| Any chess tutor who has taught youngsters knows
it’s not always easy to keep the students’ attention. Some kids have
a short attention span, many get fidgity and need to move, others simply
get bored with lectures. Learning chess should be exciting and fun
and can be by using some hands-on techniques. I’d like to share these
lessons with you. |
| I call this section of lessons, Pawns vs Pieces,
and can benefit anyone from beginner to a USCF Expert. The lessons
allow each student to take part in a ‘game’; a game of movement and strategy
which allows their minds to grasp the interaction between playing pawns
against pieces. Students will progress at a faster rate when they
figure this relationship out for themselves. These lessons also give
a good foundation to build endgame play upon. |
Knight vs Pawns
|
| I’m sure you have defined the value of the chess
pieces to your students… did you tell them a bishop is worth more than
a knight? “Ahhh”, you say, “but a knight can be worth more than a
rook in a closed position!”. Yes, and a pawn can be worth more than
a queen if it delivers mate… but getting down to the nitty-gritty
and to not confuse students, most tutors will teach the following values: |
| Pawn |
=
|
1 point |
| Knight |
=
|
3 points |
| Bishop |
=
|
3 points |
| Rook |
=
|
5 points |
| Queen |
=
|
9 points |
|
| I’m not sure who came up with these original values
but I think it’s a good place to start, so let’s compare these figures
against the ‘fighting value’ of a piece. If we adopt the pawn as
equal to ‘1 point’ then we can derive a correlation for all the other pieces
as to their actual fighting value. |
| Hence, place a white knight on the square b1 and
across the board place black pawns on squares b7, c7, d7. The object
of this lesson is to have one student play the pawns against a fellow student
playing the piece. The piece always moves first; and the objective
for the player with the piece is to win all the pawns. The objective for
the player with the pawns is to queen one of them without losing it.
If the player with the pawns can queen one of them without it being captured
then he/she wins. |
| Tell your students to do this exercise... did the
pawns win? Did the knight win? Ask them and you will find that
they disagree as to who should win! Tell them to swap sides and repeat
the exercise. After completing the 2nd exercise ask your students
again, “Should the knight always win? Or should the pawns always
win?” |
| The fact is that the pawns will ALWAYS WIN when
played correctly! Now then, try this exercise with two pawns vs a
knight. |
| Conclusion: The knight can always hold two
pawns but can not hold three pawns against correct play. |
Bishop vs Pawns
|
| Place a white bishop on it’s original starting square
of c1. Place the three pawns across from it on b7, c7, d7.
The bishop moves first. Can the bishop hold three pawns? Ask
your students before trying the exercise. Have them play thru it
and then ask them again. Then have them swap sides and try the exercise
again. How many players think the pawns win over the bishop? |
| Conclusion: The bishop will ALWAYS WIN against
three pawns when played correctly in this exercise. |
| Author’s note: adding a king to each side
compensates the handicapped knight since the king can control the opposite
colored squares of the bishop. |
Rook vs Pawns
|
| Well, if a bishop can hold three pawns, can a rook
beat five pawns!? Place a white rook on a1, place five black pawns on b7,
c7, d7, e7, f7. The piece always moves first. I suspect that
if you were to ask your students who should win, by now they’ll be betting
on the rook… which is correct. Make sure you have them
swap sides so they can play both sides. |
Queen vs Pawns
|
| Yuppers! She’ll catch all nine of them!
Place the extra pawn directly across from the queen and put the queen on
it’s original starting square. She gets to move 1st, but I don’t think
it really matters. |
King vs Pawns
|
| Yessirree! The king has a fighting strength
of... well, it’ll be more fun if you have your students figure it
out. Start with three pawns and then advance to four or more. |
| I hope these lessons are helpful to all you dedicated
chess tutors, who may change the world by promoting creative thinking!
J Good Luck! |
