Artwork by the talented Mike Magnan
Power Principles of Chess
CONTROL THE CENTER!
What does this mean? The center consists of the squares e4, d4, e5 and d5. So this means when you start the game in the opening, place your pawns in the center to occupy and control it as much as you can.
DEVELOP YOUR PIECES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
Get your Knights and Bishops out. This should be done before you try to checkmate your opponent.
CASTLE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
The first chance you have, castle immediately to keep your King safe. Remember, you can’t win if your King is not safe and you get checkmated first. So don’t forget to castle! Then after you castle, connect your Rooks by developing your Queen.
KEEP YOUR PIECES PROTECTED!
Don’t leave your pieces hanging without protection. Each and every piece you have is very valuable, so don’t lose them.
HAVE LOTS OF FUN! WIN WITH GRACE, LOSE WITH DIGNITY!
First and foremost, chess should be fun. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That is part of the game. When you win, be a good sport and don’t trash talk or make fun of your opponent. When you lose, be an even better sport and not a sore loser. Shake hands and congratulate your opponent. This will go a long way toward making good friends.
“That is part of the game. When you win, be a good sport and don’t trash talk or make fun of your opponent. “
I think that’s why Fischer was so hot. He’d talk smack all day long, then back it up at the board.
Ever see his interview after the match?
He says spassky is the best and lost, all of the rest just crumble at the board in his presence.
That’s got to burn you when you spend a lifetime and he crushes you, then insults you.
This is very useful for kids. Thank you Susan.
Susan, I enjoy these type of things from you very much. I use to read your “Secrets of Openings” with relish…I just knew you would provide something useful and I did learn from it. I do read “Polgar’s Picks” nowadays. I hope that you would consider doing an opening, middle game, and endgame study each week on your blog. I know you favor dramatic over static features, so my thought would be for you to explain the why of something. Of course your puzzles are meant to do this, but the problem is people use computers and we almost always never hear from you. I think I speak for most of the bloggers when I say we want to hear from Susan and get the real idea behind a position. BTW, I use your site daily and now I am preparing to play in a tournament later this month…any tips?
These great tips are the difference between a 700 rating and a 1300. I’d break down the “Keep you pieces protected” into: (a) when your opponent moves, ask yourself, “What’s the threat?”, and before you move, ask youself, “Is it safe?”
It is extremely easy for beginners to get so wrapped up in what they are doing that the forget to pay any attention at all to what their opponent is doing. Then they drop a piece or two — game over.
My 7 year old son summed it up very nicely after he beat one of the 5th graders in my other son’s chess club. After shaking hands and saying “Good game” (we really emphasize good sportsmanship), she asked if he noticed anything she could improve on. He thought for a second and said, “You need to pay better attention to all parts of the board instead of just one area. When I got my new queen over here, you didn’t noticed that you could have captured it with your bishop from the other side of the board. And that’s when I won.”
These kids are great.
Chess computers and/or computer programs playing chess could teach children very well. However, it is interesting that during the development of the chess programs, during the early days those programs just played lousy, kind of overall. Now, if you set a program to play lousy, what happens is that it plays well, then it makes a totally idiotic and/or useless move. A good player of course can take advantage of that, but a child learning how to play chess can’t. Then the program is back playing well, until the next horrible move. I wonder whether someone could suggest computer makers (or programmers) to implement levels specifically for children Where the computer would emulate the old chess computers which played lousy in an “even way”.
Gabor
Good luck in your tournament, qm Forbes. I’m contemplating playing in a tournament at some point too, but it’s been close to 25 years since I’ve done that (single elimination at my small college), and in the past 20 years I’ve played only 3 games with humans who play near my level.
Let us know how it goes.
As I’m a bit dyslectic to me this reads a bit like…..Have lots of fun with Grace… lose her dignity as soon as possible… control her centre… but keep your pieces protected..and keep a look out for her Castle
“control the center” (by pawns)…
that’s why the middle gambit or danish gambit or the elephant are so sound … :)) (??)
(indeed – on the demo board a blog theme up, there are pawns on d4 and e4 and black defended by a5, Na6 – white is to move bg5 – as a finger is going to point out – i’ll try this next weeekend – hopefully the novelty will work … :))
and the slav or catalan or even sicilian and french (not to mention caro-kann) are unsound openings … :)) (??)
to be honest, i don’t like such simplificating “rules” (only: “keep your pieces protected” makes some sense to me – and of course the behavioural advices given for winning or losing!). they do more harm than good in my eyes, even for young children, willing to learn chess.
e.g castle as soon as possible – then develop the queen to combine rooks … *tusk, *tusk… no long castling allowed anymore?
what about castling too soon, e.g in the italian defense lot’s of rookies are “tortured” with, during their first steps…
chess is not that simple, it is more complex, and who knows this better, than our great hostess?
i’m not on a level, to criticise GM Susan Polgar’s teaching methods, but i give lessons, from time to time, at our local chess club for our “prodigies” (hehe, quite normal kids! funny and great and lovely boys and girls!) and i’ve tried so far to avoid truisms and generalizations. i’m not quite sure, that i was wrong all the time.
No offense meant!
sincerly, your Vohaul