Bill Kilpatrick, owner of Real Ability in CA, and I are working on a book based on our experience with teaching young children to play chess.  Over the last year we ran a pilot of an ecourse, teaching parents how to teach very young children to play.

The pilot program was a smashing success!

We are in the process of writing everything up in a book format, which will be published by Mongoose Press (an elite chess book publisher).

This particular book will be geared to parents of children aged 2-7.  Any parent will be able to pick up this book and learn along with the child, teaching them in a way that keeps them interested and wanting more.

We had parents on the pilot who knew nothing about chess, who did very well.  Various parents reported that they had incredible bonding experience through teaching chess and that their children remained interested in playing even after the lessons ended.

We’ll keep you posted on the book’s progress!

Image by andreasnilsson1976 via Flickr

There are not many official rules in chess. Once you learn how the pieces move and how you win the game, there are very few other isolated rules to learn.

There are a number of rules-of-thumb, though. These are principles to follow most of the time. They cover where to place your pieces at the beginning of the game, when to trade one piece for another, etc.

Once you understand these concepts and have gained some experience with chess, you can begin to play around with breaking these rules.

Dan and I taught a new student online last Friday. The lesson had been a birthday present for a 12-year-old boy. He was fairly new to the game.

The thing that impressed me the most, was his willingness to try new things, take a few risks, think outside-the-box.  Even though he knew that a bishop was worth more than a pawn, he was willing to experiment with sacrificing it to gain an attack against my king.

Although that sacrifice did not work in that case, if he continues to try out new ideas, he will be successful.  It helps to go over these ideas with a coach, who can teach a student more about how to implement those concepts.

It is important for a beginner to have good stable principles when they first learn chess.  It helps them navigate through all the potential confusions.  However, at some point, it is the right thing to allow them to play around with breaking the rules.

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One common misconception that I hear a lot, is that in a game of chess, the king can be captured.  It makes sense, since every other piece can be taken. However, during the game, the king is never removed from the board.

Sometimes a student of ours will become puzzled because their parent or grandparent will insist that the king can be captured.  After all, it was how they were taught.

After I ran into this problem a few times, I started offering to give parents a free 1-hour lesson.  The purpose was so that they could play with their children in between lessons, and we’d all be on the same page.

When I hit on this concept, I was pregnant, so I would stipulate that they needed to buy me coffee and a scone (I’d get hungry at the drop of a hat).  It was a hit and I’ve kept it in as a tradition.  Even though I’m no longer pregnant, I still ask for a scone.  I like scones.

One father pointed out that sometimes people knock the king over.  Perhaps that helps to create a confusion.

Knocking over the king is more of a dramatic statement than a true ritual of chess.  It looks good in a picture or movie, but you rarely see the gesture in a tournament. Certainly you wouldn’t knock over your opponent’s king (that would be very rude).

One friend pointed out that throughout history, when a war was won, the losing king was often permitted to live, out of respect.  Perhaps this is the reason that the king isn’t captured in chess – it mirrors life.

Whatever the reason, trust me, you do not remove the king from the board.  He stays on, through to the very end.  If you have any questions on this, buy me a coffee and a scone, and we can talk about it some more.

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In a little over a week we will have our first chess tournament of 2010!  The children are all very excited.  There will be over 40 children in attendance, their ages ranging from 5 – 14.  Some are experienced chess players, while some just learned how the pieces move.

We will have the tournament in the lunchroom at Delphi Academy of Florida on Monday, February 22nd.  It is the perfect location.

Delphi Academy, Clearwater Academy and Jewish Day School will all be in attendance.  Although Jewish Day School are the “new kids on the block” for these tournaments, a number of them have been playing in local tournaments on the weekends.

In the past we have kept it informal, focusing on the win of participation. However this year we will offer prizes to the winners of each section.

Although there will still be the joy of becoming a “tournament chess player” for all our new students, prizes are important motivation for study and play outside of class.

My husband will be playing 10 children at the same time this Wednesday at Academie Da Vinci Charter School for the Arts in Dunedin, Florida at 3pm.

This event is called a Simultaneous.  They are a lot of fun and show that chess doesn’t have to be so serious and stuffy.

When we do this the kids often help each other, talk over moves, banter with Dan and just have a raucous time!

We are always happy to give these events for free for any school or organization.  Making chess cool and fun is one of our chief goals!

We have parents making excellent progress on our ecourse. Some of these moms and dads didn’t know anything about chess when they embarked on this adventure.

Now they are enthusiastic about chess, eager to continue!

One father of a young girl (who just turned three), told me how his daughter sometimes resisted naps. One day he told her that if she went to sleep, when she woke up they’d have a chess lesson. Do you know that she fell asleep instantly with a smile on her face?

Other parents are reporting that they are having an incredibly bonding experience with their children. Busy moms and dads are carving out the time to spend with their kids, on a one-on-one basis and it is a special time.

We should be ready to launch our ecourse within a few months. Right now we’re still piloting and perfecting! I’ll keep you posted…

We taught 20 children today. Two classes at Clearwater Academy International and Jewish Day School.

When we arrived at the Jewish Day School, I discovered we had two new students, which was a nice surprise. The other big news as that three of our returning students proudly showed us a trophy they had won over the holiday break!

Tournaments are very important in a child’s chess education. They challenge kids to strengthen their game and do better against the competition.

We plan to start our tournaments next month.  Stay tuned for more details!

We had four classes today at Delphi Academy of Florida. Each one was full and the kids were so eager to play. Now, you’d think a chess class would be calm and sedate.  HA!

Our students are so into chess that we constantly have to remind them that we’re in a library and we should keep our voices down. They cry out when they are victorious or sometimes when they have a plan they know will be triumphant.

I overhead my husband explain to one student, an 8-year-old Italian boy, that he shouldn’t give away his strategy to his opponent. The boy was so excited by his idea that he couldn’t help but tell his friend all about it.  Such enthusiasm is infectious.

We also made a trip to the preschool and spent some time with a couple of girls there. One was 2 years old and the other 3. They did very well and were attentive for the whole 20 minutes.

I am pleased to announce that our little video, which we shot last year after principal shooting for our ecourses, has had over 10,000 unique viewers.

I think this video is so popular because it proves that children can learn chess at any age.

Dan and I taught two chess classes today, both free intro classes.  I love these beginning weeks when we can introduce new children to the game.

The key to teaching very young kids chess is to take your time with the basics of piece movement.  I start with the Rook.  When I first began teaching I experimented with the best order for introducing pieces to a new student.

It is tempting to start with the pawn, because it is the least powerful.  However there are so many parts to that little guy that it gets very confusing quickly.  I end with the pawn now.

After I go over the Rook, I make sure that they can move the piece around the board confidently before continuing on to the Bishop.  Once they have those two down I play a mini-game with them, allowing them to simply move both pieces around the board.

Today I had a class of nine 5 and 6 year olds.  Six of them were returning students and so we could pair them up.  Three were new to the game, so Dan took one and I took two.  They all three did very well.  At the end of the class they really wanted to continue lessons.  It will be fun to continue their chess education through the semester!