This year, when my mom had asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her I wanted her to play chess with me. This was so that I had an opportunity to teach her what I know because I want to be a chess teacher. The second reason was that I wanted to give her a good memory of chess.
You see, my father was not a good man, but he was the first person to teach her chess. It was 50 years ago, and it was his idea of a first date. However, this meant my mom had a permanent bad memory attached to chess because it reminded her of him. Therefore, I wanted to reteach her in a way that she would enjoy and think of it as a game she plays with me instead.
Sometimes, it’s not whether you win or lose. Sometimes, it’s not even how you play the game. Sometimes, it is who you play the game with that counts.
In all seriousness though, playing chess does sound like a good idea for a first date. That is the one thing in which I am the same as my father. It also probably explains why I turned 37 today and I’m still single!
But I have my mom! Thank you for playing chess with me, mom! And thank you to everyone for the happy birthday messages!
Today is my birthday. To anyone who reads this, all I ask is that people follow the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Never forget who your neighbor is just because they are a different gender, race, species, or religious or political affiliation than you.
Chess is by no means hard to learn. There are 6 different pieces and I covered all of their movement rules in half an hour. Depending on your memory, you may need to play a lot more to drill the rules into your brain. Some people like me really enjoy chess but it’s also not fun for everyone.
However, anyone can learn it and I would suggest trying it instead of never learning because you heard that it was hard to play. If you’ve ever been told that chess is hard to learn, it was probably from someone who never even tried.
But I am here now and I will teach you what I know. The goal of a good teacher is that I should be able to not only teach you how to play but play so well that you can even beat me. That is what I call Chastity’s Chess Challenge!
And the best part is, playing chess is free and doesn’t have to cost you anything except the time required to learn and improve.
I Stream on Twitch and upload to all available social media. If there is something you don’t understand or want me to cover a specific topic then comment and let me know!
Below are all my social media and websites so you can keep up with me as I become a better chess coach.
The Queen’s Gambit happens when both white and black move the pawn in front of their queen two squares, and then white moves the queen’s bishop’s pawn two squares. In this position, white could take black’s pawn next turn, but right now, it is black’s turn, and they must decide what to do.
Black must make a choice between accepting the gambit (which means sacrifice) or declining it by making a different move and not capturing it. Usually, black will defend their pawn with another pawn. If they move their king’s pawn in one space to add defense to their queen’s pawn, it is called the Queen’s Gambit declined. If they use their queen’s bishop’s pawn, it is called the Slav defense.
In the next two pictures, I will show you two very common results that could happen depending on what black does and what my suggested response is for white. In the first case, if black captures the pawn, the best move for white is to move the king’s pawn two squares forward. This move means that next turn, white will be able to capture back the black pawn and move the bishop onto its square. The second reason for moving the king’s pawn is to get it out of the way so that the queen has another diagonal direction that she can move in.
But sometimes, black declines the gambit and defends their pawn by moving their king’s pawn one square. When this happens, my favorite move is to move the pawn that black declined to capture one square forward. What this accomplishes is that both of black’s bishops are trapped by pawns! By slowing black down, white has more time for flexibility as they move out their pieces and plan their attack!
Notice that I didn’t use any chess notation in my explanation so far? That’s because this opening is simple enough to describe without it. However, chess notation is extremely valuable for recording long games in a portable format that chess programs and websites can play back.
For this reason, I will include the chess notation for a game in which white checkmates black extremely quickly!
If you copy and paste that in the analysis board on lichess.org or chess.com, you will be able to replay the moves and see what happened. What happened is that black got so excited about capturing a pawn with the knight and then planning to fork white’s king and rook that it failed to notice that white was setting up a checkmate. Sometimes a game really can end this quickly if your opponent is not familiar with your attacks!
I am still figuring out the technical details of how to include information when I make a book of my posts. For now, all content will be hosted on this blog. This means that all kinds of links can be shared that wouldn’t work in a paperback book.
Check out this video on the Queen’s Gambit that I made specifically to go along with this chapter!
I anticipate that some will be surprised at my latest business idea of becoming a chess coach. They may wonder where this idea came from. You see, I am a Full Sail University student who will no doubt be in debt for the rest of my life. As it stands, I have over $19,000 in debt, and by the time I graduate with my degree in “Game Business and Esports Science”, I imagine it will be far worse.
Many people have told me to start a business. I have never been without ideas on how to build a business.
Never mind that I published 3 video games: Chaste Tris, Chaste Puyo, and Chaste Panel.
Never mind that I published a series of books (which no one reads) called “Chandler’s Honesty,” which documents much of my life as I have conversations with a unicorn.
And never mind the fact that I have no money or time to start a business like most people do. I never succeeded in conventional ways in society, and I did not get my first job till I was 25(and not for lack of trying either).
I am finally in a good place right now because in 2023, I got hired by Walmart as an overnight stocker, and at least people respect me even though they all know I am transgender. Working full-time and doing online school doesn’t leave me with much time, but I never stop thinking about chess and how to improve.
If nothing else, documenting what I have learned about chess will help me with more games and improve my Elo ratings online. That’s good enough for me. But if other people respond to what I say and want to VOLUNTARILY donate to me to support me as a chess coach and author, then I thank them.
My business model is the same as that of lichess.org. That site runs entirely on volunteers and donations. One promise I make is that if people follow me and donate to my Twitch stream or buy my books, I will be donating to keep the site alive because it really is the best place to play chess online.
Lichess.org is the best because it is free and has plenty of resources for new and experienced players, but also because being a Streamer on lichess.org does not require exclusivity. Chess.com is a great site, but many features are locked behind a paywall, and their Streamer policy requires certain things I could never agree to. So, I decided to promote lichess.org as the greatest site to play chess, as shown in the examples in my chapters that explain opening knowledge.
There will be more chapters after this post devoted to specific openings. For now, enjoy my YouTube playlist where I try to teach some specific things through the lichess analysis board and playing actual live games with people on the internet.
