The Q & A Way
The Q & A Way is based in large part on readers' questions. Do you have a
question about preparation, strategy or tactics? Submit your questions (with
you full name and country of residence please) and perhaps Bruce will reply in
his next Chess Cafe column...
Yes, I have a question for Bruce!
Chess Puppetry
Question I am a 33-year-old class A player and the father of a 3-year-old-girl
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(and a three month old baby boy as well). Like all dads I think she is brilliant.
Let me spare you and your readers why I think so. In any case, I can t wait to
teach her to play chess. In fact, I have already begun to do so. She knows the
Way
name of the pieces but I have not been able to go much beyond that (although I
Bruce Pandolfini
am a professor by trade and I have been quite successful teaching her many
other things). I don t want to force her into something that she is not ready for
yet. However, I was wondering if you knew a fun way for young kids of that age
to improve their understanding of the basics of chess. Thank you very much
again. (I actually think this age bracket is an unexploited niche in the chess
market. If I had the connections, the skills and the money, I would produce a
Sesame Street kind of show about the chess game. I see bishop monsters going
sideways, etc. What do you think about that?)
Jean-Philippe Stijns (USA)
Answer You can teach her by play-acting the game, using a large floor mat or
rug, partitioned like a chessboard (though you can start with fewer squares).
Find stuffed chess pieces, make them, or come up with generic surrogates that
can substitute for knights, pawns, and the rest of the crew. Then use your
academic imagination to fashion engaging narratives that keep her enthralled
and wanting to participate further. Over time she will have been tricked into
learning how to play chess, enjoying every moment she spent with her loving
father. You can get further use of the materials in three years, once your 3-year-
old is ready to imagine his own stories.
The Sesame Street idea isn t a bad one. In fact, Jim Henson asked me many
years ago to come up with a concept to teach chess in the puppet format. And I
would have, but I got sidetracked with my work at the Manhattan Chess Club
and the developing Chess-in-the-schools program, known at the time as the
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Manhattan Chess Club School. Those activities became so demanding that I lost
my way for a year or so and couldn t do anything else. I actually forgot about
everything else, including Sesame Street, and the phone calls and letters they
sent me. Wow, was that stupid.
Question The Internet is great, that you can read this! First of all, I m sorry
about my English, I m from Bolivia. About ten years ago I read my first chess
book. It was Modern Chess by Bruce Pandolfini. I find it wonderful it improved
my game like I wouldn t think. The fever of chess got me and in those days I
was playing and studying all the time, having fun all the time. But I had to stop
because of university and studies. I was champion of my high school and also of
my university. Now I m 26 and I m trying to get back to chess. Do you think it
is possible to improve my game to a fairly strong level like 2200 2300 ELO at
my age or am I too old for it? And if I can, how should I begin?
Alejandro Fernandez Torrico (Bolivia)
Answer Of course it s possible. It s just very hard. But it s clear the game
means much to you, and that s the finest possible incentive. I d start by playing
a lot of chess against the best opposition I could dig up. Fortunately, as you say,
you have the Internet, with the opportunity to be seriously tested and challenged
whenever you d like. There are also various online services that will provide
you excellent databases from which to study and develop you opening
repertoire. So that s what I d do: I d play and follow up with study, then play
and study some more, on all and everything that grabs my interest. It still might
not fulfill your dreams, but the process should make you a better player, while
giving you the chance to spend your leisure time in meaningful occupation. I say
go to it.
Question I ve read that one of the best ways to improve your game is to work
on recognizing tactics. I ve read GM Wolff s Complete Idiot s Guide to Chess
and GM Seirawan s Winning Chess Tactics. Now, I need a good tactics drill
book. Could you suggest some titles to consider? What do you think of Winning
Chess Exercises for Kids by Jeff Coakley or Lou Hays Combination Challenge?
Fred Reinfeld is the old standby of course, but I ve heard his tactics book is for
higher intermediate players.
Edgie Quetua (USA)
Answer All the books you ve mentioned are fine. There are many from which
to choose, though you might want to add to your growing list the books of
David MacEnulty, Fred Wilson, and Bruce Alberston. But you can t go too far
astray with any tome that offers collections of situational puzzles. Luckily, these
days it s hard to find tactical books that don t include tactics.
Question I m currently rated around 1800 but would really like to reach around
2200 strength. I think that with some kind of training schedule and regular play
(at long play time limits) this should be achievable, but do you think it can be
done without a chess trainer? I am currently a student and can t afford a coach
so I will have to rely on my chess library. Do you think that generally speaking
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this is a sensible target? (I know this is a difficult question to answer but I am
just wondering if I am being sensible or living in a dream world!). Do you have
any hints as to how I can achieve my goal?
Richard Welford (England)
Answer Certainly, you can do it. You don t need a trainer. You already have
one: you. Follow the programs offered in books you find appealing, or turn to
chess software or its cousin, the sundry Internet offerings, many of which are
really outstanding. In addition to playing against stiff opposition several times a
week, you should at least put in as many hours as you reasonably can afford
supporting your play by looking up lines and figuring out how you could have
won games you didn t or saved games you didn t. For fun, you can solve
copious tactical puzzles and play over instructive contests that stimulate your
competitive glands. It s a beginning, and whether you do it or not, I now have a
plan for the rest of my day.
Question Something very nice happened to my Internet play. Although I love
chess and have studied it for some 5 years, my standard rating was only 1500.
I discovered I am a very anxious person. Because of that, I tend to think very
superficially about any position: I just get too nervous in all games. In order to
fix it I began to practice gymnastics (!) while playing long standard games
(usually 40 minutes per side). I put it into practice last 31 December. In exactly
one month, my standard rating raised from 1500 to 1975! Could you share any
thoughts or suggestions about it!?
Joel Xavier de Macedo Jr. (Brazil)
Answer Hey, if it works? I m not certain I could recommend your approach to
others, however, particularly for standard tournament settings. I d have to know
which calisthenics you re talking about. I could see finger exercises, dynamic
tension and that kind of thing, where you can continue to sit at the board and
annoy your opponent from a safe distance. But headstands, though also very
disturbing, might be a little too difficult for average readers to implement,
especially when short of time, or when they can t get a crazy position out of
their head and take it along to the bathroom, the water cooler, or other places
itinerant thinkers usually go. Still, your rating gain is impressive, and for many
readers, a rating point takes priority over everything else there is or ever could
be. So, I will print it, hoping the editor sees the point and lets it go anyway.
Question In Pandolfini s Chess Complete you suggest that Paulsen might hold
the record for en passant captures: He had four en passant captures in a game
against Adolf Anderssen (1818-1879) at Baden-Baden in 1870 (p. 185). Could
you please post that game, or whichever game you might have discovered more
recently, that holds the record for en passant captures? (I have been unable to
find Paulsen s game on the Internet.)
Don Hart, Toronto (Canada)
Answer Are you kidding? I m trying as best I can to disengage myself from that
period in my life. Why would I want to look up a game that only serves to bring
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on the most painful memories? Actually, I can t seem to locate it either, and
since my original manuscript is buried where even I can t find it (can you blame
me?), I m going to have to ask our readership for help. I know the reference I
saw was real, but I don t know where it came from. That will teach me.
Question What is umpaso or something similar sounding?
Keith Crawford (USA)
Answer Now that s more like it. I d tell you it s the rule we re talking about in
the previous question, but I wouldn t want to treat it so blithely umpaso. If
you re referring to that rule, which indicates a type of pawn capture by another
pawn, you can find it explained perfectly in any number of places on the
Internet. Just type in the en passant rule, or something like it, and that should
enable you to clear things up fairly quickly. If you re not referring to that rule, I
don t think my answer is going to help you.
Question I understand the names given to some games (The Immortal, Game of
the Century, etc.), but what does The Evergreen mean in reference to
Anderssen-Dufresne?
Michael Weitz (USA)
Answer An evergreen tree is one which has foliage that persists (remains
green), that is present throughout the year. The Anderssen-Dufresne, in turn,
will always be new and vibrant to new generations of chessplayers. It also has
many possible variations that branch out and form analytic trunks, some of
which are extremely difficult to follow. So the word evergreen applies to the
game for two reasons: the game will always be fresh, and it leads to all kinds of
branching variations.
Question Hello Bruce. I m a long-time chessplayer with a USCF rating between
1750-1800. Based on your years of chess coaching and observation of students,
do you think that long, slow games (say Game/90 minutes or more) are more
effective for increasing one s chess skills than shorter so-called action chess
games (Game/30minutes). To improve my chess skills, would I be better off
playing two Game/90 minutes a week or six Game/30 minutes? Does it matter?
Right now, I play only at the shorter time controls.
F. Burke (USA)
Answer I d mix it up. I d try different time controls and learn to cope with all
conditions. Those are the people who tend to succeed at chess, the survivors of
the world, with their competitive instincts and bent for situational awareness.
Question With work and family a much greater part of my life than chess, I
don t harbor any realistic expectations of making master. I just don t have the
time required and I m not sure I have the talent either. However, I do enjoy
playing (humans only, please) and reading about the game. My favorite books
are game collections from players of the past and I enjoy playing over the games
and following the annotations. My favorites have been Golombek s
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Capablanca s Hundred Best Games and Kotov s book on Alexander Alekhine.
My questions concern the best way to play over annotated master games. I
would still like to become a better player (who doesn t?), but I am not interested
in a program of study, just ways to improve while I m having fun reading. I ll
tell you that I am a 1900 player, because I suspect different strength players
should study games differently. Does it matter what era I choose? Will I learn
more playing over more modern games rather than Capablanca/Alekhine era
games? Right now I mix them up for variety. How much time should I spend on
a game? Currently, I will look at a game for about an hour. I am not as
interested in divining the truth about a game as would Hübner or Speelman. I
am more interested reading annotations that go as far as I could follow if I were
sitting at the board playing the game. At my level, is it better to choose games
annotated primarily verbally, those annotated mostly with variations or a mix of
the two? I usually make the moves on Fritz with Infinite Analysis running. Is
this OK or is it better for me to search for the moves myself and compare with
Fritz s analysis later?
Jim Fenton (USA)
Answer Generally, I think the wisest course for you would be to aim for
balance. Choose worthy examples from the past and contemporary examples of
theoretical import to your own liking. You re already doing that, so you don t
necessarily have to change your approach. The ideal amount of time you should
invest in analyzing a game should be based solely on your comfort level. If what
you re doing suits you admirably, I wouldn t give it any more or less time than
you typically do. You ve found the right level of involvement by experience,
and that s the best way to acquire anything.
With regard to verbal commentary and notational analysis, I d go with those
books and journals that give you a balanced blend, in the way Bronstein does in
his notes to the 1953 Zurich tournament. As far as entering the moves into Fritz
before considering them or after first considering them, there, too, I think it best
to go with whatever enables you to proceed most smoothly and trouble-free.
You sound like such a rational and really smart person, I don t think you need
anyone s help. I think you d make an excellent chess coach. Just go on studying
chess your way. One shouldn t tamper with someone who knows what he s
doing.
Copyright 2005 Bruce Pandolfini. All Rights Reserved.
Yes, I have a question for Bruce!
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