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	<title>88CHESS.COM</title>
	<link>http://www.88chess.com</link>
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		<title>Life-sized Chess Pieces &#8211; Playing in the Classroom</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In a world where video games and memes are taking over our younger generations, it’s nice to know that chess is still finding its way into our schools and inspiring kids to actually think while they’re having fun.
At Forked River Elementary School, students were introduced to the various sizes and shapes of Chess boards and pieces.  No electronic devices necessary. Just good clean fun with an enormous, life-size chess set. 
Purchased through a grant from Plymouth Rock Assurance-Teacher’s Insurance Plan of New Jersey, the enormous set was designed to be a learning tool. Although students needed to give up their recess-time to play chess, Andrea Blatt, one of the adviser’s for the school’s chess club says, “We often take the set outside to the playground”, turning a seemingly ancient game into a new and exciting challenge. 
For the show case, Andrea Blatt donned a black costume, becoming a chess ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/life-sized-chess-pieces-playing-in-the-classroom/</link>
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		<title>The 4 Move Checkmate</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The four move checkmate is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and it’s easy to use against beginning opponents who are unfamiliar with this technique. Because this move works best earlier on in the game, inexperienced chess players rarely have time to see it coming and are unable to prepare their defense strategies against it. Knowing this move is essential if you wish to defend your King properly against more experienced players.
The two main pieces in the four move checkmate are the Queen and the Bishop, the most adaptable and far reaching pieces on the board. If you catch your opponent using either of these two pieces early in the game, you can bet that they’re setting up for the checkmate.  Although this move can be done in four moves, an experienced player may disguise the Checkmate with distracting pieces, like a magician using slight-of-hand to draw ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/the-4-move-checkmate/</link>
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		<title>Armenia and Chess</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ &#8220;Chess is my world,&#8221; said the former Soviet world champion Mikhail Tal. &#8220;Not a house, not a fortress where I hide myself from life&#8217;s hardship, but indeed the world. The world in which I live a full life, in which I prove myself.&#8221; It is a place of beauty, challenge, fierce competition, endless calculation, a unique blend of art and science.
So bravo to Armenia for making it a compulsory part of the primary school curriculum. Educationists in that former Soviet republic argue that playing chess will breed a sense of responsibility in young children and be character-building. Well maybe, though in my experience the most likely result is that you go to bed at 2am having roundly abused someone in Minnesota who has just beaten you in an online game they should have lost. Chess is a vicious game – kill or be killed – in which you are ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/armenia-and-chess/</link>
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		<title>Zhao Xue, a Chess Queen</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Women&#8217;s chess is unbelievable! You could hardly imagine two weeks ago that the 9th rated chess player in the tournament could have 8.5 points after 9 games and she would be a comfortable winner with 2 rounds to go. Almost all the leaders of the world of female chess gathered in Nalchik with the exception of Hou Yifan, Humpy Koneru from India and Anna Muzychuk from Slovenia.
Three former world champions: Zhu Chen, Antoaneta Stefanova and Alexandra Kosteniuk were in the list of competitors. The Russian top women players: two sisters, Nadezhda and Tatiana Kosintseva and also former World candidate Alisa Galliamova. The champion of Europe Viktorija Cmilyte, and the number one of the Ukrainian national team Kateryna Lahno.
This phenomenal achievement of Zhao Xue reminds us of Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov at their best. But the 11th and the 13th world champions achieved such success in a period when they ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/zhao-xue-a-chess-queen/</link>
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		<title>Chess.com</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Chess.com is a huge website with over 3.8 million members. Chess.com offers free play and contains a range of activities for its users, including game play, tournaments, articles, videos, and social tools. Its slogan &#8216;Play, Learn, Share&#8217; reflects its aim to provide users with an &#8216;enjoyable environment where chess players of all skill levels can learn, contribute, play, build, chat, and share.&#8217;
Development
 Chess.com does not prioritize playing, sharing, or studying chess, which allows it to expand into the different online chess markets. However, taking part in discussions, posting comments, and being a greeter are all considered beneficial to the site&#8217;s reputation. To recognize a player&#8217;s contributions, players have a user profile where all activities are listed, and member points are rewarded to value these activities. The website is divided into the following sections:
1) Play: The play section implements six ways to play chess- turn-based, live, tournament, vote, against the computer, ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/chess-com/</link>
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		<title>Benefits of Chess</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There have been several studies about the benefits of chess. It is obviously intellectually stimulating, but is it worth teaching your child?
In a 1973-74 Zaire study, employing 92 students, age 16-18, the chess-playing experimental group showed a significant advancement in spatial, numerical and administrative-directional abilities, along with verbal aptitudes, compared to the control group. The improvements held true regardless of the final chess skill level attained.
This means that it doesn&#8217;t matter how good at chess you are &#8211; just learning it and playing it gives you an advantage over people who don&#8217;t. 
According to a two-year study conducted in Kishinev, grades for young students taking part in the chess experiment increased in all subjects. Teachers noted improvement in memory, better organizational skills, and for many increased fantasy and imagination. 
Not just logic or mathematical reasoning improves, but creative abilities as well. There has also been proof that playing chess improves ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/benefits-of-chess/</link>
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		<title>50 Chess Strategies</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Here we are discussing some basic strategies that can give you  advantage, however microscopic it may be. Of course there is always  exception to the rules, but exceptions occur much less frequently than  the normal situations, don’t they? These strategies are described from  White’s point of view, so what is good for White is bad for Black and  vice versa.
Pawn structures

Pawns are strong when they are in a chain; try to avoid splitting them into isolated groups.
Isolated or hanging pawns tend to be a liability, try to avoid at least till the end game.
Pawn chain shapes that look like /\ (an inverted V) from your side tend to be stronger than those that look like a \/.
Doubled pawns are weak, try to avoid getting them.
If you can maintain center pawns, you get more options to organize attacks.
Your own pawn chains may block free movement of ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/50-chess-strategies/</link>
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		<title>Chess Jokes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A group of chess enthusiasts had checked into a hotel, and were standing  in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about  an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.
&#8220;But why?&#8221; they asked, as they moved off.
&#8220;Because,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I can&#8217;t stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.&#8221;
A chess master died &#8211; after a few days, a friend of his heard a voice; it was him! 
 &#8220;What&#8217;s it like, where you are now,&#8221; he asked. 
 &#8220;What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news.&#8221; 
 &#8220;Tell me the good news first.&#8221; 
 &#8220;Well, it&#8217;s really heaven here. There are tournaments and blitz sessions  going on all the time and Morphy, Alekhine, Lasker, Tal, Capablanca,  Botvinnik, they&#8217;re all here, and you can play them.&#8221; 
 &#8220;Fantastic!&#8221; the friend said, &#8220;and what is ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/chess-jokes/</link>
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		<title>Chess Origins</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Chess originated in Europe during the 15th century and is actually a modernized adapted version of a game created in India called Shatranj. There have been extensive developments in the strategy and playing of the game despite its relatively simple theme and rule set. Chess was originally intended to be a lesson on the rules of war. It was used to train generals and captains in 15th century war to understand the merits of strategy over brute force. It was also used to show the merits of strategy in pair with training, as a battle was often won and lost not on the skill of the soldiers, but the skill, tact, and decisions of the leader. The game was meant to show the necessity and tact of proper sacrifice in a battle.

Tournament play has developed over the turn of the 19th century, and world championships have been held since 1886 ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/chess-origins/</link>
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		<title>Speed Chess</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Speed chess or fast chess is a type of chess game where each side is given less time to make their moves than in ordinary tournament time controls of 1 to 3 hours per player. A common rule in fast chess is that if a player makes an illegal move, the opponent may point it out and claim a win. As with all forms of chess, a player may win on the board or win based on time.  

]]></description>
		<link>http://www.88chess.com/speed-chess/</link>
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