At Millennium, anybody may join the chess club. There is no specified amount of experience a person must have before entering. A person who does not have any experience may join and any pro may join. The club may be place for a person to perfect themselves as a chess player, of for a person who just wants to have fun. The Chess Club at Millennium also contains a Chess Team, which any member of the club may join. The Chess Team competes with teams from other schools in tournaments. When the students compete, they may compete in one of a few categories, depending on their rating (you do not need a rating to compete since there is a section for those who are not rated).
Questions I have asked:
1) When if you think of chess, what are the first images that come to your mind?
2) Using up to five adjectives, how would you describe the chess club at MHS?
3) What is the club's main purpose or goal?
4) Which chess piece do you feel is most important in the game?
5) What are the key principles or ideas of chess?
Answers I've received from a Chess player from the club who was seemingly reluctant to answer my questions:
1) A Chess board and chess peices
2)Competitive exhilarating fun rewarding wonderful
3)The goal is not to win but to do so and still get better. My priority is to get better, winning not so much the priority
4)I favor the queen but the king is the most important. If I had to choose, I would choose the queen.
5) Victory, Strategy, Foresight, and meaningful moves (make every move have a purpose)
Answers I've received from the head of the club:
1) I think of Chess Pieces--first and foremost the Knight. The Knight is the most iconic of the 6 different types of Chess Pieces (Bishop, King, Knight, Pawn, Queen, Rook). Within the design framework of the Tournament Standard "Staunton Design" Chess Set, the Knight is the piece that has the greatest detail, is the most representational (rather than Abstract), and can be said to have the fewest elements of symmetry. Along with the Knight, the Rook (aka the "Castle") is a strong image, that is among the first to come to mind. Rooks are particularly associated with the Endgame phase of the game, and their orthogonal movement is very straightforward and easy to visualize. So, I visualize Rooks in the context of an Endgame Tableau.
2) Convivial, Competitive, Instructive, Fascinating, and Helpful.
3) The main purpose of the MHS Chess Club is promote Chess skills and an appreciation of the rich cultural traditions associated with Chess by having students engage in various forms of intentional practice and study, such as partaking in Chess Lessons (to learn new concepts and strategies), attending Chess Club meetings, solving Chess puzzles and tactics, and participating in Chess tournaments.
The main goal of the MHS Chess Club is imbue the MHS students with a deep understanding, appreciation and passion for Chess, so that they will gain a lifelong enthusiasm for Chess, and by so doing, spread the beneficial aspects of "Chess Culture.
4) The King, by definition, is the most important piece in the game of Chess. The objective of Chess is to Checkmate the King; the game immediately ends in a victory when a King is Checkmated. Threats against the King take absolute precedence over any other factors in the position. All Chess tactics and strategies are ultimately in service to Checkmating the opponent's King (or safeguarding one's own). As such, the King is beyond any trade value--All other pieces can be exchanged, traded, or even sacrificed as part of one's strategy. In other words, to a greater or lesser extent, Queens, Rooks, Bishops, Knights, and Pawns are all ultimately expendable....while the King is not.
That said, the King is a rather impotent, vulnerable piece. In terms of the most important piece for obtaining practical success in Chess games, I would say that is the Queen. Skillful, incisive and subtle handling of the Queen is, in my opinion, the "Touchstone" of talent among the top players.
5) Some of the key principles in Chess are to develop one's pieces with efficiency and timeliness, to fight for space in the Center, to endeavor keep one's king safe, and to gain material through captures and advantageous exchanges. In turn, advantages that exist in the realm of Time ("Tempi" --useful development, Space (control of territory on the Chessboard, especially in the Center, and around the respective Kings), and Force (creation of situations where one's piece are of greater [practical] value, are more mobile, and more dynamic) can be transformed into concrete, lasting advantages, and ultimately leveraged into a decisive advantage.
Some of the key ideas of Chess is that it is a game of both skill and competitiveness, that one should strive to achieve harmony, coordination, dynamic activity and balance among one's Chess Pieces, and that successful players often are required to go outside of their "Comfort Zone".
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