Chess Rage Day 1

There were sixteen students that signed up for the first BCSD Chess Rage Chess Camp and the first day was a very successful day.  We provided five counselors from our high school chess team.  Three more were added by the end of the week making an awesome counselor/camper ratio every day.  This first day was a great test in patience and flexibility as the counselors were getting used to their charges and I was getting used to which level to teach at.  As it turns out, ages were seven to twelve and there were a variety of skill and experience, so I differentiated my instruction for each lesson. Kids were grouped in similar ability and age.  I made a couple of switches the next day which we kept for the rest of the week.  We began each day with the kids playing each other, and then the counselors would meet with their groups and play, teach, and evaluate each player.

The two Sarah's warming up their chess and to each other.

Darwin, my son, impressed me with his seriousness during the week.  He brought his own chess set each day and would set up at a lone table and would quietly sit until a competitor would sit down.  On this day, Jon Reigle, a former chess student from my class, sat down for a game.  It was clear that he was going to promote his last pawn but Darwin had a little surprise.

Darwin actually got a draw in this game.

Darwin seized an opportunity soon.

Think, Pair, Share!  is a wonderful way to engage students and model a problem solving process.  I would show a chess problem on the big screen and students would get to think for 1 minute, then pair with a partner and discuss the options for 1 minute.  Then as a large or small group, we would all share ideas and/or offer opinions.  Differentiation was implicit in this process.

Small discussion groups  - Think, Pair, Share!

I was very impressed with how intensely the students engaged in solving problems and in creating them as well.  I used mate in one or two problems before each lesson to focus attention.  But the problem sets that students found most fun were the pawn mower problems.  Pawn mowers were developed by GM Maurice Ashley and are similar to chess mazes, but you must take a pawn each move.  I gave students a chance to stump their counselors by creating their own pawn mowers.

A Maurice Ashley puzzle

The goal is to capture a pawn on every move.  The black pawns cannot move.

It was my goal to get students to record games by the end of the week.  And to my surprise, all but one could do it proficiently.  On the first day, some of the students began the process.  Score Keeping is required at most high caliber tournaments, and the score sheets are good tools for chess improvement and analysis.  Replaying an past game is very enlightening.  Using a chess engine such as Fritz or Chess Assistant is also beneficial in that alternative moves are offered by the computer.  Two students uploaded their games on my Fritz program later in the week.  Here are some blossoming chess players recording their first games:

BCSD Chess Rage Day Camp

The BCSD Chess Club sponsored its first chess camp for elementary and middle school aged kids earlier this summer (June 10 - 14th) and it was met with great success.  Sixteen players attended and seven high school club members served  as counselors.  The week consisted of daily instruction, play, mind games, and other lessons culminated in a tournament and a simul on Friday.  Here is the rigorous schedule:

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:00 – 9:10		Think, Pair, Share	Think, Pair, Share	Think, Pair, Share
9 – 9:30 am	Counselors and Campers play (evaluations) ·         Piece Value ·         Castling ·         Name that Square	Counselors and Campers play (evaluations) ·         En Passant ·         scorekeeping	Counselors and Campers play (evaluations) ·         scorekeeping	Counselors and Campers play (evaluations) ·         evaluate a game	Simul
9:30 –  9:50am	Mini-Lesson: ·         Bear Hugs ·         Ladder ·         Notation	Mini-Lesson: ·         Bad Openings ·         Pins, Forks, skewers, discovery ·         Philidor’s Defense ·         Scotch Opening	Mini-Lesson: ·         Ruy Lopez Opening ·         French Defense ·         Pawn Structures ·         Square of the Pawn	Mini-Lesson: ·         Game of the Century	Simul
9:50 – 10:15 am	Play Practice	Play Practice	Play Practice	Play Practice	Tournament
10:15 – 10:30 am	Memory Boards	Memory Boards	Memory Boards	Memory Boards	Tournament
10:30 – 10:45 am	Break	Break	Break	Break	Tournament
10:45 – 11:10 am	Opening Lesson: ·         Ideal Opening ·         Fried Liver ·         Scholar’s Mate	Middlegame Lesson: ·         Glowing Squares ·         Attackers and Defenders	Endgame Lesson: ·         Stalemates ·         Draws ·         Promoting	Aftergame Lesson: ·         Critical moments ·         analysis	Tournament
11:10 – 11:30 am	Play Practice	Play Practice	Play Practice	Play Practice	Tournament
11:30 – 12:00 pm		Chesskid.com Pawn Mowers	Pawn Mowers	Scavenger Hunt	Awards
12:00 – 12:30 pm	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch (BBQ)	Parent pickup
12:30	Think, Pair, Share	Think, Pair, Share	Think, Pair, Share	Think, Pair, Share
12:30 – 1:50 pm	Stations: ·         blitz ·         bughouse ·         giant chess ·         take away ·         snap electronics ·         Normal Chess	Stations: ·         blitz ·         bughouse ·         giant chess ·         take away ·         snap electronics ·         Four Way Chess ·         Chesskid.com	Stations: ·         blitz ·         bughouse ·         giant chess ·         take away ·         snap electronics ·         Four Way Chess ·         Ping Pong/Foosball ·         Long chess	Stations: ·         blitz ·         bughouse ·         giant chess ·         take away ·         Four Way Chess ·         Long chess ·         Ping Pong/Foosball
2:00 pm	Parent pickup	Parent pickup	Parent pickup	Parent pickup

Desmond shares some knowledge with campers

Dylan shows Otto how to record a move.

Each day began with a chess puzzle displayed on the big screen with a short discussion about the solutions.  Then each counselor worked with a small group of players teaching them what ever they wanted, or they played each of the kids and monitored their abilities.  Each student received a basic skill evaluation that each counselor was responsible for helping the students complete by the end of the week.  

Integrating Chess and Critical Thinking Basic Skills Checklist

NAME:_________________________________

DATE PASSED:

________ 1. DEMONSTRATE HOW THE PAWN MOVES. P

________ 2. DEMONSTRATE HOW THE KNIGHT MOVES.N

________ 3. DEMONSTRATE HOW THE BISHOP MOVES. B

________ 4. DEMONSTRATE HOW THE QUEEN MOVES. Q

________ 5. DEMONSTRATE HOW THE KING MOVES. K

________ 6. DEMONSTRATE KING-SIDE CASTLING

________ 7. DEMONSTRATE QUEEN-SIDE CASTLING

________ 8. STATE THE RELATIVE VALUE OF THE PIECES.

________ 9. EXPLAIN THE TERMS RANK, FILE, DIAGONAL.

________10.EXPLAIN THE TERM CENTER.

________11.SHOW THE CENTER SQUARES.

________12.EXPLAIN WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM DEVELOPMENT.

________13.PLACE A CHECK ON THE CHESSBOARD.

________14.PLACE A CHECKMATE ON THE CHESSBOARD.

________15.PLACE A STALEMATE ON THE CHESSBOARD—EXPLAIN.

________16.EXPLAIN THE TOUCH MOVE RULE.

________17.DEMONSTRATE A PIN.

________18.DEMONSTRATE A FORK.

________19.DEMONSTRATE A SKEWER.

________20.SET UP A BACK-RANK MATE ON THE CHESSBOARD.

________21.DEMONSTRATE A DISCOVERED ATTACK.

________22.EXPLAIN THE 3 WAYS TO GET OUT OF CHECK.

________23.BASICALLY WHEN DOES THE MIDDLE-GAME BEGIN IN CHESS.

________24.BASICALLY WHEN DOES THE END-GAME BEGIN IN CHESS.

________25.SHOW THE FOOL’S MATE AND EXPLAIN WHY IT IS CALLED A FOOL’S MATE.

________26.NAME 3 BASIC GUIDELINES/RULES FOR OPENING A CHESS GAME.

________27.NAME 2 BASIC GUIDELINES/RULES USED IN THE ENDING OF A CHESS GAME.

________28.CHECKMATE USING A KING AND QUEEN AGAINST A LONE KING.

________29.CHECKMATE USING A KING AND TWO ROOKS AGAINST A LONE KING.

________30.SHOW HOW TO PREVENT GETTING MATED BY THE SCHOLAR’S MATE

Mat'ka shows a surprising move.

The camp was a great deal for $105. It included lot's of learning and fun, but also included a morning snack, lunch, and also some tangibles like a tournament chess set, carrying backpack, a daily problem and lesson packet, a chess rage t-shirt, a medal, and a photograph certificate.  We also had a watermelon scavenger hunt, and played ping-pong and foosball during some free time.

I am showing Sarah how a chess engine works to help your game.

It was clear that all of the kids loved the camp, and they wanted it to continue or asked for another camp before the end of summer.  Each day I was surprised by e-mails or phone messages left by the parents that praised the camp and the counselors. 

More will follow . . . 

Our outstanding counselors (Left to right:  Victor Saldivia, Andre Murphy, Anna Murphy, Riley Clark, Desmond Porth, Mat'ka Last, Dylan Porth - Tanya Wilkerson missed picture day!)