Information for the Second Koltanowski International Conference on Chess and Education (November 18-19 at the Hilton Anatole, Dallas, TX) is available HERE. Click on "Download the Official Brochure PDF" to download the program book. Within the program book are biographical statements and presentation abstracts, the form for Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented clock hours (Friday, November 18), and a Welcome message from Conference Chair Dr. Tim Redman.
Friday, November 11, 2011, was our Denton High School chess club field trip to UT Dallas for its Scholastic Affiliates program. Mr. Mueller (Denton High School chess club sponsor) and I drove 12 Denton HS students to UT Dallas. We met members of the chess team, toured the Activity Center and Student Union, and played chess with members of the UT Dallas “Student Chess Society” (chess club).
Chess club members learned how to draw with black from this position: White: Ke3, Pe4 Black: Ke5. For those who missed the previous week, I taught how to win when White has a Ke3, Pe2, Black has a Kf5 and it is White to move. After promoting, then White checkmates with a king and queen against king.
I recommend the book "Developing Chess Talent: Creating a chess culture by coaching, training, organization and communication" by Karel van Delft and IM Merijn van Delft, with a foreword by GM Artur Yusupov. As I read this book, I keep sticky notes handy to mark passages. Here are four of those, paraphrased by me:
1 A chess training program is only effective if the trainee realizes its use and helps design it.
The Second Koltanowski International Conference on Chess and Education will be held in Dallas, at the Hilton Anatole, November 18-19, 2011. For more information, read my article on Chess Life Online. I am Associate Chair for the conference.
Three of my Denton High School USCF-rated players know how to win king and pawn versus king, where White’s pawn is on e2, White's king is on e3 and Black’s king is on f5 with White to move. Each of them taught one small group (three to four other students) how to go from that starting position all the way to checkmate.
Denton High School (DHS) chess club members participated in the High School Open and non-rated sections of the Fort Worth Academy Scholastic Tournament on October 22, 2011. In the High School Open, the DHS team took first. Individual students’ results were: William Root, first place individual, 4.5 points out of 5; Austin McGregor, 3 points, Luis Guevara, 2 points, Alex Elizalde, 1 point.
I presented a problem featured in my forthcoming book Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14 (Mongoose Press, 2012). Here’s the problem, which I borrowed from Guliev, S. (2003). The manual of chess endings. Moscow, Russia: Russian Chess House: White: Kg6, Ne6, Nd6. Black: Kh8. What is the result with White to move? Now insert a black pawn on a6, with all other chessmen the same and White to move.
For the fifth meeting of the 2011-2012, on Friday, October 14, Denton High School chess club, I taught about Scholar’s Mate using an activity from Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities. Sixteen students attended the high school meeting from 4:10-5:10 p.m. I also used that Scholar’s Mate activity with the four-person (including one adult) Denton Public Library chess class from 2-3:30 p.m.
For the fourth meeting of the 2011-2012 Denton High School chess club, I taught about castling using ideas from Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities and from my forthcoming book Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14. Fifteen students attended. Earlier that afternoon, I taught en passant to my Denton Public Library class, which had 11 students today (including four adults).
The October 7, 2011 press release by UT Dallas discusses the chess team's most recent results, including a tournament win by Grandmaster Julio Sadorra (who took the Chess in Education courses which I teach). There is also a sidebar about those courses, my books, and the upcoming Koltanowski conference. Press release link: CLICK HERE
For the third meeting of the 2011-2012 Denton High School chess club, I taught about en passant using ideas from Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving and from my forthcoming book Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14. I planned to also teach en passant to my Denton Public Library class, but only three students (six year old twins and their mom) showed up.
