Chess 4 Curriculum (Advanced):

Section 1 – Endgame Theory

 Lesson 1

• Rook Endgames

  •  The Lucena Position

  •  Pure Philidor

  •  Trap the Opponent King Away from the Action

  •  Rook & Two Connected Pawns vs Rook

  •  Rook on the 6th

  •  Rook Endgames & Puzzles (Blue & Step Books)

Lesson 2

• King and Pawn Endgames

• King and Two Healthy Pawns vs Lone King

• Tactical Bombs

• Triangulation

 • Outflanking

 • Mini Games & Puzzles (Blue Book)

Lesson 3

• Minor Piece Endgames

• Two Bishops vs Lone King

• Lone King vs Knight and Rook-Pawn on the 6th or 7th Ranks

• Bishops of Opposite Colors (Two Pawns Down & Loving it!)

•  Minor + 3  vs  Minor + 1 mini endgames (Blue Book)

•  Minor Piece Mini Games & Puzzles (Blue & Step Books)

Lesson 4

• Major Piece Endgames

• Queen vs Rook (Separate & Fork)

• Queen vs Two Rooks (Activity & Fortresses)

•  Mini Endgames (Blue Book)

Section 2 – Endgame Strategy

Lesson 5

•  Schematic Thinking

Lesson 6

•  Positions with an isolated d-pawn

Lesson 7

•  The Two Bishops

Lesson 8

•  The 3-2 Queenside Pawn Majority

Lesson 9

•  Complex Endings

Section 3 – Opening Systems

Lesson 10

• Play Openings that interest you & then explore new ones!

• Find one Opening for White that interests You

• Find one Opening as Black against 1. e4 that interests you

• Find one Opening as Black against 1. d4 that interests you

• Explore Chess Tempo to Develop your Opening Repertoire

 *** After learning your 3 openings, explore new openings! If you play the same stuff all the time and do not explore new things, you’re not going to learn as much. Stay curious. Continue learning. Don’t remain stuck in comfortable patterns.  ***

Section 4 – The Art of Calculation

Lesson 11

•  Forced Combinations

• Mate

• Stalemate

• Material

Section 4 – The Art of Defense

Lesson 12

• Defending through thinking ahead (Step 5)

•  Considering the opponent

•  Giving up material

•  Defending against mate

•  Defending against an attack on the king

•  Switching to defending

•  Defending against a passed pawn

•  Defending against threats

•  Excluding

•  Getting out of check

Section 5 – Mastering Chess Strategy

Lesson 13

•  Improving the Pieces

• The Bishop

• The Knight

• The Rook

• The Queen

•  The King

•  The Bishop Pair

• Puzzles on improving the pieces

Lesson 14

•  Exchanges

• Realizing a material advantage

• Realizing a positional advantage

• Eliminating key pieces

• Facilitating an attack

• Facilitating the defense

• Reducing enemy activity

• Series of exchanges

•  Dynamic exchanges

• Puzzles on exchanges

Lesson 15

•  Pawn Play

•  Gaining Space

•  Creating Weaknesses

•  Passed Pawns

•  Pawn Majorities

•  Pawn Chains

•  Dynamics & the clash between pawn formations

•  The Rook Pawn – an underrated fighter

• Puzzles on pawn play

Lesson 16

•  Prophylaxis

• Restriction

•  Prophylaxis

•  Provocation

• Puzzles on prophylaxis

Lesson 17

 • Miscellaneous

•  Along the diagonals

•  Blockade

•  The initiative

•  The link between tactics and strategy

• Puzzles on miscellaneous

Section 6 – New Ideas in Chess

Lesson 18

• Rule-Independence

• Exceptions to the rules

•  When a “bad” piece might actually be good

•  Are your pawns really backward?

•  Is your knight actually dim on the rim?

•  Optical illusions

•  Dynamism: optical advantages vs elasticity

•  The initiative dance & the mysteries of momentum: What is an advantage?

• Puzzles on Rule-Independence

Section 7 – Puzzles

Lesson 19

•  Exercises on everything you learned from Chess 1 – Chess 4, including:

•  Tactics

•  Attack

•  Defense

•  Threat identification

•  Counterplay

•  Openings

•  Middlegames

•  Endgames

•  The Thought Process

•  Positional Play

•  Strategy

* * Each puzzle will consist of a diagrammed chess position, and your task is to find the best move. For each position you are only told which side is to move without any hints on the puzzle theme, just like in a real game. Are you ready!?

Section 8 – Analysis of Student and Grandmaster games

Lesson 20

•  Analysis of Grandmaster games

•  Paul Morphy

•  Jose Capablanca

•  Alexander Alekhine

•  Mikhail Botvinnik

•  Mikhail Tal

•  Bobby Fischer

•  Garry Kasparov

•  Judit Polgar

•  Magnus Carlsen

Lesson 21

• Analysis of student games

•  Students will evaluate positions & formulate plans throughout their games utilizing the knowledge learned from their lessons.

•  Afterwards, the teacher & student will analyze the games together.