Chess School is designed for the beginning player, and attempts to teach the user the rules of the game, how the pieces move, and some basic tactics and winning techniques. The program supports multiple students, and has the same types of statistical reporting features that are present in programs like CT-ART and STRATEGY (please read these reviews if you want more details). However, unlike some previous offerings from Convekta, this program has quite a bit of text explanation – which is very important for beginners.
This program is very interesting in that it takes a different approach than that of Chess Mentor or the Tasc Tutors, even though all these programs have some similar objectives. There are a number of areas addressed in this program that are not addressed elsewhere, along with some novel (and some tried-and-true) ways of teaching the material.
The program has about 700 examples and quiz positions, and is divided into three sections. The first section of the program teaches the rules of the game, how the pieces move, along with concepts such as perpetual check, check, stalemate, mate, etc. There is also some basic instruction on simple endgames and the like. As far as quiz positions go, there is a mixture of multiple choice questions, and moving pieces on the board.
I won’t say too much about this section except that all the basics are covered. I was however, pleasantly surprised to see that there is also a section on etiquette! My personal opinion is that this is an often neglected area that is becoming more and more important as people spend increasing amounts of time in front of the computer (and less time interacting socially).
The second section of the program is somewhat interesting. Here areas like logic, cunning (!), memory, imagination, creativity, and concentration are addressed. It can clearly be difficult to develop faculties like these with just software. However, the authors of this program take an approach similar to that used in the Chess Puzzles series, by providing chess variants that attempt to teach various specific mental skills. For instance, there is one set of exercises in which you need to capture a set of enemy pieces in the fewest number of moves. There are other question and answer type sessions that deal with various geometric patterns on the board. The list goes on as far as the types of exercises that are presented, and I will not discuss them all here. Suffice it to say that this portion of the program is pretty intriguing – I’ll be interested to see what chess coaches think of it. (please e-mail me if you are a coach, and have looked at this material). If you do like this kind of thing, then also look at the Chess Puzzles review.
In the third section of the program, the user is asked to play various test positions against the built-in playing program (DRAGON). There are exercises like rook vs. pawn, and mate with various combinations of pieces (like two rooks, or a Queen). One set of exercises in particular brought back some memories. When I was young, my uncle (then Expert) used to give me some informal lessons. One of these lessons would consist of him removing all the minor and major pieces from the board, except for the knights, and we would then play a game with just knights + pawns + kings on the board. Or, we would just play with kings and pawns. Well, this program now allows you to get the same type of practice. The only downside to this approach is that sometimes the engine may be a little too tough of an opponent for those just starting out. However, I was looking at beta version of this program, and the final version may have easier playing levels.
The teaching material used in this program has proven it’s usefulness in several Asian and European countries, and was written by GM Yury Razuvaev, one of Anatoly Karpov’s coaches in the 70’s. I found the program to be very interesting in it’s scope and originality. Anyone that is just learning the game will find it useful.
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