What to check between lessons

Ten minutes before a lesson is enough to know what to work on. Here is a routine that uses what ChessPeak already records.

1. 1Open the group page. Who has not started the homework? Who finished early?
2. 2Open the students who struggled. On their page, This week shows how many puzzles they solved and their first-try rate.
3. 3Go to Puzzle history and look at the puzzles that took many tries. Open one: you see the move they played instead of the right one.
4. 4Look for the pattern. Is it the same theme every time? The same kind of move: a capture grabbed too early, a check they never consider?
5. 5Turn it into the next homework: puzzles on that theme, at a rating a little below where they go wrong.

Puzzles solved and first-try rate this week

Mountains, every puzzle and homework

The move they played instead of the right one

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1. 1Puzzles solved and first-try rate this week
2. 2Mountains, every puzzle and homework
3. 3The move they played instead of the right one

Signs worth acting on

• A first-try rate that falls for a few weeks: the puzzles are too hard, or the student is rushing.
• Many tries on puzzles solved in very little time: guessing. Ask them to calculate before they move.
• Days with no activity: a short, easy homework brings a student back better than a long one.

Put the hardest puzzle of the week on the board in your lesson and ask the student to explain the move they played. The wrong move is where the conversation starts.