Blog

Dr. Alexey Root taught "The Knight's Can't Wait" which is from her book Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving to beginning and intermediate students at St. Vincent’s School.

At Greenhill School, Dr. Alexey Root read the Big Book of Coco Can't Wait. Following her Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving activity “The Knights Can’t Wait,” she paused the story so students could portray the journey of Coco and her grandma using knights. The advanced group additionally had time to work individually on the knight’s tour on diagram paper.

Dr. Alexey Root listed five types of draws: by agreement, stalemate, three time repetition, 50-move rule, and insufficient material. For the stalemate, 50-move rule, and insufficient material types she had students, in pairs, come up with examples of these draws. Then students played for fun and there were announcements about T-shirts and the upcoming Scott Watson Memorial Chess Tournament on October 12.

For the St. Vincent’s Chess Club meeting on Wednesday, October 2, 2013, Dr. Alexey Root taught the "Mazes and Monsters" lesson plan from Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving to the beginners. While students set up mazes for each other, Dr. Root retaught and tested the two-rook checkmate with students.

Dr. Root had all three groups play "the pawn game" which is simply king and 8 pawns versus king and 8 pawns. It is featured in Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving. When pawns promoted, players tried to use what they know about checkmating to try to checkmate their opponent.

Denton High School Chess Club President Alex presented about passed pawns and the square of the pawn. Then students played the “Battleship Chess” drill, from Dr. Alexey Root’s book Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators. Then students played for fun and listened to announcements about upcoming tournaments and activities. 17 students attended.

Beginners: Dr. Root demonstrated the two rook checkmate and students practiced it. (Lesson plan is in Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators).

Intermediate: Dr. Root demonstrated the king and queen vs. king checkmate and students practiced it. Dr. Root tested half the students on it, individually. (More testing next week.)

Dr. Alexey Root showed a position where a queen and rook checkmated a lone king (just the final checkmate position). Then she asked pairs of students to try to set up a checkmate position using the White (Q, R, and K) against a lone black king. Some beginner misconceptions were revealed, such as putting a king next to a king or thinking that if you put an undefended queen next to a king that would be checkmate.

Dr. Root showed one example each of a fork, a pin, and a skewer to members of Denton High School chess club. Vice President Shawn J. wrote definitions of those tactics. Tactics are good for winning material, which then can lead to having a decisive advantage.

Dr. Alexey Root taught the beginners from 3:30 to 3:50, the intermediates from 3:50 to 4:25 and the advanced from 4:25 to 4:55.
The Beginners completed the "Classify" activity from Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14.
The Intermediate students completed the Scholar's Mate activity from Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities. The students notated as part of the activity.

1) Rook mazes for beginners. After Dr. Root gave a sample maze on the demonstration board, students set up a mazes for each other then captured each chessman in the maze with a rook. From Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving.

Dr. Alexey Root showed the moves and Vanessa wrote the notation for this line of the Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation.