Chapter Three: How To Think Summary and Analysis

Chapter Three focuses primarily on one educator, Elizabeth Spiegel, and the way she teaches students how to play chess. This chapter fits somewhat awkwardly into the book, and includes a wide variety of chess history, technique, and important players, that don't seem to mesh with the book's main themes and messages. When working with her students, Spiegel's method is brash, and has received some criticism for the tough way she speaks with students, but she produces results. The chapter opens with Spiegel conversing with seventh-grader Sebastian Garcia about what he did wrong during his last match. After each match, Spiegel painstakingly reenacts every move on the chessboard to discuss exactly where the students made mistakes. She focuses almost solely on errors, rather than offering positive reinforcement for intelligent moves, because she doesn't believe...