Last class was a very exciting and bittersweet experience. Not only was it the last class of the 2018-2019 school year, but it was also my last class ever here. To wrap the year up, I played a simul against the students and everyone had a chance to play a game against me. It has been a humbling experience spending time with all of you and watch you grow from start to finish. All of you have improved tremendously, as shown in your play against me. Many of you went from not even knowing how to play the game to now being able to apply everything you learned- from openings to strategy to tactics.

When I began my chess club 2 years ago, I did not expect much. I did not know what to expect. All that I knew was that I wanted to promote chess and share my chess knowledge to the community. What turned out was a group of amazing students that I could not ask more of. Every meeting motivated me to do more and become more involved. I'd like to thank all the students from the bottom of my heart for making my time so amazing.

Chess is more than a game. It's a passion that teaches you many real life skills such as time management, strategic thinking, decision making, and more. I encourage all of you to continue learning and playing chess after this.

Yesterday, we started out by going over last month's homework. We deviated from talking about tactics this month, as I taught them the two K+R+P vs K+R endings that they must know - the Philidors Position and cutting off the king. Each student learned how to draw and win the respectable positions by going over multiple examples with both black and white. Afterwards, the students were able to play against each other, where I helped correct their mistakes. This month's homework is below, and it involves the endings we learned in class.

Last night, we started out by reviewing last month's homework. We reviewed multiple different tactical motifs and solved multiple puzzles for each. Each person was also able to play 2 games each where I helped correct their mistakes. This month's homework is below.

Yesterday's class was rescheduled from March 1st due to conflicts. As usual, we started out by going over the homework. During this class, we reviewed all the tactical ideas we have learned in the past, and solved puzzles for them. Afterwards, everyone was able to play 3 games against each other where I helped correct their mistakes. This week's homework is below and it involves similar problems that we did in class.

It was great that many of you were able to come despite the weather. I showed the lesson on my laptop screen due to technical difficulties with the projecter. Each student was able to play 5 games against each other, and I was very impressed with the students' growth. In this year, our goal is to increase the difficulty of the class.

We had our first class of the new year last night. This month, we reviewed different tactical motifs that we learned throughout last year, and the students solved multiple puzzles related to them. Afterwards, everyone played multiple games. In the following months, we will be focusing more on practicing by playing games. The homework is below, and it involves different tactical motifs that we learned over the year.

Yesterday was the 2nd class of December. As usual, we started by going over last time's content and homwork. This class, we focused on openings, specifically what the students should play as black against e4. We first reviewed opening priciples that we had previously learned, and then I taught them the theory. Everyone understood the lesson well and played 2 games against each other, where I helped correct their mistakes. This week's homework is below, and it involves the opening we learned yesterday.

Last night we had an addtional class. As usual, we started by reviewing last month's content and homework. We came back to endings, this time learning about K+P v K with opposition, K+P+P v K, using the outside passer, and converting up a pawn. Each student then played 2 games against each other, and I helped correct their mistakes. This weeks homework is below, and it involves the endings that they learned.

It was great that many of you could make it despite the snow. To start class, we went over last month's homework and learned about discovered attacks. A discovered attack is a tactic where an attack is revealed when one piece moves out of the way of another. Each student understood the lesson well and solved 5 discovered attack puzzles. Everyone then played 2 games against each other, and I fixed their mistakes. This month's homework is below.

Yesterday was the 2nd meeting of this year. We started by going over last class's homework and continued our discussion of tactics, this time focusing on overloading. An overloaded piece is when a piece is given an additional defensive assignment which it can't do without abandoning its original assignment. Everyone successfully solved the puzzles and played 2 games against each other, where I helped fix their mistakes. This week's homework is below.

Last night was the first chess club meeting after a long summer break. We had 2 new students, and the total members of the club reached 14. We continued our study of tactics, and focused on skewers this time. A skewer is when you are attacking 2 pieces in a line, and when one piece moves, you can capture the other piece. After the lesson, everyone got to play 3 games against each other, and I was very happy to see that everyone had improved a lot. The homework for this month is below.

Yesterday we had our last class for 2017-2018 school year. I played a simul against all students, which went extremely well. All of the students played well and showed a lot of improvement since our first class in December 2017, as many students played close games against me and played accurate moves. I noticed that the student's opening had improved drastically since last year, as in our first class, many students didn't know how to play the opening and would break the opening principles. In yesterday's simul, however, every student followed the opening principle and played the opening very well. I also noticed that the student's tactical ability had improved a lot too, as they were able to calculate deeper and use some tactics that I taught them. Looking back, I had a great time teaching all of the students and I'd like to thank them for making it such a fun and easy year. This month's homework is below, and it involves many topics that we covered over the year.

In yesterday's class, we started out by going over the homework and reviewing what we learned last week- double attacks. The students played 2 games and I corrected their mistakes. This month, we focused on endings. In chess, endings are extremely important because it is the last stage of the game, and can change the outcome of the game. I went through some of the most basic endings and picked 3 that all chess players must know. They are: how to win a K+R vs K, how to draw a K+P vs K, and how to draw a K+B+P vs K. This week's homework involves scenarios where you have to give a plan in the position.

This was the second class in April. As usual, we reviewed what we did last class and went over the homework. The students played 2 games each this week, and I helped correct their mistakes. Some students even got to play a game with me this week. We continued our topic of tactics, and we looked at the double attack. A double attack is when you have two threats at the same time, and the opponent can't stop both of your threats. This month's homework is below, and all of them involve a double attack.

Yesterday's class was rescheduled from March 2 due to inclement weather. To start the class, we went over our homework and did a couple of tactics for practice. The students played 2 games each, and I corrected their mistakes. The topic we focused on yesterday was on the tactic of Removing the Defender, which is when you capture a piece that leaves one of the opponent's pieces or squares undefended. Tactics are something that every player should know. This month's homework is below, and they relate to what we talked about in class.

Yesterday, we had our third club meeting. We warmed up with a couple of tactics, which the students did very well on. Like last week, everyone played three games and I corrected the student's errors. Our main topic last night was learning opening lines. In chess, the opening is an extremely important part of the game, and you can win or lose a game from the opening. When I watched the games in our class I realized that many of our students don't know how to correctly play the opening, so I taught them the Italian Opening. This opening is very effective and easy to learn, leading you to a good middle game position. This month's homework is to solve the puzzles below as well as doing as many tactics on chess.com as possible.

Last night, we had our second club meeting. This was rescheduled from January 5 due to inclement weather. Everyone played a total of 3 games against each other, and I was very pleased that many players had improved drastically. During the games, I corrected everyone's errors and told them how to play better next time. Then, I taught them about opening principles, or how you should play the opening and what you are trying to accomplish from the opening. I also showed them the "dream position" to achieve, and where they should develope their pieces. Everyone's homework is to continue doing as many tactics as possible, and to solve the puzzles below.

It was a pleasure to meet all my students at our first meeting on December 1, 2017. Everyone played two games against each other, I was very happy to see that all of them possessed a strong understanding of chess. While they were playing, I pointed out their mistakes and how to fix them. After the games, I taught them the basics of a pin in chess, and how you should try to attack it. We also went through several puzzles to end the night. Before we ended class, I assigned them homework - to do as many chess puzzles as possible on chess.com.

Below are some of the puzzles involving pins.