How to regulate one’s attention – play chess online
One of the fascinating board games that challenges the brain and stimulates the mind through the process of deep thinking is none other than the game of CHESS.
It is the one game that exercises your brain and helps it stay fit and healthy for a longer period. You might have noticed that many old-aged people possess exceptional memory power and mental alertness defying their old age. Chances are more that they have maintained their brain in a healthy manner by exercising it occasionally by challenging their mind with exercises such as reading, writing, solving crossword puzzles and such other things in their early ages.
Now, with the development of technology, many of our activities have changed. It is not a lament but absolute truth that the habit of reading and writing in legible handwriting is slowly but steadily fading out from the younger generation in this modern world. Increasing number of people rely on the computers, laptops, compact discs, pen drives and such other gadgets in this new world. Solving crossword puzzles, Sudoku and such stimulating activities are also not finding more favor with the people of this generation. In other words, the brain is not put to exercise at all nowadays, thanks to the advancement of technology.
The wonderful contribution of technology and the Internet to this noble game of chess is none other than online chess. Any person, aspiring to learn the game of chess and improve his skill in this game, can sit in front of his laptop or computer and learn the game in a simple and easy way. He need not go in search of a partner, but play chess online with the computer or choose a partner in the virtual chess room and start playing the game, have fun, relax and at the same time, exercise his brain and keep it healthy.
One of the primary requirements for the game of chess is the ability to think, and think deeply with logic and reasoning. Because chess is a cruel game that punishes you when you make a wrong move. In other words, the fate of the game is in the hands of the players only.
How to concentrate on the game with undistracted attention for a longer period? This is one major dilemma facing the chess players, and an iota of lapse in concentration or attention is all that is required for a mistake to be committed.
A chess player need not concentrate on all the 32 pieces and the sixty-four squares in the chessboard at the same time. It is imperative that he regulates the attention to certain pieces or certain specific regions in the board where the action requires the most attention. By switching the attention between the various parts of the board, one at a time, an overall idea about the board and the positioning of the relevant pieces are built into the memory.
Yet another important advantage of regulating the attention to a particular section of the board or the pieces involved in that move with high level of concentration, one can acquire invaluable knowledge about the capability of the pieces, the positional factors and the various alternative options that can be tried in the given situation. This knowledge can be effectively used not only for this game but for subsequent games when faced with similar positions. You can take meaningful decisions at a relatively quicker time by comparing the similarity between the two games and recalling the right moves you made in the previous game.
Popular Chess Opening for a Perfect Endgame
Chess has always been comparable to our life. There are a lot of things that we can do and act upon promptly in life. Just like in chess, there are series of variations on different situations. Among these openings, you can from these. But what are the most popular chess openings and most likely to be used all the times? Here is some of it.
The most common among these is the open game wherein the counter-attack of the king’s pawn is derived from the movement of the white. The most common thing that might happen here is when the white moves e4, the black executes to e5.
Along this opening branched out others too. One of which, and also the most popular, is the Ruy Lopez or the Spanish game. This is considered as one of the oldest of all openings in chess. It has been even advocated with so much time to be written in books alone. So if one intends to use this, one should be really knowledgeable beforehand he/she uses it. The pieces involved here are not mainly pawns but as well as knights and bishop. These two are the combatants in this kind of opening.
On the other hand, one must consider opening styles with regards to the color. If one is using the black one, he/she might anticipate avoiding the open game. How to this? One can embark on using the Caro-Kann which is also the same as using the French defense but with a slight difference for the former doesn’t have the counter defense that of the former. However, one might expect that there is no such thing as “bad bishop.” Others might even consider it surrendering at times but it’s quite reliable. In line with this kind of defense, one can also use the French Defense which is a result by a closed game. Unlike the Caro-Kann, the French defense produces a “bad bishop.” Of course, in this kind of defense, the black will be favored. Further, it’s a defense that is very difficult to break and at times disappoints open game specialists.
Moving on for the benefit of the white, there are also openings that would be advantageous. The burden here lies in the Queen for she needs to gambit herself. With such act, the opponent may or may not accept. But at times this serves to be very useful if black accepts the gambit. Another defense that would benefit the white would be the Indian defense which includes Kings Indian defense, Queen’s Indian, and Nimzo-Indian. This defense main purpose is to control the center indirectly with the use of earlier pieces and at the end the pawn.
So with openings presented, all you need to do is choose the move that you are going to make. Just be very careful in choosing. Just like in life, wrong decisions made will be sorry in the end.
Do you want your kids to be smart? – teach chess
It is the aspiration of every parent to have his son or daughter be smart enough and win laurels in the school, learn good things, and become a responsible citizen.
School is the ideal place where the teachers groom these young kids and teach them the knowledge that is required for them to lead their life in a successful way. The mind and the body will be sharp enough to grasp and understand all new things that are taught to the children at the tender age. It is this age where children enjoy playing more and give little attention to their studies. The onus lies on the teachers and the parents to teach the lessons to the children in a playful way, make them understand the things easily with attention and concentration, such that they learn things much easily and perform well in their academics.
Research has proved beyond doubt that little children, who were taught the game of chess and encouraged to play chess regularly, have performed well in their academic career and learnt important lessons for life.
How learning and playing chess can help a child perform better in studies?
Chess is a fun game, played on a square board comprising of eight rows and eight columns. In total, there will be 64 squares. Every alternate square will be filled with alternate colors. The two colors used will be white and black. Each player will be provided with 16 pieces. The pieces include a King, a Queen, a pair of rooks, a pair of bishops, a pair of knights and eight pawns.
The chief piece in the game is the King and capturing the King or making him immovable is the objective of the game. The major pieces are the Queen and the rooks. The minor pieces are the Bishops and the Knights. In addition, each player will have eight pawns. Each piece is assigned a value. The least valued piece is the pawns. Children will be learning the different types of movements and the capabilities of the individual pieces. Moving the pieces around the table will be a fun, especially the movement of the knight, which moves in the shape of “L”.
By encouraging children to play chess, teaching them about the pieces, the values of the pieces and their movements, these kids will learn the fundamentals in a playful way – the importance of values, the nature of moves and such other things. They will be trained to follow the rules of the game.
The children will be trained to focus on the board and make the correct moves. The game of chess is very cruel in that it punishes wrong moves immediately. The children are taught to make the correct moves, advised not to act in haste and try to think and then act. This focusing skill is very essential for the child, as this skill will help him concentrate and focus his attention on the subject, especially mathematics, which require focus and attention the most.
The concept of punishment for doing something wrong will get firmly rooted in the child’s mind and he will always strive not to make mistakes – be it in chess or in academics.
The trait of following the rules, focusing on the work and concentration, developed while playing chess will help him perform well in the academic career.
Focusing and concentration are the important traits that children learn while playing chess. Chess teaches many invaluable traits to the children and make them act in a smart way.
The reason why the game of chess is still very popular among the people across the world even after 1500 years is this unique feature of teaching invaluable things to lead a successful and qualitative life.
Now, technology has made it much easier for teaching the game of chess to the children. Visual and Audio modes with graphics and animation make the learning part of chess very enjoyable and children, while loving the game for its fun, unknowingly develop important traits such as concentration, planning, decision-making, owning responsibility for mistakes, patience and so many such invaluable traits.
Encourage children to learn chess online and play online chess with his friends and others separated by distance, sitting at his home in front of the desktop computer. This would be an ideal gift for your child to learn important values in a playful and funny way.
Best chess strategies
In chess one cannot name any strategy as the best or the worst as it may work differently in different kinds of situations. But one can term a strategy as an advanced one depending upon level of out of the box thinking used to create the strategy.
Lasker – Bauer combination is considered one of the advanced strategy for the same reason. This strategy was first played by Emanuel lasker in a game between him and johann bauer in Amsterdam .1889.It is famous for the tactic used by lasker to sacrifice both of his bishops to open up the pawn cover made by bauer around the king. Lasker used his bishop to force bauer to give up his queen to save himself from checkmate. This forking of two bishops denies the compensation for the bauer’s queen thereby giving lasker decisive material advantage which he uses to eventually to win the game. Strategies similar have been used on numerous occasions over the decades like in games between Nimzovich-Tarrasch, St Petersburg 1914; Miles-Browne, Lucerne 1982; and Polgar-Karpov, 7th Essent 2003.
Even though naming a strategy as the best is very difficult in the deceptive game of chess, this Lasker – Bauer combination is considered to be one of the best chess strategies of all time by many chess players. Another strategy that is ranked as one of the best is Boden’s mate which is a checkmating pattern characterized by two bishops on criss-crossing diagonals with possible flight squares of the king being on the range of friendly pieces. In this situation most often the king has castled queenside and is mated on another square. This strategy was developed by Samuel boden who played this game in Schulder-Boden, London 1853.
These two chess strategies when implemented properly can deliver a killer blow to the opponent.
Playing Chess helps expand the process of thinking
Chess is referred to as the King of Games or as the Game of the Kings. It is called as the King of Games because of the entertainment and challenge it poses to the players, which no other board game provides. It is also true that it the Game of the Kings as the primary objective of the game is to corner the opponent’s King by the forces of a player’s King. Chess is also referred to as a royal game, because the game came into existence way back in the 6th Century only as a learning tool for the royal princes to rule the kingdom and win over other Kingdoms.
The game of chess offers many benefits to the players and plays an important part in the quality of their life. It has been proven beyond doubt that children encouraged to learn and play chess at their early age performed well at their academic career and outperformed other children. Chess teaches various good traits of concentration, patience, visualization, decision-making, and execution of tactics and strategies.
In what way chess helps in the process of thinking? Let us explore this concept in this piece.
The game of chess involves two players sitting across a chessboard that has sixty four squares in it painted in alternate colors, preferably black and white. The sixty four squares are arranged in a square board having eight rows and eight columns. Each player is provided with 16 pieces, comprising of the chieftain King, the Queen, a pair of rooks, a pair of knights, a pair of bishops and eight pawns. The pieces are arranged in the board such that the King cannot be cornered in a single move by a player. There is no room for luck or chance, such as in dice or any other game, in the game of chess.
Thus, a player has to play a series of moves, take strategic positions, capture vital pieces of the opponent, control the board and then corner the opponent’s King. Both the players would be vying to do the same. A game of chess between two players of equal skill set will be a treat and excitement not just for the players but also the onlookers.
Now, the problem of finding a partner and allocating specific time for a game of chess with that partner can be done away with and any person, having interest in the game and anxious to play a game, can use his personal computer, browse for a website that offers online chess, find and select a partner who matches your skill set, and just start playing chess online. All this is possible thanks to the advancement of the technology and the World Wide Web.
Now, coming back to the question of thinking, the player needs to make the appropriate moves that will not only help in cornering the opponent, but also safeguard his own pieces. He has to have a plan and a series of tactics to achieve an objective – something like occupying the central e5 square or controlling the center of the board. The plan or his tactic might by nullified by a defensive move or a counter attacking move of the opponent. Then, the plan becomes void and another plan needs to be formulated.
As such, the game calls for serious thinking and deep concentration, visualizing the board in front, anticipating the counter moves from the opponent and strategy to tackle the response. All these for at least the next three moves are desirable to have better control over the game and understanding.
The game of chess is cruel in that it not only offers any chance but also punishes you harshly when you make a mistake. Therefore, the game and its result rest only on you as a player. That makes it more interesting and calls for deep thinking to get it right. This thinking process and deep concentration not only stimulates and trains your mind, but cultivates the habit of creative and critical thinking and weighing all available options before deciding to make a move. This not helps you win the game but also gain in your life.
