Bring a game back to life

A game ends, and the pieces go back in the box. As a commentator, you show the game again, move by move, to a group of people. Now the whole room sees what you saw.

Tell it in three parts

• Start with the opening, the first moves, and show in a few moves what each side wanted.
• Then comes the turning point, the one move that decided the game. Stop there, and ask the group what they would play.
• End with the finish: checkmate, a draw, or one player giving up.

Commentators also use the little signs from the Game Review sticker.

Which game?

Your own game is best, because you know why every move happened. A famous short game works too. Some games got a name in chess history, because people kept replaying them. In 1852, Anderssen won a game in Berlin in 24 moves. It is called the Evergreen Game, after a tree that never loses its leaves. Pick a game you love, and learn it until you can tell it without notes.

Where, and to whom?

Your class, your club or your family all count as a group. Show the game on a big wall board or a screen. You can also sit around a table with a board. If you are on stage at a club or school event, that counts too. Keep it short, and stop before the group gets wriggly, because ten minutes is plenty.

How you get the sticker

Your grown-up or coach checks it and hands you the sticker. Best of all, they sit in the group and watch. If they were not there, someone who was there tells them, or a video shows them. Your grown-up does not need to play chess, because you explain and they listen. If you have no club, your family at the kitchen table is a group too. Did you explain a game before you had the passport? It still counts.