Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Mithawk - chess questions

Is it possible to estimate a USCF rating before entering tournaments?

700 appears to be the dividing line between advanced beginner and intermediate. However, I don't really know what that means. Is there a way to gauge what the differences are between an advanced beginner and an intermediate player?

Thanks.

Based on some observations of kids' tournaments, a child can go a long way if he simply captures pieces that are unguarded and avoids leaving his pieces "hanging". Thinking several moves ahead is good, but first he needs to be able to see one move ahead, looking at the possible moves of ALL of his pieces and ALL of his opponent's pieces. Often children play as if only a subset of the pieces (perhaps just the queen) exist.

I define "intermediate" as a player who usually follows the above guidelines. But even in rated youth tournaments there are lots of weak players, so if your child wants to play in one, I would not worry much about his current strength.

Windows Vista comes with Chess Titans. Has your child played this program, and can he win on any level?

Chessmaster can give an estimated rating:
http://chessmaster.us.ubi.com/xi/pcFeatures.php

Thanks. It's harder to gauge level when children are outside the norm cognitively as they don't follow the same trajectories. DS hasn't played for that many months but he appears beyond the description that you provided . The scholastic tournaments sponsored by the state association has many levels and they recommend that you register the child for the lowest level for which he qualifies. In our case, since he is unrated and in fourth grade, it would be the lowest level.

I am not familiar with Chess Titan, but if it is similar to some of the other internet chess websites, DS is nowhere near being able to win at all the levels.

Thanks. I took a look at the site and ended up purchasing a copy for DS' DSI. DS has a membership on chess.com, which also estimates your rating for you. I think that it is too high to be accurate, but it may be that he needs to use the site a lot more and for a much longer period of time to get an accurate estimation.

We love Chess Titans!! It enabled my son (the only kid in his class who could play) to enjoy a two player game with a buddy of his who hadn't learned the game yet. His buddy didn't really know what was happening, but the two of them were having fun with a computer game while my son got his chess fix.

He and I used to play more with a real board, but he used to knock the pieces over so often (wiggly ADHD kid)... it was frustrating. Anyway, Chess Titans is good.

Playing with a "triple weighted" chess set would ameliorate this.

I could be wrong, but I think the PP meant "Can he win at any of the levels yet?"

Yes, that is what I meant.

Oh thank you... I hadn't thought of that. I did think of maybe getting a magnetized travel set (my Dad had one), but I like the triple weighted idea.