Gary Kimovich Kasporov, hailing from Russia is one of the greatest players of our time. The more you read about him, his achievements, and his games, the more you will be inspired. Born in 1963, the 55-year-old chess wizard is also known for being a writer and political activist. But give him a chessboard and he would show you what he does best – take down opponents without bloodshed.
Some of the greatest minds started young. That’s the entire essence of excellence and success wrapped in a very few words. To be successful, you have to start right from an early age and work your way through your passion. That’s exactly why we have been emphasizing on the importance of introducing concepts on coding, chess and robotics to your kids at their prime ages.
On one of our previous posts, we shared some insights on why your kids should start learning coding today. To take that vision of ours forward, we bring to you some of the most essential websites that you need to bookmark to teach coding to your kids. Apart from making your kids future-ready in terms of life and career security, early exposure to coding and app development unleashes the full potential of your kids’ creativity and imagination.
As we are slowly waking up to the importance of coding and programming languages here in India, a group back in the US realized the inevitability of coding as early as 16 years back. And this realization was not based on the scope of coding for adults but for kids over 8 years. Yes, MIT Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarden Group developed a visual programming language targeted at teaching coding to kids in 2002 that made its first appearance in the year 2007. Designed to help kids understand coding concepts and programming languages, the visual tool for ages 8 and above allows kids to think, analyze, collaborate and imagine a virtual world simultaneously learning digital concepts.
One of the major shortcomings our previous generation complained was on the inaccessibility to information. For them, everything was a struggle and they had to go on a pursuit to know things, adapt, work and evolve. However, that’s not the case with our generation and the ones to follow. At the click of a button, we have a world of information waiting to be explored and if you’re really into personal development for yourself or your kid, there are plenty of avenues and opportunities.
At a time when the world is talking about why adults and conventional IT professionals should learn to code and upskill to data analytics and Python programming languages, we would like to take a space off the sphere and emphasize why your kids should start learning coding today. In simple words, technology-based skills that were considered in-demand yesterday have become obsolete today. The massive layoffs last year in tech companies like Tech Mahindra, Infosys, CTS and more are prime examples of this.
Practice is what turns a layman to a connoisseur and constant exposure to tougher situations is what brings out the best in people. In this fast-paced world, hardly do we have time to sit down, think and have conversations. We go to work, binge television series, eat, try to sleep at night, sleep in the mornings and repeat. Amidst such a lifestyle, it is difficult to pursue an interest and sustain it. That’s why we have with us chess apps for your smartphone that will allow you to stay in touch with the game and update your games and skills while you’re on the move. So no matter if you are commuting your way to work, having lunch or have a spare time, these apps should keep nurturing the pro in you. Check them out.
For a viewer, it’s all about moving one piece of chess coin from one position to another. But only the chess player who has made the move knows what has happened inside his or her mind. Within the few seconds of looking at the board, the chess player would have played a hundred moves, cracked 50 strategies, made 10 sacrifices, read the opponent’s mind, come up with counter strikes and zeroed in that one move he went on to play. Sometimes, all we can do is look at a chess player and get inspired by their thought processes and approach to life and chess in general.
‘Beginner’s Chess & the Challenges’, is an article that focuses on the kids who begin their play of chess and intended to enlighten their parents who may or may not have knowledge & experience in the game. Unlike, other board games, chess has its uniqueness not only in its play but also in the benefits that are ensuing from it. The day when a kid learns to play chess, is a beginning of a long journey of development into a professional chess player. Many Grand Masters that I have interacted and observed had started to learn chess at the age of 5 or 6. But, they have become grand masters in their early teen age or towards the fag end of their teen age. Hence, it is a long journey for your kid to conquer the title, “Grand Master”
Amidst your busy schedules on binging on television series like Stranger Things, Sherlock, Black Mirror and others, we recommend watching 5 of the greatest documentaries on chess this weekend for a change. We know that you have a flair for chess and the thirst to keep getting better at your game. While practice, tips, tutorials and online matches help, there is nothing like a dose of motivation to achieve greater heights in chess. To help you on that, check out our list of 5 documentaries on chess you should binge.
There are prodigies and there are some people who are beyond such concepts. Such veterans cannot be confined within the limits of anything and when you see them, you look up to them with amazement than appreciating them. In a land of over a billion people, there are only a handful who would fall into this category and one such legend is our very own Grandmaster from Chennai Mr. Vishwanathan Anand.
Everybody knows that a game of chess can be won by pulling a checkmate on the opposite king. But like in any game it need not always be a one sided result. Sometimes both the players may share laurels by ending the game in a draw. This is many a times used by players on the losing side to strategically avoid defeat. Let us sneak into the rulebooks to see the various ways in which a game of chess can end in a draw.
The team at Mind Mentorz is very proud of our student - Lakshanya for securing the 1st prize in her recent Chess Tournament. Lakshanya played in the Under 10 Category of the Rainbow Club Chess Tournament, held in Bangalore on Jan 21st, 2018 and secured 1st Prize in Girls category. She concluded the tournament with a score of 4/6 pts.
At Mind Mentorz, we have always been channelizing our energy on walking you through the positive impact chess can bring in to your life. Be it through our classes, conversations or blog posts, we have emphasized the importance of training your mind with chess for the development of analytical and strategic skills that will complement your goals and aspirations.
There were a total of 62 Participants in the 15th BNCF Chess Tournament that took place in BEL Officers Club, Bangalore. After a total of 7 Rounds, Manasvi managed to secure the 1st place in her category (U10) after she successfully managed to secure a 5.5/7 Rounds. The team at Mind Mentorz would like to congratulate Manasvi on a remarkable performance and wish her the best for her future chess tournaments.
Over the last few decades, mankind has been fortunate to witness some really intense moments that have earned a permanent name for themselves in history. There have been some great moments in the history of chess, where one masterstroke have turned players into legends and tournaments into historic milestones. Be it the games involving Anderssen and Dufresene, Kasparov, Vishwanathan Anand or Deep Blue, there are some greatest games in chess that looked back in awe in the decades to come.
Jesslyn Jinisha - student of Mind secured a score of 5/9 Rounds in the FIDE Rated Chess tournament that concluded on Dec 16th, 2017. She managed to win against two rated opponents and also secure a draw against another rated opponent for the very first time in a single tournament. She not only finished in the first place of the U7 category, but also confirms a new FIDE Rating for herself. The team at Mind Mentorz are very proud of her new achievement and wish her all the best in her future successes with chess tournaments.
Like any other game, you can become better at chess by constant practicing. This is an evolutionary game, where you not just learn newer ways of winning a game but evolve after every match as well. If winning in chess teaches you about your opponent’s mistake, losing can teach you yours. With literally several thousands of probabilities to the game, you cannot just come up with a pattern and device algorithms to tackle chess and win using a textbook approach. It takes constant development of skills including strategizing, consequential analysis, manipulation, grabbing the right opportunity at the right time and foreseeing actions to get better at chess.
There are two approaches to life – either life teaches you lessons or we act proactively, sense things, think a couple of steps in advance and learn from things that could happen. This is called interpretation and it plays a crucial role in shaping our intellect and traits. While an egoistic mind shuns every possible opportunity to learn, a wise mind creates opportunities to evolve from within.
