Chess Merit Badge Tips: Analyzing A Game

Requirement 6a for the chess merit badge involves playing at least three games of chess, recording the games, recording chess notation, and then discussing the games with a counselor.

Below are suggestions for helping scouts learn how to ask the right questions.  

Telling someone to think before they move is not helpful if they don’t know what to think ABOUT. Learning to ask the right questions during the game and after the game is an important step in improving.

Explore:

What follows are sample questions that a beginning player should be asking as they evaluate each move.

• Have I developed all my pieces from the back rank?
• Can I develop a piece and attack one of my opponent’s pieces?
• Are any of my pieces threatened? If so, are they protected?
• Are any of my opponent’s pieces threatened? If so, are they protected? Would an exchange gain material for me?
• Am I looking just at where my pieces are sitting or am I also looking at where they could move?
• Is my king safe? Am I planning to castle?
• Am I playing “hope chess”? That is, am I planning a move and hoping my opponent doesn’t see the threat?

Below, Black has just captured a bishop on c3. What questions should White be asking before responding with the next move?

Sample Answers:

• Why would Black capture that bishop when I can recapture with the rook?
• Black loses the exchange – am I missing something? Yes! If White recaptures with the rook on c1, then Black moves Rd1+ and mates on the next move after White blocks with the rook on e4. So recapturing is not a good move.

Below, White has just moved Bd4 putting the black king in check. What questions should the player of the black pieces be asking?

Sample answers:

• Can the piece giving check be captured?
• Is there a piece that can block the check?
• Can my king move out of check?

If the answer is yes to more than one of these questions, which choice is best?  In this case, the best choice is to move the king.

Asking the right questions during the game is necessary to make the best choice of moves. Experience and study increases the number of questions – and the knowledge of when to ask them - available to the player.

Share:

• Play a practice game and for each move have the scout ask questions out loud that both players might be thinking.
• Discuss why those questions are important and list other questions that could be asked.
• Demonstrate asking questions – have the scout replay a game and explain the questions that he/she did ask during the game and list some that he/she might ask next time.
• Replay a game from notation and share with a group the questions that should be asked for key moments in the game.
• Apply this skill to life – have the scout explain how asking oneself the right questions after making a mistake can be helpful

 

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Note from Jerry Nash: Scout leaders and parents should know that the questions listed in these articles are meant to be used as a starting point and a guide for the type of questions and critical thinking you should be encouraging in your scouts. These questions are mere samples of the kinds of questions that could be asked. By providing a few answers within the articles, we mean to help those new to chess not feel completely overwhelmed with the information, and to help provide context to the type of knowledge that should be gained through the experience. Happy scouting, and happy chess merit badging!