Dr. Alexey Root’s forthcoming book, Prepare With Chess Strategy, is featured in the Merit Badge Clinic column in the November-December 2015 issue of Scouting magazine. Scouting magazine is an official publication of the Boy Scouts of America.
If you are eligible to take college-credit courses, consider the Chess Online courses offered via UT Dallas eLearning. Registration is open now for the courses, which are offered in the second 8 weeks of fall and spring semesters. For fall semester 2015, ED 4358 and ED 4359 begin October 19, 2015 and are taught by Dr. Alexey Root. Students from UT Dallas, from other universities, chess coaches, and adults interested in chess in education are welcome.
Feliciano Delapaz created SCA Chess, an organization dedicated to teaching young players life lessons, positive social behavior, and good sportsmanship through chess. Dr. Alexey Root is featured in the inaugural SCA Chess “eNewzletter.”
Dr. Alexey Root taught at the UT Dallas chess camp and the Coppell Gifted Association MOSAIC program this summer. Next on her schedule is a Chess merit badge workshop (August 8) and tournament (August 15) at the National Scouting Museum. Registration is available at http://www.bsamuseum.org/Programs/Advancement/BoyScoutPrograms.aspx and you do not need to be a Boy Scout to register and attend. However, Boy Scouts looking to earn their Chess merit badges are the target audience.
Koshi Dhingra of talkSTEM posted her interview with Dr. Alexey Root.
April 21, 2015 was the last session of Greenhill School “Chess-Playing for the Enjoyment” for spring semester 2015. Dr. Alexey Root handed out awards. Then children and parents enjoyed refreshments. Cathleen Garcia, organizer of the club, missed the last session due to suffering a broken wrist earlier in the day. Cathleen Garcia is taking a new position in Madagascar this fall.
On April 18, 2015, Dr. Alexey Root directed a Chess merit badge tournament from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (12:30-1:00 p.m. lunch break) at the National Scouting Museum. Requirement 6 was covered. (Previously, on April 11, Requirements 1, 2, 4, and 5 were covered and Requirement 3, the part about teaching chess to another Scout, was done by the Scouts on their own between April 11 and 18.)
For April 14, Dr. Root taught the beginners how to play "bughouse," which is the partner chess game that we usually have time for after the awards ceremony on April 21.
On April 11, 2015, Dr. Alexey Root taught a Chess merit badge workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (12-12:30 p.m. lunch break) at the National Scouting Museum. Sixteen Scouts attended. Requirements 1, 2, 4, and 5 were covered. Between now and April 18, Scouts will teach someone else chess (Requirement 3). And on April 18, Scouts will play a tournament, notating three games, fulfilling Requirement 6.
For April 7, the Greenhill School chess beginners notated the four moves of the Scholar's Mate and learned how to defend against it. The Scholar’s Mate lesson plan is in Dr. Alexey Root’s book Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities.
Dr. Alexey Root had Greenhill School chess students try the Game Theory challenge from Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14. The beginners were not required to notate, so they were able to complete both the kingside and queenside castling versions of the challenge.
