Dr. Alexey Root gave one example of a checkmate and one of a stalemate on the demonstration board. Then she asked Greenhill School students to pair up and then create four checkmates and two stalemates. Beginner and intermediate students got to use a white king, white queen, and black king. Advanced students used a white king, white rook, and black king.

For example, white king g6, white queen g7, black king g8 would meet the checkmate criteria for the beginner and intermediate pairs. As each checkmate position was created, Dr. Root checked the position. The pair that finished first over all six positions was acknowledged and given the “reward” of getting to practice getting to a checkmate position from the starting position of the defending king in the center and the attacking king and major piece on the first rank. Teams worked very hard to finish, be acknowledged by Dr. Root, and then cheerfully practiced their basic checkmates.