Facing The Music In Chess

Life is touch move.

I remember sitting at a staff meeting with fellow chess coaches discussing the importance of being able to communicate the benefits of chess instruction to parents and school administrators. The meeting took place in the early nineties, a period when I had just begun toting my demo board from school to school.

Why the discussion? Well, simply because the folks who would be asking the questions were the same ones paying the bills. Basically, if I couldn't speak intelligently about chess in education, I wasn't getting hired.

This was around long before the Smartboard.

Flash forward 20 years and I find myself being asked the same questions about how chess helps kids. 

The only difference today is that parents and principals alike have access to everything ever printed about the subject. Now my preferred approach is to answer questions by recanting the important moments that pop up in my everyday work. I do so in a way that hopefully leaves a clear and lasting impression.

"How exactly does chess build my kid's character?"

Try answering that one on the spot with no preparation. These days, I answer by talking about what I observe in my everyday practice. Let's see how one of my student's recently "faced the music" at a tournament and you can decide what effect it had on his character.

 Roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.

 

The young woman reaching into the trash bin is my colleague and close friend, International Master Rusa Goletiani. Most of you are used to seeing her compete at the US Championship or perhaps gracing the cover of Chess Life magazine.

So why the dumpster dive?

It turns out, Ivan,our student on the left, just lost a frustrating game and decided to toss the notation. When we asked to review his game his face reddened, prompting Rusa to immediately go and retrieve the evidence. 

 Eureka -- I have found it!

 Rusa's 5 year old Luka taking it all in.

OK, Ivan, take a seat.

Knowing what was coming, I quickly grabbed my iPad and snapped the two photos above. After unfolding the notation we sat down and started going through the game.

It turns out that Ivan had lost two pawns and didn't think he had much in return so started to play reflexive, lazy moves and lost. Had he played a little more energetically he may have had real chances to get back in the game. This is especially true since his opponent was 1200 and not a GM.

Why such a passionate response from the coach?

Rusa competing against GM Irina Krush.

It turns out that Rusa once lost a game due to an opening blunder and like Ivan tossed out her notation in frustration. She was so angered by the mistake she wanted no reminder of it ever again.

Sure enough as if it were scripted, she made the very same mistake in the first round of the 2006 US Championship! She had buried the loss and the game score only to find it resurface at the highest level of competitive play.

Following up with Ivan.

A week after the game was played Ivan returned to my training class and had to endure me sharing the story with all in attendance. Of course he was not alone as a simple show of hands revealed that many other students had ditched their own score sheets at one time or another.

We analysed the game again, this time with Ivan sharing some of what he learned from Rusa at the tournament. His voice was clear and confident and it was obvious from his demeanor that he had learned something very important about himself. 

Ivan and his peers at the Westchester Chess Academy.

Summary:

It's funny but it often occurs to me that I rarely answer questions about chess directly. My apologies as it seems I may have just done it again. 

A parent asked "How exactly does chess build my kid's character?" to which I just responded with a story about people I know personally.

In that simple story we learned the following :

 An international master takes the time to teach a very valuable lesson to a student. She doesn't do so until she candidly shares a similar experience of her own. This builds trust before delivering criticism.

 A young student endures a bit of embarrassment and criticism only to surface with his own story about "facing the music."

 A chess coach gets a chance to share this with his students and the readers here. His hope is that you all become storytellers of chess and its profound effect on children.