Chess Parents FAQs - Blog

Why do we offer Step 1 right now?

5/24/2018

We have been offering Step 2, Step 3, and Step 4 online for 3 years now. Parents often told us that their child is not able to catch up on Step 2. They need more help, such as Step 1. To complete the suite, we are beginning to offer Step 1 online so kids can have access to chess class no matter what his/her level is. The only requirement for Step 1 is that the kid can play from the beginning to the end. We still believe that pre-Step 1 teaching requires face-to-face and maybe one-on-one interaction.

I have been offering pre-Step 1, Step 1 up to Step 4 offline for 5 years now. Step 1 is in fact the most popular class. The new online Step 1 will follow the 3-session model: Step 1, Step 1 extra, and Step 1 plus. A big early concern was that the Step 1 students usually play slowly, so they can't finish their games in class. But we changed our online class format. They will not play in class anymore. They will play before the class. The coach will review their game records. This is one big advantage of online classes over the offline classes.

Let's wish the new Step 1 class could be successful!

Why do we offer the Steps class online?

5/18/2018

I have been offering the Steps classes online for 3 years now. I have students from CA to MA, and even some attending from China. The main reason for online classes is the feasibility. Not everyone could come to my classroom, especially if you are out of state. Even some in-state students take classes online to save some time on the road.

Another reason is the flexibility. Because it's online, you can take it anywhere. Most students are attending at home, some at hotel during tournaments, and some on cars while their parents drive. It is much easier to transit into other activities, because the parents have no need to drive from one place to another place. It's very helpful when students have many more activities nowadays.

We are using Steps as our core curriculum. It's very easy to follow our schedule. We also provide video recording for each lesson in case your child needs to review or to catch up when s/he misses the lesson.

For current offering, you can check:
http://www.chessstepsonlinelessons.com/

Do I require your child to solve my daily puzzle?

4/27/2018

This morning a parent from WeChat groups asked me about my daily puzzle. Do I require her child to solve it? I have to answer NO. I can't require anything because I am not your teacher. I am a teacher for very few kids in the groups. I share a puzzle a day because I consider the puzzle is interesting and educational. All the puzzles are not very difficult. I can be pretty much sure what the answer should be. Most times some parents are more eager to answer them. But sometimes children solved them.

To be honest, solving one problem a day is completely insufficient. But if your child gets into the habit of solving puzzles, this will be really helpful. I know one child who used to solve my daily puzzle in neat handwriting, she is above 2000 right now. That's only 2 years ago.

BTW, answers for daily puzzles are available at:
http://www.chessstepsonlinelessons.com/blog

How long will it take to groom a chess player?

3/1/2018

Let's assume 2000 is a decent level to reach. For the fastest kids, it will take about 3 to 5 years to reach that level. The youngest master (2200) is a 9 years old, but he started to learn chess at 5 or 6 years old. In chess, just like in other activities, there is nothing like quick success. All successes take years. If you want to be faster, you have to work harder. The total effort is about same.

Most kids may take 5 to 10 years to reach 2000, if they persist. The key here is persisting. Most actually quit chess or slow down to put in any effort in chess after they reach middle school. 95% will shift from chess to college application when they reach high school.

For adults, the time may take even longer, due to several reasons: more distractions, less time to play and study chess, and slower in learning new knowledge.

Why parents playing along with child is the best support you could provide?

2/23/2018

At the Amateur Team East last weekend, there are at least 2 teams consisted of chess fathers from NJ, and 1 team from NY. They competing along with their children's teams. I heard some mothers are also motivated to organize a team and train for the next year's team tournament.

Why this is the best way to support your children?

First, parents are the role models at home. Good or bad, your children look up to you. If you study hard, study everyday, play chess everyday, and accept losses gracefully, your child will see it and will try to follow your example. Action is much more effective in teaching than words.

Second, you will appreciate more the toughness of the game, and much easier to sympathize your child when s/he loses. You will understand him/her better and not jump to conclusion.

Third, with a common interest, you and your child can spend more time together, hopefully improve the communication between parents and children. You can have fun time together, and survive the long depressing plateau together.

Why one game a week might slow down your child's progress?

2/14/2018

I have a student who plays in a local club, one game a week in one night. She has played in this tournament many times, but she has made very little progress.

There is a local chess school here that offers a league tournament, which is very popular. It's also one game a week in one night. I have not heard many that grow out of that league.

Playing a game is better than playing no game, but it also gives wrong impression to the parent, that "my child is playing tournament every week". With this impression, the parent will not actively search for another better tournament. They will go to that club week by week, be satisfied with the activity, but not the result. If you are a retiree, this is not bad. But if you are a fast-growing youngster, this is not good.

Some TDs report results week by week, while other TDs report results by combining multiple weeks. But you only get one practice chance every week.

Doing this doesn't save you any time, because you have to drive to the tournament every week. That night may be all for chess. Your child will have to make up his/her homework on other days. The total time might be much more than a tournament on weekends.

The big disadvantage of playing one game a week is that many players need time to warm up. They need one or two games to get into chess playing mode. Every time they get into mode, then they stop and go home. They have to re-start next week. But same thing might happen next week. We all know, chess is like war. It does not only depend on knowledge and skill, but also on morale and mood. If you have confidence, you could easily outperform yourself. For a kid, building that confidence is critical. This requires several games in one tournament in a short time span.

Go find multi-games tournaments on weekends. Do not split them out.

The 5334 book has all the answers in the back, why do I need your video course?

2/13/2018

Yes, the book has all the answers. If you only want to check answers, you don't need me. If your child is a hard-working kid, who can verify his/her solutions by looking up in the back of the book and think hard if his/her solution is wrong, then you don't need me at all. Your child can outgrow the book very quickly.

But, unfortunately, most children are not like that. They need some help when they face some difficulty. They need someone who can lead the way, someone who can help them find clue, or maybe someone who can suffer along with them. It's very hard for a child go on a voyage by himself/herself alone. That's why you may need me.

I am not giving all the answers. In fact, I will still ask you to check them by yourself if you are not sure. What I want to help you is to have the confidence that you know your answer is correct most times. In a few situations, you know you still need think more. This confidence is critical for your child to play a real game. If you are not sure, you will start guessing. We all know what kind of result can be expected if you keep guessing. What I want to achieve is to remove guessing from your vocabulary. We need reason, even a wrong reason is better than guessing. Finding the reason is always our goal.

I will show you how to find clue when you face a never-seen problem or a kind-of-seen problem. A puzzle that gets into a book has a reason, because it has some patterns and has a solution. I will show you how to look for those clues. There are only 5-10 basic tactics we discuss in Step 2 or in any other tactics course, even you make combinations, the variety will be much less than 100. But there are hundreds, or even thousands of patterns. How to find them is not depending on guessing. We need some sure approaches. That's where I add values.

Why did I choose 5334 for the video course?

2/9/2018

Laszlo Polgar's 5334 Chess Problems is a classic book. The 1100-page is thick and heavy. If you see a child is reading the book at a tournament site, you know he is serious about chess. Although the book only has 3 types of tactics problems, mate in one, mate in 2 and mate in 3, the tactics they require cover all areas. From the demo video, we can see that it uses many concepts we discussed in Steps Method.

The number of problems is so big that it requires at least one year to finish if we move super-fast. At our normal speed as I planned, we will take about 2 years. We are still not discussing everything. But the long term also matches the persistence required for chess progress.

Because it's only one book, it's easy for us to track progress and to focus our discussion. We are not doing interactive lessons, so focus is extremely important.

To compensate the lack of structure, I will mention about Steps concepts when we discuss the problems in 5334. I am publishing a sample schedule every week. If you are already ahead of the schedule, you can continue at your place and your pace, following my 2-year schedule. You can ask any question in 5334 at any time. Please include Page # and Problem #. I will try my best to answer in the weekly video. All videos will be kept at the course host:
https://princetonchessacademy.teachable.com/p/5334-chess-problems-combinations-and-games

If you have WeChat, you can ask at my WeChat group. If not, you can ask at this website:
http://www.chessparents.net/5334

Why no tournament is interest killer?

2/8/2018

For my step 2 or up students, I send email notice every week to parents, to let them know where are the tournaments that weekend in NJ. I strongly encourage them to bring their child to tournaments. I try my best to arrange my higher level classes away from weekends, because that's when most tournaments happen.

The reason I sacrifice my class time and push them to tournaments are:

First, tournaments are where they apply and test the knowledge they learn. This is the only way they can master the skills solidly.

Second, tournament environment is much more serious than class environment. You don't know most of your opponents, and everyone wants to beat you. When you are serious, you think more and think better.

Third, winning a tournament is a big confidence booster. Your child will be much more interested in improving him/herself.

Fourth, playing in a tournament is also a small goal. If you perform well in small tournaments, you may go to state tournaments or nationals. All these goals are motivating your child to work hard. Without goals, where can you reach?

My best students are in Step 4 class. All of them are playing in the tournaments. I track all my students' tournament progress. If I see some previous students stop playing tournaments, I know I would lose track of him/her pretty soon. Very likely, s/he will stop playing chess completely.

What is the biggest problem for a child who studies chess?

2/6/2018

I have taught a lot of kids and talked with a lot of parents. The foremost question from parents is: I don't know chess, how can I help my child? This is a challenge for both the parent and the child. It's also a challenge for me. As a coach, I can't see your child everyday. If your child attend my classes, I will see him/her once a week. That's the only time I can observe your child and give you some feedback.

The biggest problem for a child to stay with chess is studying chess everyday at home. Because they don't have anyone to ask at home when they have questions, they stop studying at home at all. Learning chess once a week is not enough. We learn Math everyday at school. We learn English everyday. We learn most subjects everyday. Chess is the same. You have to study it everyday. If you only touch chess once a week, you can't improve much. If you can't improve, then slowly you will lose interest. That's one reason we assign a lot of homework, so at least you have the opportunity to do a few problems everyday. We also suggest your child to play online everyday, and to go to tournaments if they are ready.

That's also the reason I am creating a new video course to mitigate the problem. We will work on a book together. If your child hit upon any problem, s/he can ask. I will record a video every week to answer questions. It's an ongoing course. My initial commitment is 2 years.

More information can be seen on:
http://www.chessparents.net/5334

There is a demo video there. I will record a few more in Feb.