Author Archives: waterman2010kir

The Magic 10 Explained!?!

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People always want me to explain the “Magic 10”! Before we get into our explanation, I need to point out several things. The Magic 10 and all the other tools we share with you here at SCBC are for tournament chess!? Your Lightning, Bullet, Blitz, and Quick Chess may improve but those time controls will never allow you to accurately and conscientiously follow the procedure! The Magic 10 work in conjunction with checks, captures, threats, and sacrifices. To use the magic 10 effectively, it will usually require that you look at least 2.5 to 3.5 moves ahead. The point I’m trying to make is, if you want me to take the guess work out of chess, the 1st thing you have to do is stop guessing!! The reason you must see that far is that the “Magic 10” can be referring to a piece or a group of pieces! There is usually more than 1 feature of the magic 10 affecting the position! You may have to invest 1 or more moves for each feature for them to lead to a more advantageous position! Ideally, the magic 10 should be evaluated on your opponents turn. If your opponent is moving too fast, you will need to evaluate them on your turn. The magic 10 have many functions, but the major functions are; 1.) When there are no checks, captures, threats, or sacrifices, present in the position, the magic 10 will show you how to create some. 2.) The magic 10 will let you know how well your opponent is playing! You should be evaluating if your opponent is meeting the demands of the magic 10. 3.) The magic 10 will let you know which piece or pieces can improve their value and effectiveness and in what order to play the moves! I could go on all day but I’m going to give you the elevator version.

1.) Range: What is range when it comes to chess? Range is the distance a piece or group of pieces can travel to use power and/or force against an opponent. Range as far as individual pieces is pretty easy to grasp. The queen has the greatest range, then the rook, bishop, knight, pawn, and king. The ability to know when and how to increase the range of our pieces and limit the range of our opponent’s pieces is a practical and needed part of every chess player’s weapons group! Range can be increased and decreased by checks, captures, threats, and sacrifices.

2.) Speed: Speed is really a measure of convenience/method. If you need that piece, how fast can it get there. Speed is a team function in most cases. Checks, captures, threats, and sacrifices are the tools of great speed.

3.) Power: Power, to keep it simple is usually a threat. It’s not enough to determine the outcome of the game yet, but if allowed to get out of hand or it’s not watched it will have to be dealt with. Power does not always lead to powerful!?

4.) Force: The primary difference between power and force is that power can be ignored and force can not! Force either causes an advantage or puts a stop to your opponent getting one. Once force is in use, checks, captures, threats, and sacrifices will have to be met with checks, captures, threats, and sacrifices!

5.) Time: Time is all about tempos and obstructions. Checks, captures, threats, and sacrifices are the best friend of time or for your opponent must become their worst enemy. lol Time is another one of those team sports!

6.) Space: Fritz always kibitzed about how it loves space. The more space you have the more of everything else you usually have. Space also allows for bigger attacks.

7.) Mobility: Mobility is the culmination or combination of range, speed, power, time, and space. Mobility definitely changes powerful to forceful when you keep adding pieces. You can have 1 mobile piece, but mobility is about units, not just a unit most of the time!

8.) Initiative: The right, duty, or justification to attempt to impose your will on your opponent, (attack!/counterplay). The initiative is temporary! Quite often, you must use it or lose it. To stop an initiative will usually require checks, captures, threats, sacrifices, your ability to see 3.5 moves ahead and more than 1 feature of the magic 10. If you don’t start it, you better finish it or you may be finished!?

9.) King Safety: The board is smaller than most players think. Compromised king safety causes casualties. When king safety is not good, the magic 10 becomes unclear and requires a more critical evaluation. Again, compromised king safety can place the whole team in danger! Some types of compromised king safety are worse than others, but anytime it exist there are chances for the other side!

10.) Material: Material is the spending money of the war effort! Material is not an end onto itself. There are combinations based on material, but they are the least important! If you read books, you’ve seen… “with compensation for the material”. There is no symbol that means… “with compensation for anything else”!! You invest material to get everything, not invest everything to get material. Desensitization to material is one of the requirements of chess mastery!!

A few examples:

In this position white’s pieces have range, speed, force, mobility, and black’s compromised king safety as a great reason for a combination! 1. Qxc7!! Kxc7 2. Nb5 Kb8 3. Rd8!! Rxd8 4. Bf4 Ne5 5. Bxe5 Ka8 6. Nc7 Kb8 7. Nxa6 Ka8 8. Nc7 Kb8 9. Nd5 Rd6 10. Bxd6 Ka8 11. Nb6 axb6 12. Ra1#

1986… Here black sacrifices a pawn for a slight material plus and the initiative. We have range, speed, force, mobility, initiative, and white’s king safety to win material and the initiative! 1… c4!! 13. Nxc7 Qxc7 14. Be2 Qb6 15. Kh1 Nf2 16. Rxf2 Qxf2 17. Bxc4 Bg4 =/+

2014…This is one of those positions where if you refuse to sacrifice, you lose the initiative!? The magic 10 are a tremendous help when dealing with complications too! We have range, power, time, mobility, initiative, and king safety. 1. Bxh6!! Nxe4 2. Bxg7 Kxg7 3. Rxe4!! dxe4 4. Nhf5 Nxf5 5. Nxf5+ Kg8 6. Nxd6 Qc6 7. Nxc8 Rxc8+/-

2014…This is one of SCBC’s best training diagrams. 9 of the magic 10 can be used to produce over 20 checkmates. I say 9 because every continuation is mate!!! I played this e game almost a decade ago! If you don’t understand the magic 10 by the time you find 20+ checkmates, you need more help!

If you benefitted from this blog, please click on, “buy something you need to help chess“. If you’d like to talk about coaching or lessons, as always… If you’re not ready for lessons, we will get you ready for free!?!

Hope you enjoyed!

Coach Mike C

In The Transition From, “Past Time” To Billion Dollar Industry, Affiliates Will Create Compensated Chess Careers!

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Who knew that locking everyone in their homes for 3 years, would turn our favorite past time into a billion dollar industry!!! We can’t go back and must move forward while keeping pace with demand. That is going to require the recipients of free and discounted information, products, and services to creatively support and advocate for their, “Vocational Chess” services providers!

Here are some brief excerpts, but please continue the rest of the story in, “Buy something you need to help chess” on the main menu!!

” We didn’t put a man on the moon or discover any cures, but we did prove that a 6 yr old can be a head coach of a middle school on her way to becoming the Virginia K-3 Champion!! We took an 11 year old boy and gave him enough high paying coaching work to have his rating peak at 2384. He is the 2021 and 2022 Virginia State Champion!!”

” Over the course of 14 years,” There are no organizations public or private that can say we ever told them no because they could not pay!!!”

” Watching Magnus Carlsen sell, “Chessable” for almost $90,000,000.00 was a serious wake up call. That money was made off of the hard work and vocational dedication of volunteers worldwide, not the hard work and vocational dedication of employees worldwide!!!”

” To add insult to injury, only 63 of the 263 certified coaches in America have their certification because of documented state and national level student and/or team leadership!!”

” The pages of this blog are a book on the little known secrets that only come from every type of chess involvement/experience!”

” Not one of the, “authorities” that I found spouting how much coaches, tournament directors, or affiliates are supposed to get paid was a US Chess Affiliate, State Chapter, or the US Chess Federation!! Shame on them!!”

” Altruism, Philanthropy, and Volunteerism are the tools of serving a mission, not a billion dollar industry!”

” Reciprocity is really a silent partnership! The person/company that provides free and valuable products and/or services has to be looking for every way to empower reciprocators.”

“ If you want to reciprocate the value you have gotten from these pages, please find a way for you, and the people you know, to become our customers!?!

” As always, if you’re not ready for coaching, we will get you ready for free!!!”

The transition from, “past time” to billion dollar industry will require everyone looking for success at chess, to make changes in the way they engage chess vocationalism. For the sake of chess, please join our team!

Thanks,

Coach Mike C

Prodigy and Campaign Training Shine At Championship Warm Ups!

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Chess is coming back stronger than ever!

SCBC has been paying very close attention to the new crowds of chess players that are coming from behind the masks! Unrated players of all ages, some masked some not, are showing up to test their skills at their new past time. Last year we reported that the, “under” sections of the state scholastic championships and the closed championships had nearly 30% unrated. In this year’s scholastic championship warm up we had 85 players. 46 of them were playing in their 1st tournament!! 19 of 25 in the k-3, 8 of 16 in the k-5, 11 of 29 in the k-8, and 8 of 15 in the k-12. 54% of the people attending a championship warm up tournament were playing in their 1st tournament!? At this very moment 61 of the 201 players registered in the under sections of the k-3, k-5, and k-8 of this year’s Virginia Scholastic Championships will be playing in their 1st tournament?! That’s 30%!? What other sport does this?

The reason this is happening is the on line service providers are acting like and allowing people to believe that what they offer is real chess. They are acting like it is comparable to the real world and they didn’t even get the lightning, bullet, and blitz right cause if you don’t see you are in check, they force you to make a legal move!!! For any other kind of chess, it’s a toy that must be turned into a tool!?! Online is for people that like to play!? I play 3/2 blitz games every day. Books, coaches, and courses are for people that like to compete! When preparing for a tournament, I pull out a board, books, databases, engines, pencils, and paper for 2-3 hours every day for the 1st week and then every other day up to 2 days before the event. There isn’t a grandmaster alive or dead that would ever tell you that all you need is lightning, bullet, blitz games, videos, and computer analyzed games of 5 minutes or less to win tournaments and get all the benefits of chess. The online service providers aren’t saying you can either, they’re just letting players believe they can!! There isn’t 1 online service provider that has said or acknowledged that you must work and play off line to achieve the benefits of chess… not one. They never will!?!

The on line player with a 1300 lightning, bullet, or blitz rating and a 2000 puzzle rating believes that a toy has prepared them to go win real world chess tournaments. LOL

Prodigy and Campaign training is the way to be the player in the mirror!!

To be specific, all of our training programs include as minimum:

1.) An introduction to the real value, speed, and capabilities of the pieces. (see blog dated 10/06/2021)!

2.) An introduction to the Check, Captures, Threats, and Sacrifices for Kings, and Queens, and Rooks that you can read about in the blog (10/15/2021)!

3.) An introduction to The Magic 10!  The Magic 10 is the primary tool every player needs to be able to decide on a move when the board seems quiet (10/15/2021)!

4.) Last but not least, a method of turning on line toys into real world tools.

a.) Understanding the importance of accuracy over speed.

b.) How to measure real world progress from on line results  

c.) How to use the data bases and the engines to learn openings that can be used in the real world. 

d.) Identify and exploit the weaknesses online players develop when they don’t read books! 

This process requires 8 – 12 hours of custom training. It will drastically improve the students learning curve and ultimately save the chess family hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars! Our study and improvement methods are proven to be at least 5 times faster than just playing all the time!! Where people got the idea to be playing 125, 150, and even 175 games per year, must be from soccer, tennis, baseball, or basketball, but they didn’t get that idea from a Grandmaster! Tal, Botvinnik, and Kortchnoi all said 100 games a year or less!?

Maggie Walker:

Shripaad’s new round of prodigy/campaign training began in January. In 9 games, his rating has gone from 373-693. His score in the k-3 was 4-0-0! Maneesh began his prodigy training in February. In just 12 games his rating has gone from 408-696. He tied for 2nd in the k-5 with a score of 3-0-1! His campaign training will begin in about 2 weeks!! Abbos began his prodigy/campaign training in December. The warm up was his second tournament. His 1st choice in his Campaign Training was the Vienna Game, then he changed his mind to the London and then changed it to what he’s playing now. (Can’t tell you, there’s a championship going on. lol) For black he was playing the Caro and the Queens Gambit Declined but has since fell in love with 2 other systems. He is a 6th grader that tied for 1st in the k-12 with an undefeated score of 3-1-0. With a rating of just 695, his average accuracy for the 1st 15 moves of his games in this tournament was 83.1%! In 1 game it was 86.6%! That performance earned him 54 points. With that type of accuracy we just know it will keep going up, and up, and up!!

Having the wrong tool for the job doesn’t matter when you’re on line just having fun, don’t care about the results, have all the time in the world, and losses don’t cost 1 thin dime! But, a real world tournament is an arena, not a playground!! Not taking these gladiators more seriously than on line play is a recipe for disaster! These opponents have invested hours, days, weeks, and even months preparing for this event. They have books, coaches, experience using all 38 pieces of a tournament set, and will analyze every tournament game they play! They have the expense of time off from work, travel, meals, lodging, and entry fees. They must usually come in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place to recover those expenses!! And if there is a tie, they get even less money! To them it’s not just having fun, they care about the results, and failure means that they will have to spend even more money regaining any points they lose!!

The most important idea to remember about the transition from the virtual chess to real world chess is that, NOW IT MATTERS!! If you or your child go into a real world tournament with an on line attitude, you will make 3 major mistakes;

1.) You will neglect calculation. During a real world game, there is time to truly investigate combinations that are 3 to as many as 10 moves deep. When it is your turn, always calculate what you can do to them 1st. Then and only then do you look at what they can do to you. How much you like a move means nothing if you don’t do the calculation to justify it. You have the time to double check and even triple check your moves! If you promise yourself to never get burned right after you move, that will eliminate the frequent blunders you get away with when the game is only 1, 3, or 5 minutes!

2.) Chances are that you have little to no experience playing, recording the game, and using a clock at the same time. As much as possible, sit down and never play or calculate while you are standing or moving!! After you record a move, put the pencil down! Putting the pencil down tells your brain its time to think, but holding your pencil tells your brain its time to write. The last thing you need while trying to concentrate on something new is confusion! lol If you are unrated, your opponent may use staring, faces, gestures, piece slamming, clock slamming, laughter, grunting, huffing and puffing, sighing, tapping the table, moving fast, and even talking to you to get you to move faster. They are trying to break your concentration and get you to make a mistake!! Those things are unsportsmanlike. Look them in the eye smiling victoriously and raise your hand immediately for a tournament director. Do it each and every time they do any of those things in a way that disturbs or annoys you!! Those behaviors are forbidden!! You can report these things even if it is at the board next to you if you feel it is disturbing your play! Real world chess is a juggling act and you need your concentration! Don’t allow anyone to bully you because you are new!

3.) If you spend most of your time on line with lightning, bullet, and blitz, time is king! If you move fast enough, you may win with bad play. I win games in losing positions and lose games in winning positions all the time!! At a real world tournament you can’t win that way because they have too much time and the only thing that matters is accuracy! To win and draw, you will need to take your time, develop your pieces, and castle before beginning any tactical operations. Playing as accurately as you can for 15-20 moves, in a real world tournament game is the absolute surest way to rattle your opponent, make them feel the pressure, and cause them to make a mistake!? You literally don’t have to start moving faster until you have less than 5 minutes on your clock. Use as much time as needed to be accurate. Do what I’m telling you and you’ll have such a big advantage that choosing the right move won’t be difficult at all!

Chess is back! If you want to save time and money we can help. Schedule a free consultation and get a quote. If you are not ready for coaching, we will get you ready for free!

Call 804-426-6058, email waterman2010kir@aol.com today!

Thanks

Coach Mike C

What, “I’ll get you ready for free!?!” means to me.

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The pandemic and the block buster film, “Queens Gambit” have increased the number of piece movers around the globe by millions. For most of them, the internet is their only source of information and experience. These screen junkies are slowly working their way into the real world. It’s up to everyone to ensure that the unexpected losses they experience because of their disorientation with blitz, bullet, and real chess doesn’t cause them to lose interest!!

I told you last year that I wasn’t holding back anymore. In 2022 I gave you many original analytic concepts and blogs about how to play merciless chess! The most popular was, “The true value of the pieces!?!” You watched our 6 year Master Coach Jason Morefield repeat as VA Closed Champion. That’s right, Jason has been coaching for us since he was 12. It would have been longer if chess hadn’t got shut down. Mike Callaham covered the VA Closed with pictures, post round analysis for the amateur section, and championship games analysis for VA Newsletter 2022 4/5!!

In 2023 the focus will be vocationalism! I’m interested in people of any age, (5 or 55) that want to be great, “Chess Personalities”. Play, coach, referee, organize and run a business or businesses that profitably supports and grows chess! That’s my definition of a Chess Personality. If you want me to teach you how to be one, you can’t afford it! If you want me to teach you how to become one you can’t afford that either!

Most of the chess instruction I see is only about how to play, and is just glorified babysitting. It’s ridiculous for parents and children to tell me they’ve had lessons in person or online and can’t tell me how many checks are possible, when you can or can’t castle, or demonstrate a capturing en passant!? The level of instruction is condescending, slow paced, and is in direct contradiction to Grandmaster advice for rapid and consistent improvement. If you finish a chess lesson and feel no need to review the material for understanding, you just got babysat!! If after 6, 8, or 10 sessions of chess training no one has ensured that you know the requirements to become a, Rated Tournament Chess Player, US Chess Certified Coach, US Chess Certified Tournament Director, or US Chess Affiliate Organizer, when chess is a scholarship venue, you just got babysat. If the lessons, classes, camps, or tournaments are based on age or grade, (Unless it’s a state or national event), you just got babysat again!?! If you’ve had 6, 8, or 10 sessions and have never been encouraged to look at the top 100 list for children or adults, you and/or your child just got babysat again. Babysitters get paid $20.00-$25.00 an hour.

SCBC is a leader in the chess industry, not a follower!?! We’ve been balancing altruism, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship in central VA for over a decade!! While others are taking your money saying, “We have to start somewhere?!”, We take your money and can take you quickly to anywhere you want to go while giving you the opportunity to earn the trip!!!! Since we can’t charge you the $100.00, $150.00, and $200.00 an hour that it’s worth, and the general chess public is deliberately being kept in the dark about all the places chess can take them, we have to be selective about who we give a ride.

“If you are not ready for coaching, we’ll get you ready for free!?!” was forged with the idea that if we can show you a better, faster, predictable way to become a complete Chess Personality, chess will be better served than if we only teach you how to play! All it take’s is 1 to 3 tasks to let you show yourself how easy chess is! These tasks will also reveal to you whether or not you have the desire, time, money, interest, and sense of urgency needed to work with a Professional Chess Personality. How many days would it take you to complete a 45 minute chess task? Each and every task we give a student or a potential student is layered with multiple learning objectives. At SCBC, you’ll never know the full benefits of completing a task until we show you! If you come to us about anything chess and you won’t or can’t follow instructions, you’re not just wasting your time and money, you’re wasting ours!! We are free with our time, but our time is not free. We’d rather give anyone and everyone a few free lessons than to have someone waste our time in a weak commitment!!

We work with any budget! Our plans start high and then get lower and lower every 4 weeks based on length of commitment and the student’s ability to follow instructions. We also offer starter programs where the amount starts ridiculously low and gets higher and higher every 4 weeks. Our basic instruction package includes but is never limited to:

2 hours of weekly zoom or in person custom chess coaching

Home work tasks

Monitoring and analysis of student’s online games and training tasks

Tournament suggestions

Biweekly Parent’s Report

24/7/365 question and answer consultations

This regime along with regular tournament play is the best way to duplicate and surpass SCBC’s accomplishments. We offer 4, 6, 8, and 12 week initial commitments. Our levels of instruction are: Tutor, Instructor, Teacher, Prodigy, and Campaign. We provide free consultations to play, discuss everyone’s goals, make recommendations, and offer a quote.

Task time! Tasks are free! You ready? I guarantee an instant, measurable, and duplicatable change in your playing ability!! Call Coach Mike C today! 804-426-6058.