Chess Intermediate I-II

Our Chess Intermediate/Advanced classes are designed to advance students' chess skills and strategies. This course covers advanced tactics, strategic planning, and positional understanding. Students might be divided into subgroups based on their skill level to ensure personalized instruction and optimal learning.

Sample List of Key Skills Covered (will be adjusted based on the actual skill level of class participants):

• Understanding the phases of a chess game: opening, middlegame, and endgame
• Advanced tactics and strategies: pins, forks, skewers, double attacks, overloading, and deflection
• Importance of pawn structure and piece development
• Checkmating patterns and defenses
• Game mechanics, including castling, en passant, and pawn promotion
• Introduction to opening repertoire and theory
• Learning famous openings and their typical middlegame plans
• Positional play: controlling key squares, open files, and diagonals
• Endgame techniques: opposition, zugzwang, and critical squares
• Studying famous chess matches to understand high-level strategies and tactics
• Game analysis and notation

Classes include board demonstrations, practical interactions, and playing matches under the instructor's guidance. Students will also be invited to participate in chess tournaments to test their skills in a competitive setting.

Prerequisites: This class is for children who have a strong command of the pieces and their movements, understand check, stalemate and know how to checkmate.  Children might be familiar with castling and en passant, and might have been introduced to some tactics and key chess principals but do not have a dominant command on using them in their games yet. 

Fall 2024 Schedule: 09/30 - 12/09 (no cl 10/14, 11/11) - 9 classes