I still remember the time I was new to chess and I was playing with one of my cousins during this time of the year. It was summer holidays and was just getting the hang of chess, its rules, the moves and the likes. Whenever I played with my cousin, I hardly managed to play over 5 moves. Why? Checkmate!
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.
A Rubik’s Cube is one of the most common pieces of puzzle we find in our lives. While you’re traveling in train, bus, visiting a grocery store or buying a pen at a stationery store, chances are very high that you might find Rubik’s Cube being sold. That’s the market penetration and popularity of the puzzle that has sold over 500 million units. However, what remains a fact is that not many of us know how to solve one. On this post, we will get a little closer in solving the Rubik’s Cube through a series of simple steps. So, if you have a Rubik’s Cube near you, get it and follow the instructions.
When the professor of architecture and sculptor from Hungary devised a puzzle in 1974, hardly did he know that he was creating nothing less than a revolutionary mental challenge that would influence minds for the decades to come. Yes, initially called the Magic Cube, it was the year 1980 that a few businessmen sold the puzzle to a toy company. On selling, the Magic Cube became Rubik’s Cube and cut to a few decades, it became the world’s top selling puzzle game in the history with over 500 million cubes getting sold.
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.
Allan Rufus the author of ‘The Master’s Sacred Knowledge’ once quoted, “Life is like a game of Chess. To win you have to make a move”. Reading this quote twice or thrice, what perplexed me was, which is tougher and complex, Life or Chess? Should I compare making a move in Chess with Life or Life with Chess? Speaking on the complexity and toughness of life is out of the purview of this article. So, let me focus on the challenges what a beginner, to be precise a kid who begins to play chess faces during a long chess tournament.
Aman Thomas George and Vandana Srinivas Babu, students of Mind Mentorz an institute providing Chess Coaching in Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore, has become FIDE rated chess players after the recent BRDCA (Bangalore Rural District Chess Association) tournament. While Vandana has secured a rating of 1147, Aman secured a rating of 1107.
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.
They say practice and perseverance make a person perfect. True that is and if you are venturing out to develop a new skill, you need more than these two attributes to consistently get better at what you intend to do. Precisely, you need the right exposure, mentorship and information about your interest to stay updated about it, learn trivia, interesting things only people within the circle of your interest would know, tips and tricks and what not! This specifically holds true for a game like chess, which cannot be confined to a book.
We're extremely thrilled to see our top performing students - Manasvi & Jesslyn score well in today's TBSA Rapid Chess Tournament. Jesslyn secured 2nd place in Girls category of U8 with a score of 5/7 Rounds, while Manasvi secured 6/7 in her U10 Category, securing 2nd place as well. Congratulations to both students in today's tournament performance and we wish them the best successes in their future chess tournaments.
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.
