Step 7: Starting Well · about 25 min
After the Opening: Make a Plan
Goal: Kids have a simple routine once the opening is done: CCA, improve the worst piece, rooks to open files.
You need: Demo board · One board and set per pair
1 · Teach it (15 min)
Read these out loud, or put them in your own words. Show each board on screen or set it up on a demo board.
1.“Your pieces are out and your king is castled. Now what? Here's a three-step routine for every move after the opening.”
2.“Step one is always CCA: checks, captures, attacks, for both sides. Tactics come first.”
3.“Step two: find your worst piece and make it better. Here White's bishop on c1 is stuck behind its own pawns. A good plan is to move the d-pawn so it can come out.”
4.“Step three: put your rooks on open files. An open file is a column with no pawns on it. Rooks love open files because they can see all the way down the board.”
5.“And don't push pawns without a reason, especially near your king. Pawns can't move backward, so every push leaves a square behind that no pawn can guard again.”
- Moving pieces back and forth with no plan.
- Leaving a rook in the corner all game.
- Pushing pawns 'because nothing else to do'.
2 · Play it: Sad Piece (10 min)
Set up: Normal game in pairs.
- Every few moves, either player can call 'Sad piece!'.
- Both players point to their own worst piece and say how to make it better.
- Bonus point for getting a rook onto an open file.
3 · Practice and pass check
On iPads, kids open Student → Step 7 → What Now?. On paper, print the worksheet. A kid passes by getting 2 of 3 on the pass check. The pass code for this lesson is S7-L7-XN.
Practice (3) with answers
1.Circle White's worst piece: the one stuck behind its own pawns.
Answer: c1
2.Only one file is open. Put a rook on it. Draw an arrow or write the move.
Move: Rfd1 or Rad1
3.What is an open file?
- ✓A column with no pawns on it
- A row with no pieces
- A square nobody attacks
Pass check (3) with answers
1.Black: put a rook on the open file. Draw an arrow or write the move.
Move: Rfd8 or Rad8
2.Your pieces are out and your king is safe. What's the FIRST thing to check every move?
- ✓Checks, captures and attacks
- Which pawn to push
- How to bring out the queen
3.Why should you be careful pushing pawns?
- ✓Pawns can't move backward
- Pawns can only move once
- Pushing a pawn is against the rules
Topic order based on: Chess for Children, Part 5 (beginning a game, planning); How to Win at Chess, ch. 2–3 (center, develop, castle). All wording is original.