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This posting is Part Three of my review of J. Bosch & S. Giddins (Eds.), The chess instructor 2009. Alkmaar, The Netherlands: New in Chess. Part One was posted on Monday, November 2nd and Part Two on November 9th. In Part Three, I pick out some interesting guidelines and quotations from the chapter Alexander Vaisman: Honoured Trainer of the Ukraine. Vaisman begins by discussing God-given talent for chess. In his opinion, some children have that gift and others do not. 

Over the past four days I have been promoting chess in education at the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT) annual conference in Dallas, Texas (November 12-14) and at the Turkey Tournament (1st through 12th grade, November 15) in Fairview, Texas. At TAGT, I was part of The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) vendor booth.

This posting is Part Two of my review of J. Bosch & S. Giddins (Eds.), The chess instructor 2009. Alkmaar, The Netherlands: New in Chess. Part One  was posted on Monday, November 2nd. On November 2nd, I reviewed Van Wijgerden’s chapter, one of sixteen in The Chess Instructor 2009. Ten of the chapters are about training players who have lots of tournament experience and, in some cases, already have FIDE titles.

Quoting from the Sloan Creek Middle School (Fairview, Texas) News:

"Sloan Creek Chess Club will be presenting a USCF chess tournament on November 15th. This tournament is open to the scholastic public. . . .The Turkey Tournament will also host the famous Dr. Alexey Root, 1989 U. S. Women's Chess Champion and author of children's educational books, present at 11:30 to sign autographs! Dr. Root will have a few of her educational books available for sale. This will be open free to the public.

Two of my students won $500 Undergraduate Scholar Research Awards. Both students will be researching important topics in college chess. Read the press release

Amy Michelle Lehman is a current student in my online course ED 4358, and Bayaraa Zorigt took ED 4358 in fall of 2007. Amy and Bayaraa both plan to take ED 4359 in spring of 2009.

The enigma of the origins of chess has puzzled historians for decades. Some claim that the chess game elements branched from different sources, which evolved and transformed into modern chess.

An important new book for chess teachers, coaches, and parents has just been published by New in Chess. Titled The Chess Instructor 2009, it is edited by Jeroen Bosch and Steve Giddins. Unlike my own Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators and Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving, The Chess Instructor 2009 assumes that the adult reading the book already knows how to play chess. In contrast, my books give basic chess instruction (such as chess rules and algebraic notation) to help the non-chess player who wishes to utilize chess in an educational setting.

NASA and the USCF organized the correspondence chess match between astronaut Greg Chamitoff, in orbit aboard the International Space Station, and the kindergarten through third grade U.S. Chess Championship Team and its chess club teammates from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Wash. The game moves at a pace of one move per day on weekdays only.

The true origin of chess remains unknown, however most historians agree that it emerged in India no later than the sixth century. In India, Persia and the Arab lands where the game was initially played, all the chess figures were male, and there was no queen at all on the chess board. Chess pieces consisted of the king, his chief general called vizier and a line of soldiers. There were also chariots, horses and elephants.

World Chess Champions 2006 – present

On Halloween The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) defeated the University of Belgrade (UB) 12.5 to 3.5 in the third annual Transatlantic Cup match. The match started late, because University of Belgrade had already switched to standard time.

The World Chess Championship took place from October 14 – 29, 2008, in the Art and Exhibition Hall in Bonn, Germany. The match was won by the reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India, who thus retains his title. Anand beat the Challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia by a score of 6.5:2.5.