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    The 5 Step Method in Chess

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    jjllayuso
    The Steps Method is a six-step program developed to teach chess to beginners. Each step builds on the previous ones, with lessons focusing on rules, tactics, strategy, and calculation. Students advance through the steps by demonstrating mastery of the material. The goal is to bring students from a basic understanding of the game to an Elo rating of 1900 after step 5 or 2100 after the self-directed step 6. Schools and clubs in the Netherlands and Belgium commonly use this method in their chess lessons.

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    The 5 Step Method in Chess

    Uploaded by

    jjllayuso
    101 views4 pages
    The Steps Method is a six-step program developed to teach chess to beginners. Each step builds on the previous ones, with lessons focusing on rules, tactics, strategy, and calculation. Students advance through the steps by demonstrating mastery of the material. The goal is to bring students from a basic understanding of the game to an Elo rating of 1900 after step 5 or 2100 after the self-directed step 6. Schools and clubs in the Netherlands and Belgium commonly use this method in their chess lessons.

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    THE 5 STEP METHOD IN CHESS

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    The Steps Method is a six-step program developed to teach chess to beginners. Each step builds on the previous ones, with lessons focusing on rules, tactics, strategy, and calculation. Students advance through the steps by demonstrating mastery of the material. The goal is to bring students from a basic understanding of the game to an Elo rating of 1900 after step 5 or 2100 after the self-directed step 6. Schools and clubs in the Netherlands and Belgium commonly use this method in their chess lessons.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    101 views4 pages

    The 5 Step Method in Chess

    Uploaded by

    jjllayuso
    The Steps Method is a six-step program developed to teach chess to beginners. Each step builds on the previous ones, with lessons focusing on rules, tactics, strategy, and calculation. Students advance through the steps by demonstrating mastery of the material. The goal is to bring students from a basic understanding of the game to an Elo rating of 1900 after step 5 or 2100 after the self-directed step 6. Schools and clubs in the Netherlands and Belgium commonly use this method in their chess lessons.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    THE STEP METHOD IN CHESS

    The step-by-step method (or the Steps Method in Chess) has been developed by Rob Brunia and Cor van
    Wijgerden to teach children a Step-by-Step Chess Method to learn how to play chess for beginners. A large
    number of schools and chess clubs in the Netherlands and Belgium use this method for their chess lessons. The
    Step Method is intended to take students from the basics all the way to the chess level of an ELO rating of 1900
    after the student has mastered step 5. The program can take a student up to a 2100 ELO rating once they master
    the self-directed 6th step.

    This steps method consists of six steps.

    Step 1

    Rules of the game and basic skills are covered in step 1.

    15 lessons:

    1: Board and pieces


    2: Moves of the pieces
    3: Attacking and capturing
    4: The pawn
    5: Defending
    6: Check and + getting out of check
    7: Mate
    8: Mate
    9: Castling
    10: Profitable exchange
    11: Twofold attack
    12: Draw
    13: Mating with the queen
    14: Taking ‘en passant’
    15: The notation

    Step 2

    Tactics and a basic introduction to strategy is covered in step 2. Most exercises require 2-4 ply calculation. The
    student that has mastered step 2 can expect to attain an 1100-1200 rating.

    1: Activity of pieces
    2: Double attack: queen (1)
    3: Double attack: queen (2)
    4: The pin
    5: Elimination of the defence
    6: The 3 golden rules
    7: Mate in two
    8: Double attack: knight
    9: Mating with the rook
    10: Double attack: RBQK
    11: Discovered attack
    12: Defending against mate
    13: The short notation
    Step 3

    Step 3 builds upon the first 2 steps. Strong focus on tactics and the pawn endgames are introduced. In this step
    supporting skills are introduced such as ‘thinking ahead’. Exercises in this level require 3-6 ply calculation. The
    student can expect to attain a chess rating of 1300-1400 after completion of this level.

    Lessons:

    1: Finishing the opening


    2: Discovered and double check
    3: Attack on a pinned piece
    4: Mate in two (access)
    5: The square of the pawn
    6: Eliminating of the defense
    7: Defending against the double attack
    8: Mini plan
    9: Draw
    10: X-ray
    11: The opening
    12: Defending against the pin
    13: Mobility
    14: Key squares (1)
    15: Pinned pieces
    16: Threats
    17: Key squares (2)

    Step 4

    The difficulty level rises in this step. More ply calculations are required to solve the exercises in this step. Most
    exercises in this level require 5-8 ply calculation

    Strategic concepts are introduced via the endgame. This step contains lessons about material advantage and
    endgame strategy as well as weak pawn concepts.

    The student can expect to attain a rating of 1500-1600 after completion of this level.

    Lessons:

    1: Advantage in the opening


    2: Interfering
    3: Luring
    4: Blocking
    5: Thinking ahead
    6: Placing the front and back piece
    7: The passed pawn
    8: Eliminating of the defense
    9: The magnet
    10: Weak pawns
    11: Material advantage
    12: Chasing and aiming
    13: King’s attack
    14: Seventh rank (tactics)
    15: Endgame strategy
    16: Clearing
    17: Queen against pawn
    Step 5

    For step 5 students the positional aspects begin to play more and more important role. There are lessons about
    pawn structure, the seventh rank, strong square and open file contain many strategic aspects. Exercises in this
    level require 7-10 ply calculation. Students can expect to attain a rating of 1700-1800 after completion of this
    level.

    Playing according to a plan is important in chess, that is why it is discussed in some lessons about the endgame.
    They show how important the cooperation of the pieces is and how relative the value of the pieces can be. The
    lesson ‘Defense’ pays attention to some aspects which are almost by all the students insufficiently used.

    Lessons:

    1: Material and time


    2: Mate
    3: Breakthrough
    4: Using pawns
    5: Pawn race
    6: Seventh rank
    7: Discovered attack
    8: Pin
    9: The opening
    10: Rook against pawn
    11: Strong square
    12: Defending
    13: Rook ending
    14: Attack on the king
    15: Open file
    16: Draw

    Step 6

    Exercises in this step require 9-13 ply calculation and the mastery of this step can leave the student at the 2000-
    2100 rating level.

    It is not a manual for the chess trainer, but a self study book for everyone.

    The difficulty level of the material goes up again. The solutions to the exercises are consequently one move
    deeper. A lot of attention is paid to strategy. This occurs to be and still remains a tough subject for everybody,
    especially the positions in the workbook. The endgame comes also back in some chapters. Studying it, is a good
    way to gain a higher playing strength. Tactics is treated in just one chapter.

    1: The king in the middle


    2: The passed pawn
    3: Strategy
    4: Mobility
    5: Draw
    6: The opening
    7: Tactics
    8: Pawn endings
    9: Bishop or knight?
    10: Attacking the king
    11: Advantage in the ending
    12: Bishops
    13: Defending
    14: Rook endings
    Practical Application
    So, how do you implement the steps method in your chess training? Well, you can buy the booklets from the
    official site or from Amazon you can also use the TASC chess training program. A word of warning about the
    program: it is from 1999, and while I have tested in Windows XP, I am not sure if it will work on Vista or
    Windows 7. There is a new version slated to come out in English in the very near future which you might
    probably want to wait for.

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