply because you are out of town. The online academy will be accessible whenever you want.

Access to the best teachers: This is perhaps the most important factor that has made online classes so popular in recent times. In a chess training center, the best teachers can generally take only a few classes a day and most students are unable to learn from them as those classes are generally full. This is not the case in online classes. Students can enroll and learn from the teachers directly. The teachers can teach them personally and answer all their questions. Moreover, the lessons take place through popular chatting software that makes it convenient for the students to learn. The teachers keep a regular tab on the students and help them address their challenges.

Learn with like-minded people from around the world: The fact that students can join from anywhere means they are able to able to see a much bigger world around them when they learn. They are able to see newer ways of approaching problems or applying a certain gameplay. This increases their awareness of the world around them, and they become better world citizens.

Practical lessons aplenty help increase intelligence: The online centers have a range of practical tests and games for students to try their hands on. The online centers also prescribe some hours of games on a daily or weekly basis that ensures the theory learnt from teachers is experienced through practical lessons. It has been seen that regular practice of chess makes people smarter. The online lessons ensure students increase their concentration levels, analytical thinking abilities, and intellectual acumen making them smarter and more levelheaded individuals.

Learn How to Develop Problem Solving Abilities in Children with Online Chess

Studies have shown that children who play chess on a regular basis are better at problem solving abilities. Playing this ancient game helps the kids to increase their concentration, enhance their logical reasoning abilities, and help improve their analytical abilities – all traits that help in problem solving.

There are various ways in which children can learn how to play chess. They can learn it from their parents, teachers, family, relatives or friends. They can also learn it by joining a chess coaching academy or online classes. In fact, online classes are one of the better ways to learn and practice the game.

Here is how online chess increases the child’s problem solving abilities:

Improves their concentration

The constant attention that children have to give the online chess game helps them to inadvertently reduce their attention deficiencies. They are able to focus better on the task at hand and are better able to finish what they are doing than jumping to the next thing that grabs their fancy. This ability to resist external provocations further helps the kid to improve his or her concentration levels.

Helps improve their memory

Research has shown that chess helps players to improve their memory. This is truer for children who are in their growing up years. The thinking that goes into a chess game help develop stronger neural connections that lead to the development of a sharper and more intelligent mind. And since these are the growing up years, the child is able to become more intelligent by playing the game.

Increases patience and fortitude

Patience and fortitude are key essentials to solve any problem. Children who subscribe to online chess classes are able to play the game patiently. They are able to devise plans for attack and defense and sometimes see that all their best plans do not result in a win. In addition to making them humble, it also teaches them patience as they realize they could have won if they had planned and adapted better, and seen their strategies through to the end.

Enhances problem solving skills one notch at a time

Online chess classes involve various levels of gameplays from beginner to expert. Your children learn the lessons at their expertise level and go on to the next levels. This incremental learning process helps improve their problem solving abilities as they learn to resolve all types of problems across all levels of difficulty.