Chess Mentor Lessons

“Start Me at the Very Beginning”provides an excellent introduction to chess. These 92 challenges provide fun and interactive instruction on the basics of chess and cover the following themes: moving practice, capturing practice, explains the relative values of the pieces, check, four corners, and summarizes the object of the game. These lessons are great for anybody, child or adult, who desires to learn the fundamentals of history’s most popular game.

“Squares & Rules” presents 73 challenges which continue to lay a solid foundation for improving your chess game. This lesson can be best described by providing the following sample of the lesson headings: counting squares, multiple squares, electric fence, twin fences, confine him, the starting position, castling and castling queenside, stalemate, perpetual check, pawn promotion, three queens, “en passant,” values of pieces, check mate, getting out of check, learning about notation, ranks and files, diagonals, visualizing the chessboard, defending your pieces, notation practice, the power of discovery, pin, and discovered attack.

�Basic Checkmates & Positional Strategy� introduces the most common checkmating patterns and continues to delve deeper into the positional strategies in chess. This lesson has 92 intermediate challenges which introduce checkmate strategies with interesting names like �double barrel shotgun� and �Johnny Mnemonic.� Your mid and endgame play will greatly improve after completing these challenges.

�Introduction to Tactics� introduces the student to the tactical tools of chess. This lesson provides 112 stimulating tactical challenges which will entertain, instruct, and enable a student to take their chess game to the next level. The tactical tools introduced include forks, pins, skewers, and traps.

�Exclusively Checkmates� provides a comprehensive series of checkmate lessons. The goal of these 103 challenges is to expose you to a variety of endgame themes, tactics, and ideas and then train you to be able to apply them in your games.

"Build Your Technique" is aimed at players with USCF or Elo ratings between 1200 and 1600, although some of the later challenges will not be easy for 1800 to 2000 rated players. The 110 challenges include some openings, middle-games, end-games, and a lot of tactics. This course is designed to enhance the overall understanding of chess for an intermediate player and to prepare that player for more advanced courses.

Kasparov - IBM Deep Blue Matches has 24 challenges that come from the historic 1996 match and 1997 rematch between World Champion Garry Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue super-computer. These are the same challenges that were uploaded to Aficionado's special website daily as the games were played during the 1997 rematch. These challenges are richly annotated with extensive natural language to allow beginners and novices to follow world class chess with understanding provided by the mentor method. Experienced players will want this collector's item for their mentor library.

Chess Potpourri, with 100 challenges, has something for everyone. Mar includes some opening traps, endgames, combinations, and positional challenges. Many of the challenges are at the intermediate level (USCF or Elo ratings between 1300 and 2000) and many are at the expert and master (USCF or Elo rating above 2000) level. Mar chooses positions from many sources including his own games as well as GM's, IM's, and also amateurs.

The 100 challenges in Silman Teaches Tactics contain combinations and tactical material for intermediate and expert level players (USCF or Elo ratings between 1400 and 2000+). Some challenges here are difficult even for masters and above. However, players of all levels can enjoy and learn from these examples. Less experienced players will go over these challenges many times and continue to learn more each time as they progress in their chess knowledge and experience.

Essential Checkmate Patterns contains 130 challenges that cover all common checkmates and most uncommon checkmates that occur regularly in middle-game positions and sometimes in openings. Nearly all of the positions come from actual games, and the various themes are repeated from simple to more complex examples. This module is suitable for novice players up to intermediate players with Elo or USCF ratings up to 1600, and will enable them to recognize checkmate possibilities in their own games. The most advanced examples will even challenge expert players.

The King's Indian Defense contains 40 challenges chosen from all of the important systems in the King's Indian Defense and is suitable for players of all levels. You will learn all of the basic opening principles for both White and Black and also come across many original ideas and novelties. Players with Elo ratings up to 1800 and perhaps even higher will benefit from this course module. Novices may have some difficulty with these challenges, but will gain a good introduction to the King's Indian and the main strategies for both Black and White.

The Sicilian Defense contains 41 challenges chosen from all of the important systems in the Sicilian Defense and is suitable for players of all levels. You will learn all of the basic opening principles for both White and Black and also come across many original ideas and novelties. Players with Elo ratings up to 1800 and perhaps even higher will benefit from this course module. Novices may have some difficulty with these challenges, but will gain a good introduction to the Sicilian and the main strategies for both Black and White.

Are you ever at a loss for what to do when there are no immediate tactics in sight? If so, then The Roots of Positional Understanding will help you to learn the basics of positional play. The master seems to optimally place his pieces with effortless ease where they coordinate well and control key lines and squares. This is because he sees the board as a structural entity. Using 300 hundred brief Challenges, Silman gives you the basics of this same positional sense and vision. This module will help you to build strength into your quiet positions. This course module was initially intended for intermediate players with USCF or Elo ratings between 1200 and 1800. However, at least half of the challenges are suitable for those rated between 1800 and 2200 and even higher. Experts and Class A players will find this course module more than challenging with the advanced material and very useful review with the intermediate material. Intermediate players will build a solid foundation with the intermediate challenges and gain more and more from the advanced material as they progress in chess strength.

World Champions at Their Best (1) is the first in a series that represent Silman's best work ever and which have the earmarks of becoming classics. This first course will cover the period from the first World Championship match in 1834 between La Bourdonnais and MacDonnell up to the Steinitz era in the 1880's. Compared to the modern eras, there is a dearth of literature and analysis regarding pre-twentieth century championship chess. Silman breaks new ground with much original analysis and includes a wealth of historical facts. Utilizing Chess Mentor's features to their limits, Silman has produced this course with learning utility for novices as well as International Masters. No one who owns Chess Mentor will want this series missing from their library of courses.

IM Jeremy Silman continues his historical trek with World Champions at Their Best (2), moving on to the games of the man whose reign as World Champion lasted longer than any other -- an amazing 27 years. Emanuel Lasker was a polymath and, in addition to his chess, he was an accomplished mathematician and philosopher who was also a personal friend of Albert Einstein. Lasker believed that chess was a struggle, and was probably the first champion to take a psychological approach to chess. His games reflect this attitude as he was willing to take tremendous risks, and even intentionally make inferior moves, in order to create uncomfortable positions for his opponents. 50 Challenges with historical background of each player and match.

Master Your Technique contains 50 rich and thoroughly analyzed challenges. The majority of these challenges focus on complex middle-game positions, the art of transition from the middle-game to the endgame, and on endgames themselves. This course is aimed at all players from the intermediate level to masters. Experts and even masters (FIDE and USCF ratings over 2000) will not find these challenges easy. Many of the challenges will be hard for the intermediate player, but they will learn a bit more with each attempt until they become a master of technique. The challenges feature an average length of 10 moves."

In A Kaleidoscope of Openings former US Champion Grefe takes the novice and early intermediate level players (USCF or Elo ratings between 1000 and 1500) on a guided tour of many popular openings. Fundamental opening principles such as rapid development, mobility, struggle for control of the center and sound pawn structures are illustrated through practical examples. Grefe also gives numerous examples of tactical possibilities and traps in various innocent looking positions. This course contains 100 challenges.

Lessons in Strategy (1) contains 50 very instructive positional challenges. Some are very long (exceeding 20 moves and one lasts 40 moves), and experts and masters (USCF or Elo ratings above 2000) will not find many of these to be easy. A novice or intermediate level player (USCF or Elo ratings below 2000) will find these challenges quite difficult, but they will learn a bit more with each attempt, all the way until they reach master or higher.

Lessons in Strategy (2) continues with strategic positional challenges similar in difficulty to those contained in Silman's Lessons in Chess Strategy (1). Some are very long, and experts and masters (USCF or Elo ratings above 2000) will not find many of these to be easy. A novice or intermediate level player (USCF or Elo ratings below 2000) will find these challenges quite difficult, but they will learn a bit more with each attempt, all the way until they reach master or higher.

With the 103 challenges in Pawn Endings from Beginner to Expert, Tangborn covers king and pawn endings thoroughly. Basic concepts (square of the pawn, king and 1 pawn vs. king basic wins and draws, opposition, triangulation, etc.) are covered. Then the challenges get progressively harder until the final ones cause masters to scratch their heads. King and pawn endings are the basic building blocks for any players' sound endgame technique and this course is suitable for novices (USCF or Elo ratings below 1000) all the way up to those approaching expert level (USCF or Elo ratings approaching 2000).

Chess mentor LESSONS