Who Would Have Thought?

Over at my Chess Examiner site, I've been writing about the U.S. Chess School that just concluded in St. Louis.

A sudden controversy erupted over an article I wrote, to which Elizabeth Vicary took exception. She wrote an angry blog post, to which I felt obligated to respond.

I can accept some of Elizabeth's arguments (at least her comments show thoughtful analysis), but some of her cult following clearly have too much time on their hands.

On Being a Female Chess Player

On day 2 of the U.S. Chess School in St. Louis, Elizabeth Vicary began the discussion, addressing issues of being a female chessplayer in this strongly male-dominated activity. She described the "weirdness" of being one of only a few women, or perhaps the only woman, at a chess tournament.

"People treat you strangely because you're the only female," she said. "This can have an effect on how a person develops as a chess player. There's a feeling of being watched, and wondering if people are thinking, 'she must not be very strong.'"

Vicary asked if the girls felt as if people were paying special attention to them at tournaments. Some agreed, others weren't aware of this occurring. One girl specifically said that she avoids large tournaments because she feels more pressure of being observed; smaller tournaments are less of a problem in this respect.

Another girl noted with consternation that often a low-rated player will be watching, and offer suggestions after the game. "The little girl must be stupid," she assumes the observer is thinking. "I don't think this would happen if I was a guy," she said.


Vicary has had similar experiences, and noted that perhaps a grandmaster or international master might be able to quickly glance at a game that she has spent hours poring over, and offer useful comments. But anyone less than an IM, she thought, even a regular master, would be unable to do so.

At this point, Gregory Kaidanov pointed out that in many cases it may just be a matter of a boy wanting to talk to the girl, and not knowing what else to say. "What else is he going to talk about?" Kaidanov asked.

Nevertheless, one girl said, "If it's condescending, it's annoying when they're trying to tell you what you should have done."

Lessons From a Chess Grandmaster, Part 2

More of grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov's instruction at the U.S. Chess School:

For the initial part of the camp, all students were scheduled to play a rated game with another student. Kaidanov asked that for this game, each player have in mind one specific aspect to concentrate on, and that this be written down, but kept private. It will be shared with Greg Shahade, but not other students. This one aspect can be anything of the student's choosing, or can be one of several that Kaidanov offered:

1) Ask every move, "what is my opponent's next move?"
2) Calculate as many candidate moves as possible.
3) Calculate as deep as possible.
4) Don't fall behind my opponent on time, too much.
5) Fight hard and maintain concentration regardless of the position on the board, whether winning or lost.
6) Constantly keep track of my and my opponent's good and bad pieces; make sure that I have every piece "in the game"; be aware of which pieces to keep and which to trade.
7) Be careful about every trade and make sure that every trade is either forced or is good for me.

Elizabeth Vicary asked if more than one such goal could be written down and stressed for this game. "The answer is no," Kaidanov said, "and I'll tell you the reason. It is very difficult to really concentrate on more than one of these at a time."

The key, though, is not to pick a subject area that you are good at! "Pick something that you are not so good at," Kaidanov said.


He also mentioned the importance of maintaining a chess journal of some sort - a notebook or Word file. Not just a record of games, but a record of all chess activity, including your thoughts during games. He advises writing down the date and even the time, noting what you did. For example, you might say, "I worked on solving puzzles, and I solved this one but not that one". Or "I went over this Anand game, and I especially liked this move." Or, "I have no clue why this move was played." Or "Spent three hours on chess, but concentration was very bad."

The result, Kaidanov explained, is that "If you keep this diary, you will know how hard you study, exactly what you know. Your parents will know, your coach will know; it's a wonderful tool. Using something like ChessBase, diagrams can be put into a Word file to help you remember a specific game."

He then brought up a sometimes-difficult-to-understand concept. "Many people have this false impression that chess improvement comes after learning a lot of stuff, that improvement will come in the knowledge area. This is a misconception."

Kaidanov compares the situation to a doctor or lawyer, who must accumulate a huge knowledge base. For example, a doctor needs to know that with a given set of symptoms, the illness is such and such. And for a different set of symptoms, the illness is something else. "With chess, this is completely different," he stressed. "Knowledge doesn't hurt. But even if you memorize every opening book, you will not become much stronger. The same with endgames. I'm not sure your rating will go up big time."


"Improvement will come in different areas. The biggest improvement will come if you will study your own games and know your own weaknesses. Combine some kind of study at home, with focus on certain things during your tournament games. This will take pressure off the result." He doesn't want the player to be focusing on winning a specific game, winning a title, winning money, etc. "Most of us do not handle pressure well, when there is a lot at stake." So to take pressure off, he stresses thinking about other things, such as one of the seven focus points mentioned above. Again, this might be concentrating on asking yourself what your opponent's next move is likely to be, or one of the other points Kaidanov suggested.

"The same mistake could be made for different reasons," he said. "Unless you find out the reason why you made this mistake, you won't be able to improve on it. You're going to make the same mistakes again and again." The whole idea of getting better is to eliminate the mistakes you make.

By maintaining a well-written chess journal containing your thoughts during a game, monitoring time use (Kaidanov also advises recording the clock time for each of your moves), and focusing on just one specific area at a time, a player can not only identify his or her weak spots, but work to eliminate them.

Lessons From a Chess Grandmaster, Part 1

The 10th session of the U.S. Chess School, founded by international master Greg Shahade, begin in an interesting manner. Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov is the primary instructor, with Shahade and WFM Elizabeth Vicary assisting, and Vicary took the floor first. Eight players, all girls (ages 12-19), were encouraged to relate three "facts" about themselves, two true and one false. The other girls were to try to guess in each case which statements were true and which were not.

Some interesting "facts" came out - "I'm a second-degree black belt," "I was bit on the foot by another person," "I'm half-Russian." But it wasn't always easy to identify truth from fiction - the kids told good stories.

Even Gregory Kaidanov got in the act. His three statements:
1) "I was once thrown in jail for a day for protesting the Communist government in Russia."
2) "I once played a chess game in which I sacrificed, in order, a pawn, a minor piece, a rook and a queen."
3) "I once flew to England just to attend a rock concert, then flew back home."

Which of these do you think are true, and which is a fabrication?


Next, Kaidanov got up to speak, and kept the players at rapt attention. He utilized a variety of both true and fictitious stories to get across his message and was quite effective. You need to listen carefully or you might miss his story about floating aliens learning to walk.

He stressed that a player can play chess without any serious study, but will eventually reach a ceiling, at which time his improvement stops. To move forward, hard effort is required. Even memorization of reams of opening material or endgame positions will not likely yield a significant rating increase, he said.

Instead, he stressed, what is required is to identify your weaknesses, and go to work on those specific areas. That is why some players might spend a large amount of time working on chess, but have little to show for it. "They're not working on what they're supposed to be working on," Kaidanov explained.

So analyzing one's own games, and focusing on your own weaknesses, is the path to improvement. And he commented that it is important to write down your thoughts about the game afterwards. He also stressed the importance of "talking to yourself" during a game, for example, "She just moved there to avoid the threat I had created," etc.

Sometimes, psychological factors may play as big a part as perpetual time trouble or calculation errors. Kaidanov presented a case of a young player who was advancing rapidly, but started playing poorly when his rating reached 2180. His problem? He was so fixated on breaking the 2200 level, as several of his friends had done, that he lost the concentration and focus that had brought him to the brink of being a master. Kaidanov told him that he will not be much different as a 2200 player than he is as a 2180 player, but to the young man, it was a massive, almost insurmountable, difference.


Kaidanov noted that his presentations during this chess camp are meant to be discussions, not lectures. He encouraged as much participation as possible, and commented that what students will learn from the camp is commensurate with how involved they are in these discussions.

Oh, and those "facts" from Kaidanov? Some in the audience guessed he had not actually ever sacrificed pawn, minor piece, rook and queen, in that order. Others guessed that he would not have actually flown to England just for a concert. But all agreed that it sounded "too normal" that he might have spent a day in a Russian prison for protesting the communist government. In fact, that was his false statement!

U.S. Chess School Begins in St. Louis!

It was an incredible first day at chess camp - more info to follow, but here are some pictures from Day 1! Participants include:

Abby Marshall
Darrian Robinson
Amanda Mateer
Sarah Chiang
Megan Lee
Eve Litvak
Rochelle Ballantyne
Linda Diaz

Great Photos from the U.S. Chess School in Arizona

Elizabeth Vicary has some great photos from the 8th U.S. Chess School session, currently taking place in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona.

Our family just returned to St. Louis from the Coronado Springs resort at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, site of the recent "grade nationals." It looks to me like a great place to hold a chess tournament, or any other event!

U.S. Chess League - Final Week Report

Robby Adamson worked overtime to get in his report on the final week of the regular season of the U.S. Chess League. In this Chess Life Online article, Robby provides a LOT of commentary and game scores.

U.S. Chess School Holds 4th Session

Back : Victor Shen, Christian Tanaka, Alec Getz, Michael Lee, GM Gregory KaidanovFront: Brian Luo, Aleksander Ostrovskiy, Daniel Naroditsky, Darwin Yang

Greg Shahade's U.S. Chess School held its fourth session July 23-27, 2007 in Lexington, Kentucky. This remarkable school provides a week of intensive instruction with GM Gregory Kaidanov, at no cost to the participants. It is designed to assist dedicated and promising students in their acquisition of deeper chess knowledge.

Watch for further information.

U.S. Chess School Update

IM Greg Shahade's U.S. Chess School has already conducted three successful sessions, with GM Gregory Kaidanov as the primary instructor. I was glad to read the following press release:

"Jim Roberts in conjunction with the AF4C have made a generous donation to the US Chess School, which will allow the school to plan for at least three training sessions per year. With this sponsorship we are planning the following things:

1. Holding 3 sessions per calender year. The next 3 sessions are expected to be July 07, Jan 08 and April 08.
2. We plan to have a 2nd World Class trainer for future sessions, to give the students exposure to different training methods and ideas.

Thanks once again to Jim Roberts and the AF4C, as the USCS is extremely grateful for such generous contributions to American chess."

Click here to access a wealth of material related to the U.S. Chess School.

More From the U.S. Chess School Session 3

Gary Robson was kind enough to pass along this link to the AmericanChess.net newsletter from Daniel Rensch that describes the recent U.S. Chess School session in detail. Some new photos also appear.

U.S. Chess School Coverage at Chess Life Online

FM Danny Rensch, who has helped provide information for this blog, has written an informative article about the recent U.S. Chess School session, which he and his family hosted in the Phoenix area.

In the article, Danny explains what IM Greg Shahade and GM Gregory Kaidanov hope to accomplish with the U.S. Chess School and he describes the intense analysis that went on. The primary focus was on identifying and learning from the mistakes in each player's games. "You could definitely say that we were all critical of each other’s weaknesses," Danny states, "but we also provided support when we recognized each player’s individual strengths." He adds that he could "almost feel everyone in the room improving by the hour."

The entertaining piece ends with photographs of the participants and even a few caricatures by budding artist IM Robert Hungaski. You can find additional information at the U.S. Chess School site, although as of this writing it has not been updated yet.

U.S. Chess School - More Info

GM Gregory Kaidanov
FM Danny Rensch

I asked Danny Rensch how this latest U.S. Chess School session differed from the earlier groups. "The first session had more players, so the variety of topics covered had to fit more styles. This session was smaller which meant more individual attention." He added, though, that "Both sessions were very helpful...The U.S. Chess School has tremendous potential and it will help this country's ability to turn out top world players."

GM Gregory Kaidanov again was the instructor, at no charge to the players, with food and housing provided to the students, also at no charge. Danny's wife was kept busy cooking meals for all the participants!

IM Robert Hungaski
FM Ray Robson

More Photos From the U.S. Chess School

U.S. Chess School - A Great Resource

GM Gregory Kaidanov (L) and FM Daniel Rensch
The U.S. Chess School, brainchild of IM Greg Shahade, opened its doors to its first class of students in January 2006. You can read more about it in my "Inside the U.S. Chess School" report at ChessCafe. The second session of the school took place last April, and the most recent group got together in the Phoenix area from January 1-8, 2007.

Participants in this round included:

• IM Josh Friedel (USCF 2535)
  
• FM Danny Rensch (USCF 2429)
  
• IM Robert Hungaski (USCF 2210)
  
• Xiao Cheng (USCF 2317)
  
• FM Ray Robson (USCF 2254)
  
• Elliot Liu (USCF 2301)

Quite an impressive bunch! WFM Tatev Abrahamyan was scheduled to appear as well, but unfortunately could not do so due to the ultimately fatal stroke her father suffered recently.

Danny Rensch and his family opened their homes to the players and instruction took place at the American Chess Events site in Mesa, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. You can find a bit more information here.

We'll have more reports and more photos shortly!

U.S. Chess School Holds Third Session in Phoenix

IM Greg Shahade's U.S. Chess School just completed its third session, in Phoenix, Arizona. Watch the United States Chess Federation website for details, which should be forthcoming within the next few days, Greg reports.

Addendum: The father of phenom Ray Robson points out that some introductory information is also available at the American Chess Events website. Ray was again one of the participants and his father noted that "This session differed from the others in that it was much more advanced. The players analyzed games and positions as a group, with partners, and individually. They discussed theory and worked on openings together."

The U.S. Chess School is a wonderful resource for America's top young players. We'll have more reports as they become available.