Chess Skill Exam: How Much Will You Score?

A chess grandmaster by the name of Jonathan Levitt formulated this self-test to help you check how much you are familiar about the game of chess. You can learn more about this test in his book, "Genius in Chess."

Prior to taking the test, you would need to know the signs used in chess. Those who have played chess before may not read this part and may go to the real exam. The chessboard has eight rows and eight columns. Algebraic chess notation is commonly used to identify each row and column of the chessboard. Lowercase letters "a" to "h" are used to identify the columns starting from white's leftmost column. So, "a" is white's left column and black's right column. Each row is numbered from "1" to "8" beginning from the white player's side. So "1" is white's bottom row and black's topmost row. Each square, which is an intersection of a row and column, is marked by a unique blend of a letter and a number. The bottom leftmost square of the white player would then be marked as "a1" and black's bottom leftmost square is "h8." There's an excellent illustration in the site.

Kindly visit my chess tips site. You can see a classic square checkered chessboard that has the algebraic notation. You can open the figure of the notated chessboard by clicking on the resources link on the bottom of the webpage.

Let me describe to you the test:

You would need to bring 1 board, a black queen, 1 white knight, and a clock or timer.

The knight is positioned on b1. Black's queen is placed on d4. Each square needs to be visited by the white knight going in this order: c1, e1, f1, h1, a2, c2, e2, g2, h2, and so on until g8 is reached. The white knight will not be able to visit h8 because it is attacked by the black queen. At any time while completing the exam, the queen be taken nor can the white knight be placed at risk of being captured by the queen.

It is all right to move the black knight without using the order given above as long as it is really necessary, like moving from c1 to e1. Nonetheless, the knight has to return to the original order. The exam is time-constrained and has to be completed only once. Anyone who can finish the exam in fewer than ten minutes on their first try has, according to Levitt, "real chess talent."

The test may look easy at 1st glance, but it requires deep concentration, a special understanding of the chessboard, and the will to keep going. As they say, the 1st step is always the hardest.

I believe it would be better if I give you the solution to the test here than keep you hanging there with nothing to compare your answers with. The answer is found in my chess tips site. It is found on the bottom of the page on the resources link. The results, shown in seconds, of some of the finest chess players in the world are shown in the site too.

Now that you know what the exam is, why not attempt to answer it? You do want to assess yourself on how good you really are at chess, right?

You don't need to worry if you finish the test after ten minutes because the exam is about strategic thinking and not just memorizing the moves.

It is going to be trouble for you if you just memorize the moves in chess and not learn to have a strategy of your own. Real chess skill is not about memorizing moves and tactics but it's about strategy. Spatial skill is also something that the quiz needs. You learn these skills from experience, constant learning, and training.

Biography: Chad Kimball has been playing chess since he was a small child, and is presently an editor and publisher, publishing chess training books and courses on the web. He is responsible for bringing an exciting resource to the Internet: "The Grandmaster Strategy Video Training Library."

This video training tool contains twenty-nine training videos and fourteen training e-books that have a total of 2,213 pages of world-class winning strategies. Why buy a chess book at your local bookstore when you can just log on to the Internet and get this valuable resource at the same price. The best way to learn chess and beat any challenger is at your fingertips. There is more information found in the chess game resource site