Ten Student Goals for Chess Lessons

Neel Apte and Daniel Liu with Coach Fpawn at 2009 CalChess Scholastics.

The beginning of each academic year gives students time to review their personal goals for chess lessons.  The following list appears at my teaching website: www.fpawn.com.

1. Become a more confident chess player!
2. Critique your games for mistakes and improvements.
3. Develop the necessary patience to carefully consider the consequences of every move played during a chess game.
4. Improve pattern recognition and understanding of tactics.
5. Learn positional and strategic concepts, such as tempo, space, pawn structures, weaknesses, good/bad pieces, and threats.
6. Apply standard opening rules and develop an opening repertoire.
7. Understand the theory of common endgames.
8. Cope with psychological pressures caused by different game situations, such as a winning or losing position.
9. Prepare for tournaments or even specific opponents.
10. Have fun!