I get this question a lot. Many parents wonder when
they should dust off the old chess board in the attic and introduce the
game of kings and queens to their child. I would venture to guess most
parents wait too long. In our household I started teaching our son when he
was 4 years old. The lessons were very short and fun, many occurred on the
beach. As he learned more and more of the basics the lessons became longer
and longer. Now that he is 5 and has more experience we can go 45 minutes
without a problem. He has also played in two tournaments which lasted over
1 hour.
Since we teach our son regularly our
2-year-old daughter started to hop up on the chair in front of the board
in the dining room and declare "Chess!" in a quite demanding way. At first
glance this may seem to be an impossible task, but really, if you look at
it, any familiarity with the game, with the pieces and board is good. So
what’s the first step? Introduce and name the pieces. This is true of any
student of any age. So I started with the pawn.
 |
|
Interest your
child early on |
|
|
Holding up the pawn I said, "This is a pawn.
Can you say ‘pawn’?" She eagerly repeated "Pawn!" and I handed it to her.
Then I picked up another pawn and asked, "What is this?" "Pawn!" she
chirped happily and received another pawn. I let her place these pawns
anywhere on the board that she wanted, after all they were her reward for
a job well done. I repeated this a few times and then I held up a rook.
"This is a rook," I said. "Rook," she repeated and received the treasured
piece. We repeated this a few times and then I held up a pawn to see if
she remembered that piece. Seeing that she was having trouble I reminded
her, "This is a pawn." "Pawn!" she exclaimed and took it from my hand. I
focused on these two pieces for a few minutes and then ended the lesson,
making sure to tell her that she did a very good job and that I was really
proud of her. She, like her brother, requests regular lessons from us.
A month or so later she could name all the pieces. Her brother helps to
teach her. This will greatly improve his understanding and appreciation of
the game. Any time a child can teach another a skill they will advance
immeasurably in that area.
We actually caught a lesson on tape and posted it on YouTube so you can
see them in action. You can see here that she is still learning the
difference between a king and a queen, but now she has that down. Her
teachers report that she is eager to learn in preschool and enjoys sitting
and learning for long periods of time, embracing each lesson with gusto.
She has also picked up on the English language nicely and will form full
sentences with ease.
The next step will be to go over the movement of the pieces. Patience is
the key. It doesn’t matter how long it takes for your child to grasp the
next step. The only important thing is that he or she fully gets one step
before moving on. Remember you are building a foundation of understanding.
