Chess Tutoring, Chess Coaching, Chess Classes with NM Will Stewart

Everybody knows the importance of infantry. As the oldest branch of combat arms, it is still the backbone of modern armies. The army’s infantry is its most essential component. You don’t win a war unless you have your Infantrymen, “boots on the ground,” standing on and holding your enemies ground. The foot soldier has always ruled the battlefield. Infantry is notable for its reliance on closely organized formations to be employed in battle. As shown [...]

1 of the biggest mistakes I encounter in online chess classes with beginner students is the natural inclination towards making exchanges. It’s almost like many beginner chess players hear voices in their head telling them “You must trade a lot of pieces to win.” Now I’m not trying to say you have to completely avoid trading pieces – however it’s very important to understand and apply the concept of maintaining and increasing pressure in a [...]

“I have never seen anything more terrible and dreadful than a Macedonian phalanx!” — Aemilius Paullus, Roman general Understanding Pawn Play in Chess: Pawn Duo Two very important concepts of the pawn play, the ram and the lever, have been already covered in the Episode 3. The lever normally serves the attacking side by creating tension and possible lines opening for piece activity to follow. The ram typically serves the defender as it means immobility [...]

A friend of mine often says, “Chess is two players cooperating in a search for the truth of a position.” I chase this chimera in my leisure hours, often finding that the search brings me no closer to true chess vision. If you’re an average club or tournament player you are probably sympathetic to my little crusade. Synthesizing all of the information presenting itself to you is extremely difficult, but that is how the game [...]

1of the most difficult concepts to learn in chess is the flexibility of material worth. There are 3 basic elements to evaluate in a position: material, position, and time – however for the purpose of general study you typically only need to worry about the material and position. Accurately leveraging the value of certain pieces against positional considerations is so tough because both aspects are constantly changing with every move. It can be easy to [...]

1 of the most common errors I encounter in chess classes with my beginner students is the tendency to focus exclusively on playing with a narrow set of pieces. For example, many of my younger students become easily enamored with the knight and can’t stop themselves from hopping all over the board to their own detriment. Beginner chess players are also naturally prone to place excessive influence on the role of pawns in the game, [...]

Paul Morphy was one of the best chess players of his time, thoroughly dominating the mid 19th century with inspired attacks and sacrifices. But what really allowed Morphy to play with a style that was many years ahead of his time was his understanding of the basic principles of opening theory. Morphy’s chess ideology was very straightforward with respect to the first 10-15 moves of the game: Morphy’s overwhelmingly aggressive opening style frequently led to [...]