Title: Chess School for Beginners

Author: Yury Razuvaev

Publisher: Convekta

Genre: Introduction to Chess

Level: Beginners

What should one look for in a product for chess beginners? In my opinion, the three most important features to look for are clarity of explanation, variety of exercises, and as much interactivity as possible. The importance of the first factor, clarity, is obvious: chess rules are rather complex, and consequently many students, especially younger ones, are confused and lose interest before they have discovered the charm of the game. The second factor, variety of exercises, helps the student go through the studying process while being well entertained.

* chessbug@chessbug.com

Without variety, and I could name a few beginners’ chess books that lack variety, the book, although being clear, may become a tedious chore, thus losing a few other potential chess lovers. The third feature that I look for in a product for beginners, interactivity, is strongly connected with the first two, clarity, and variety. High interactivity, manifested in many little challenges that should arrive after every unit of new material, makes the material clearer and more enjoyable. Although the importance of interactivity is usually associated with the training of kids, I think interactivity is equally important for adult audiences as it is for young ones. Chess School for Beginners, despite a few minor reservations I have, does excellently on all three: clarity, variety and interactivity.  

Before I move to the contents of Chess School for Beginners, let me go through the first experience with this product. The “hardware” parts are not too impressive but functional - a simple case with rather naïve graphics and a 24 page instruction booklet, in one color. The booklet is humble but seems to have all the necessary information. Personally, I go through instruction booklets only after trying and failing to understand the software itself. With this product I did not need to go back to the booklet so I did not really have to test it. The installation of Chess School was very easy, and it worked perfectly without me having to restart my computer. Once you open the application for the first time it asks you to create a student account, which I did under the name of “Chessbug”, of course.

The application course has three parts: “Rules of Chess”, “Development of Intellectual Abilities”, and “Playing.” In the following images you can see the contents of every section:

The above part is done wonderfully, the explanations are crystal clear, and the tone of the language is warm and pleasant. Every class is accompanied with a substantial number of questions and “hands on” exercises. After you go through the exercises you can take a test to see how well you do under time pressure. As one who saw many newcomers who get frustrated with chess before they even learnt the rules, I can say that this chapter will be joyful for many who might have thrown away a beginners' book before they had even learnt how each piece moves. Especially good is the “Mate in One Move” chapter, where the most often seen mate-patterns are covered, both in their stripped out form (only with the relevant pieces on board) and as they may appear in in-practice positions. The only thing I missed is a Mate in Two Moves chapter. I think two-movers are basic and should be a part of a beginner’s first course.

The name “Development of Intellectual Abilities” is somewhat vague, and the names of the sub-chapters (“Imagination”, “Cunning”…) do not add much information. What this unit contains is mostly different sorts of visualization exercises, of the sort that improves one’s ability to calculate at the board without moving the pieces. The unit contains different chess mazes, and other games that are not exactly chess but use the chess board and the rules of movement of the chess pieces. I think this unit can really help the beginning player, not to the mention the fact that it is highly entertaining, even for a player who is a little bit more advanced. The last sub-chapter, “Creativity”, includes problems with real chess rules. The whole chapter is highly valuable for beginners, though the chapter is not a substitute to a book or a software product, dedicated to chess tactics.

The third part of the CD, “Playing” was the most emotional one for me. You may be surprised, what on earth could be emotional about “rook against pawn” endgames? The thing is that this part reminds me of my days of starting to play chess. How difficult was it to find someone who would agree to play the king and pawn against my king and rook! Even if I did find a bored friend who would take the weak side’s part, they would do it without really trying. The result was that I had to play against myself. For example I would play both the white king and bishops trying to checkmate the black king, and the black king trying to avoid the mate. These were rather schizophrenic times, and for this reason I can appreciate the fact that with modernity on our side, the new generations of chess players can use the computer as their “boxing sack” and train for their games. The “Playing” part has a great practical significance, and going through all of the practice exercises will give the student many subsequent victories in real-life games. The sub-chapter “Converting Material Advantage into Victory” may very well be the most productive part of the CD.

In general, the CD is very well done, the quizzes are challenging, unique, and there are hardly any mistakes. I did find one mistake in Exercise 88 – White should avoid squares controlled by black pieces but the white rook on g3 is constantly attacked by the black queen on h2. Yet, this is the only mistake I found in many dozens of exercises that I went through. I would have added to Chess School for Beginners a short discussion of openings – a subject that always intrigues chess beginners, but I guess one cannot expect to find everything in one CD. In any case this CD is an inviting introduction to the kings’ game. If one accepts the invitation and finds pleasure and challenge in this game, there is always more to be learnt.

The Good Things:

• Clear and friendly – both in language and in interface

• Highly interactive – after every small part there are exercises and questions to answer

• The practice material is diverse and highly enjoyable

• The practice for converting material advantage into victory is most useful

The Bad Things:

• Two-move mates could have added a lot

• I would also have added a discussion of opening principals

Quote:

“In some cases (mostly with beginners) stalemate is caused either by the unskillful attempt to give mate to a lone king or by indiscreetly playing for the opponent’s pieces’ extermination in a situation where the opponent has a significant disadvantage.”

The Bottom Line:

Chess School for Beginners is a great way to start playing chess. It will give hours of intellectual stimulation to any beginner, child or adult.

Rating: 9/10

Review written by Chessbug.