The icon for this Web page is a picture of Jeremy which was taken at La Place des Jardins in Montreal, Quebec during our 1997 St. Nicholas Day/Hanukkah holiday. During the Christmas holidays, the train takes car loads of children on trips around the mall.

Jeremy learned how to play Chess when we were living in Quebec where it is part of the Math cirriculum. The following sites teach chess much better:

• Chess Federation of Canada

  To download their "Beginners Flyer" to help you with the basic rules of chess, click on the "Resources" button. You must have Adobe Acrobat version 3.0 or greater to view this file.

• chessKIDS academy

  "Teach your kids how to play chess with [their] free online chess course

  Interactive chess lessons, quizzes, games and puzzles for kids. Play chess against the computer FREE online chess books for kids - download and print"

  This site is a "Safe Site" and a "Kid Friendly Site."

  To learn how to play chess, click on the "Kids" button. You can skip the "New Kids" page.

  Visit daily for their "Puzzle of the day" and "Tip of the day."

  This is the 2004 parent supervisor's favourite chess Web site for kids.

  

• Chess is Fun by Jon Edwards, United States Correspondence Chess Champion

  Jon Edwards was the 10th United States Correspondence Chess Champion. "...He began playing correspondence chess (ie, through the mail) in 1986. His correspondence chess rating of 2470 is the highest ever obtained in APCT (American Postal Chess Tournaments) history. Jon also plays within the ICCF (International Correspondence Chess Federation) and represents the United States on its National Team...."

  "Want to learn how to play chess? Want to learn how to play a bit better? Here are some fairly easy "lessons." Those relatively new to chess should play though the introduction to chess and the section on chess strategy...."

  This is a very straightforward Web site. You can learn how to play chess as soon as you enter the site.

• Chess Rules
• Chess Federation

  "Welcome to the US Chess Federation, the official sanctioning body for over the board tournament play in the US. With over 90,000 members, [they] offer something for every player, from beginner to Grandmaster! In addition to rating tournaments, the USCF supports and promotes chess activities throughout the US. [They] also publish an award-winning national magazine, Chess Life...."

  To learn how to play chess, click on the "Beginners Area" button.

  

• Academic CHESS

  In 1994, Eric Hicks founded Academic Chess. "...Since its inception, Academic Chess has spread in schools throughout California, Nevada, and Utah, and has taught 100,000 elementary students in over 200 schools the game of chess. Academic Chess is a growing organization of individuals committed to promoting chess among children. "

  To learn how to play chess, click on the "Learn" button.

• Bruno's Chess Problem of the Day

  "Like chess? Come on daily, and try to solve these free online chess games. These free chess problems should help you to improve your chess strategies or tactics.

  Tip: Solutions to these chess problems will be made available the following day. Archives of checkmates over the last 10 days can be consulted."

  This Web site is particularly good for the advanced young chessplayer.

• "50 Chess Games for Beginners"

  ""50 Chess Games for Beginners" is an animated chess tutorial program for new players who wish to improve their game. It provides fully annotated examples of games illustrating good chess tactics and strategies and is particularly suitable for children or junior players. [They] include descriptions of chess notation, standard chess openings, chess grading, and much more. There is a free chess competition for visitors."

  Their Web page on notation is particularly good. The website uses the Algebraic System of notation which is recommended by the international chess organisation FIDE. A brief description of the most important rules of Algebraic Notation is given. It also includes a printable scoresheet.

  This Web site is particularly good for the advanced young chessplayer.

Many young chessplayers learn how to play chess by playing against their parents. The following World Wide Web sites will be helpful to parents:

• Tips For Parents of Young Chessplayers from Duif's Place

  "If you're the parent of a young chessplayer, you know both you and your child face special challenges. Chess is a game without any luck at all, so how do you maintain a child's interest while they're going through the novice stage? What's a fair way to play against children? Is your child ready for tournaments? Whether your child is just beginning to learn the Royal Game, or is already an established tournament player, on this page [they] discuss some of the issues that parents face...."

• Success Chess Schools

  On this Web page about Success Chess Schools, you can "Download in pdf format a summary of 14 research projects that show how playing chess helps children in their school work."

  One of the studies was "a 1989-92 New Brunswick, Canada study, using 437 fifth graders split into three groups, experimenting with the addition of chess to the math curriculum" that "found increased gains in math problm-solving and comprehension proportionate to the amount of chess in the ccurriculum."

• Chess'n Math Association: Canada's National Scholastic Chess Organization

  At their very cleverly designed Web site, you'll find information about chess camps, upcoming tournaments (some of which are in New Brunswick), and ratings. At their Web site, you can alos order "Scholar's Mate," Canada's chess magazine for kids. Scholar's Mate is produced 5 times a year and is mailed from Montreal, Canada on the following dates: Oct. 15, Dec. 15, Feb. 15, Apr. 15 and June 15.

• Saint John Chess Club

  Visit their site for information regarding New Brunswick chess events.

• Nova Scotia Chess
• THE CANADIAN CORRESPONDENCE CHESS ASSOCIATION HOME PAGE

The following are selected miscellaneous links:

• En Passant - Nørresundby Chess Club

  "Welcome to En Passant, one of the chess sites in the Palamede group. Software, fonts and graphics for chess publishing. Free downloads. Chess in Nørresundby (Denmark)."

  

  At left, Jeremy is shown, enjoying a picnic in a park on the main street in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue on his birthday in 2002. The train station is just a 5 minute walk from the main street.

• Mark Lowery's Exciting World of Chess

  "Mark Lowery's Exciting World of Chess is deigned to learn and improve playing skills for the game of chess, with tutorials, problems, interactive game boards, chess webart, links, webrings, tactics & strategy, and much more!"

• Apparently, there are at least four chess tables like the one at left at St. John the Baptist-King Edward School. It was made by Hickey Bros. Ltd..

• Halloween Costumes - Traditional Favorites: Knight

  The knight's costume could be used for Halloween or it could be used for a living chess game.

• KNIGHT'S TOUR
• Knight's Tour

  The first solution is the easiest to remember.

• Puzzle 44. CHESS PUZZLE

  "Move the pieces so that the positions of the white pieces and black pieces would be interchanged. Starting with white, alternately move the white and black pieces. Excellent if you can solve this puzzle with 10 white moves and 10 black moves, or less."

• Puzzle 54. EASTER CHESS PUZZLE

  "In a medieval kingdom, some hens would lay golden eggs during Easter. As a thanksgiving for such Divine providence, it is a tradition for this kingdom to have these eggs donated for the benefit of the poor. In exchange for their generosity, people who donated golden eggs would not be taxed for three years. Every year during Easter, the king would have his knight go throughout his kingdom to collect these golden Easter eggs for the poor. Can you help the knight collect these eggs in the shortest time possible? On the board below, move the knight to all squares occupied by the golden eggs in 14 consecutive moves, so that an egg is collected each move."

• Jeremy is a HUGE fan of PBS' historical cartoon Liberty's Kids in which Walter Cronkite is the voice of Benjamin Franklin. "We do know that Franklin embraced the game enthusiastically, and his written endorsement of it in The Morals of Chess remains a persuasive recommendation of the game even today. [Issued in 1786, it was the first published chess writing in the US. "(By the way, the first chess book published in Russia was in the 18th century, it was Benjamin Franklin's "The Morals of Chess")."]
  • Franklin's miniature chess set with a silver, egg-shaped container is among the Franklin images and artifacts at the American Philosophical Society. (The kings are 1.75 cm tall.)

  • "Those who deplore The Way to Wealth may feel the same about "The Morals of Chess," concerning a game Franklin loved to play, and to win. With its view that “life is a kind of chess,” the essay amplifies the quiet aggressivity of the Autobiography and tersely expresses Franklin’s view of how the contest should be waged—with caution, perseverance, strategy, and a desire for advantage."

  • Benjamin Franklin's enthusiasm for chess could have dramatically altered Saint John skyline.

    "At the Royal Society, one evening, a gentleman told Franklin that Mrs. [Caroline] Howe, sister-in-law of Earl [Richard] Howe [His sister, not sister-in-law.], a lady who possessed many admirable qualities, wished to play chess with him, as she fancied she could beat him. He accepted the challenge, and on the day after Parliament met he was introduced to her, was charmed by her mind and manners, played a few games, and accepted an invitation to repeat the visit and the amusement...."

    "Mrs. Howe's invitations to chess-playing continued, and were accepted. On the evening of Christmas, Franklin was at that lady's house, when she said, almost immediately after he had entered, that her brother, Lord Howe, was very anxious to make the acquaintance of Franklin; that he lived very near, and that if the statesman would give her leave she would send for his lordship...."

    "The sagacious Franklin now saw clearly, what he had already suspected; namely, that the chess-playing was only a pleasant mask for a little artful diplomacy...."

    The American artist, Edward Harrison May (1824-1887), painted a picture of the chess-playing between Lady Howe and Benjamin Franklin, "Lady Howe mated Benjamin Franklin."

    Thomas Jefferson described in words the relationship between Benjamin Franklin and Lady Howe in his Autobiography.

    (A painting of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington playing chess is available at Mega Chess.)

    Vice Admiral Richard Howe Richard Howe was the brother of Major General Sir William Howe.

    "In the fall of 1777, [two years after Earl Richard Howe met Benjamin Franklin,] Brigade Major Gilfred Studholme arrived in Saint John harbour with a detachment of soldiers tasked to secure the area. They brought with them a prefabricated blockhouse and four 6-pounder canons. Studholme opted not to build on the site of Fort Frederick, but on the high ground behind the site of Fort La Tour, which gave complete command of ther inner harbour. He named it Fort Howe, after Lieutenant-General Sir William Howe, the commander of the British forces in North America...."

    "In recognition of his significant contributions to American chess, Benjamin Franklin was inducted into the Chess Hall of Fame in 1999."

• Other Liberty's Kids characters were involved with chess. John Adams, John Quincy Adams, James Monroe, and James Madion, all played chess.
  • Presidents Involved With Chess by Bill Wall

  • In the episode of Liberty's Kids entitled "Across the Deleware," there is one, if not two, bloopers.

    In 1974, Gerald Abrahams wrote an interesting book called Not Only Chess. He called it a selection of Chessays. On page 42, "Abrahams tells the story about an English settler sending a small boy with a message to the British Commander General Rahl that George Washington was about to cross the Delaware River. The general was so immersed in a Christmas chess game, that he put the note in his pocket unopened. There it was found when he lay mortally wounded in the subsequent battle. Actually, Rahl was a Colonel, not a general. Col Gottlieb Rahl had 1,500 Germans (Hessians) in Trenton, New Jersey. Washington tried to crossed the Delaware in 3 places on Christmas Day in 1776. The only crossing near Trenton took 10 hours with 2,400 men. They crossed 9 miles away from Trenton and marched in sleet and rain at night. Washington attacked Trenton in broad daylight on December 26, 1776 around 8 am. Rahl, the commander, and 40 men were killed and a thousand men surrendered. The Americans had 4 wounded and 5 frozen to death. The battle took less than one hour. The note and the chess playing may not have happened."

    See: "Not Only Chess" by Bill Wall

    In "Across the Delaware," Colonel Rahl is depicted as being immersed in a card game when a man delivers the message. That may or may not have been a blooper.

    The depiction of Rahl's troops playing Silent Night outside in front of a fire that same evening is definitely a blooper. In fact, the words were written by Fr. Joseph Mohr in Mariapfarr, Austria, in 1816 and the melody was added by Franz X. Gruber in Arnsdorf, Austria, in 1818.

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Optimized for Netscape 2.0 or better. Last Updated May 9, 2008.

Copyright Rexanna M. Keats 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. All Rights Reserved.