Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Playing chess and strategy

Just curious. DS6 (yes, officially 6 now) has started showing an interest in chess. We've played on and off over the last 9 months, mostly sparked by "wizards chess" as played in Harry Potter. Yes, there is a lot in our house that is sparked by Harry Potter. If you ever met DS, you'd know why!

So he's got the rules down well, sets up the board, and understands all of the moves--which far surpasses me when I was his age! We're working on strategy at the moment. In most games he's not thinking of anything but the current move and doesn't really think too much of the consequence although he's getting better. This is a different way of DS thinking, so it's a stretch for him (but in a good way; in a way that doesn't frustrate him and doesn't come easy to him).

Its interesting because he would play checkers in school with his classmates and tells us he's never won a game. Again, I think its great for him to experience that. It's also interesting that he wants to play chess at home rather than try to master checkers which is his normal MO.

Just curious about your experience with your child and when and how they starting learning about strategy.

JB

P.S. I'm still here; I lurk every day just haven't had much to say lately.

Hi JBDad,

We're going through a chess phase lately too. DS started playing checkers last summer and became pretty good at a surprisingly fast pace. Still, I thought that chess would be a stretch. He was interested, though, and about a month or two ago I got the Fritz and Chesster software (highly recommended!). He has made good progress, knows how all the pieces move, can set up the board, and can play legal games. (I even watched him capture en passant once.) Still, I confess that some of my gravest doubts about him come when we're playing chess. I'm constantly thinking, "No, not that move!", and wondering whether he's really as smart as I thought he was.

One big issue is that in general the whole strategy thing seems to elude him. I had the hardest time, for example, getting him to focus on winning control of the central squares during the opening. He just seemed to want to move pieces at random, even when I tried to get him to think about the central squares. Also, once the game is going his strategy seems to consist in taking whatever pieces he can whenever it doesn't involve losing something worth more. (I confess, though, my own strategy in the middle game isn't much more sophisticated.) The wonder of the software, though, is that at certain levels this is a winning strategy. We'll see if the whole chess thing sticks. But despite these odd frustrations, so far he seems pretty smitten.

BB

My DW taught all our nephews to play chinese checkers.

All but the youngest (7 years ) focused on getting one jump in, but D right away focused on getting multiple jumps.

I taught him chess, and while I am not great, after about 100 games, I had to focus to keep him from beating me. He learned every quickly to move a group of pieces down the board, rather than just one piece.

BBDad,

Yeah, ditto what you said. On the one hand I'm impressed that DS can actually play a legal game (aside from a couple of the more esoteric rules he gets it). And I'm with you on the strategy part sometimes makes one think really?. We played a game of triangular dots today before we played chess (you connect dots on a triangular grid and when you complete a triangle, you capture it, put your initial in it, and then move again; you can also play with squares). I watched the boy go from having no clue on strategy to--by the end of the game--sort of getting it. He made a decent attempt at a come back. So strategy must require a bit of experience and guidance.

For both checkers and chess he's really just focused on one move at a time right now too. Sounds like that's relatively common.

Thanks for the tip on the game. He loves computer games so I'll look into it...

JB

Yeah... I'll probably need to practice too! My chess skills are pretty rusty!

JB

JB - I love chess at this age. Just 'knowing how the pieces move' is lovely. Have you taught that each piece has a value and that when one is winning it's good to trade, but when one is behind in point value, it's good to only trade pieces when one comes out ahead?

That seems to be a useful 'baby step' towards teaching stratagy.

Also - you can try practicing chess puzzles or teaching endgame basics.

When I started playing with DS12 he was 5, and we had a rule that whenever he wanted to we could 'change sides.' I've also played this way with his friends as the learned, and they loved having that out. It let my play my hardest without crushing his ego.

I also teach kids that the pawns are like the children, the bishops and knights are like the teenagers, and the Queen, King and Rooks are like the grownups - and the children get to 'go outside and play' first, then the teenagers, then finally the grownups.

So much fun!

DS7 is a big chess fan. He's not very good at it--mostly because I am NOT a big fan, and so he never gets to play --but he enjoys it.

Have you considered finding a local chess club? They usually love to have kids around to teach.

Baseball Dad, I am glad you liked Fritz and Chesster. I ordered it last night for DS4 and hopefully DS6 as well. Neither one of them can play chess yet but they play checkers on regular basis.

I cannot really explain it but I have a feeling that one day DS4 will be much better in chess than DS6.

Chess is quite a complex game and it takes time to develop a sense of strategy (some people never do). Perhaps showing him a few sample games could help a little bit.

I noticed there is Fritz and Chester #1, #2, and #3. Have you tried all of them or just the first one?

LMom (who became fascinated by chess for years after reading her first chess book)

LMom,

We've only tried Fritz and Chesster #1, but DS has absolutely loved it. It's one of those games that's organized around a narrative, and you have to complete certain sub-games in order to move on in the story. The sub-games seem to me (admittedly, not much of a chess player myself) pretty terrific. The first games aren't even really chess games - they are games that get you used to the ways in which the various pieces move. (The bishop one, for instance, is a Pong-like game in which the ball moves along diagonals only and you try to get it to smash the toilet bowls that show up in random places. It's amazing how funny toilet bowls can be.) There is also a Pac-man like game. The only problem with these is that DS4's fine-motor skills aren't always quite up to the challenge.

After a while one gets to a stage in which you play games that are really organized around the various pieces - endgame exercises like capture the opponent's king with your king and one rook, for instance. Only after one has played all the sub-games can one go on to play a real game. And even there the level is so wonderfully low that it seems one can win pretty often just by making legal moves and capturing when possible. Lots of positive feedback. There are 10 levels of play, and DS is pretty motivated to go up the ranks.

I realize, re-reading my earlier message, what a curmudgeon I must sound like - getting frustrated because DS4 doesn't get the strategy of chess. I think the thing is that it's mostly frustrating because I can't figure out how his mind works: I thought I understood what would be easy for him and what would be hard, but then it turns out I was completely off. Ah, what a process this is...

BB

I think I need to play Fritz & Chester. I had to look up en passant. I didn't know you could do that!

JB

Toilet bowls? I have no doubt the game will get DS4 highest approval then I am sick and tired of 4 year old potty humor but he will so appreciate a game with a toilet bowl

I'm not much better! I knew you could do it, but I had no idea why. The program does a terrific job explaining it: apparently it was a late development in chess history to allow the pawn two spaces on a first move. But they didn't want you to be able to do it in order to avoid being captured. So if the opposing pawn could have captured your pawn had it only been moved one space, then it is capture is legal when you move two spaces also. Tricky.

BB

Yup. This is called "making a virtue out of a vice".

My DS will also approve! What is it about little boys and potty humor??

DS6 likes to play, and his school has an after school program for the kids that want to play each other. We havn't tried it, but there are a couple of boys in his class that he plays with. At home I have played an all pawns only game to learn pawn stratagy. The first pawn to reach the other side becomes a queen. We have also played the all pawns, and then added the bishops, or rooks, etc... . This has helped him understand how to use them in a more stratigic way. We also play the normal way.

DS was in that phase when he was 4yo. Everyday was chess day. He was lucky that his Kindy teacher allowed him to play chess on the iMac on days when she was in the classroom.
Back than he read many chess books. He has a few favourites:-
-How to Beat Your Dad at Chess by Murray Chandler
-Chess for Kids by Michael Basman
-Internet-Linked Complete Book of Chess (Usborne Internet-linked Reference)
by Liz Dalby

He also visited chess sites like http://www.chesskids.com/

Joining the school's chess club (if any) is good as the child will get to play with different players.

Too bad DS doesn't even look at chess now.

I've noticed within the last year that DS5 has worked on strategy... chess, uno, random video games, etc. It's amazing to me, honestly, because he's put more thought into "moves" than I have sometimes.

DS6 finished Fritz & Chesster #1. DS4 still has one more task to finish before he can move to the last level but he is almost there.

I have only the best to say about the game. The boys learned the rules without any effort and are both mesmerized by chess. I couldn't be happier. BTW the toilet bowls have been a great hit

Of course the kids play horrible as to be expected. DS4 figured out the "style" of the computer game opponent and plays accordingly to that. He takes pretty much whatever he can and relies on the fact that the the computer hardly ever captures his pieces.

It's time for the next level. I ordered Fritz & Chesster #2. Has anybody tried it?

Grinity, thanks for the suggestion of switching sides. That's a marvelous idea. At least DS4 thinks so

This is making me laugh today. Ds is home sick with a sore throat, etc., and Dh just taught him Black Jack.
Ds is now treating me to a very formal game, teaching me the rules and strategy. Looks like we should reconsider that Easter trip to Atlantic City.

My teen used to play competitive chess when he was in the 5th and 6th grade. I had already stopped playing with him because he used to get out of chores by challenging me to another game, so I was very glad his school started a chess club. They went to area competitions and he had made his way to the state tournament that year. Some of these players have played chess for a few years, so my son wasn't to knowledgeable about the procedures for notations and calling for ref checks. He placed 6th out of 100 participants in his division but he left feeling very livid over the "unfair" cheating other players used.

If you are going to play competitively, I would encourage you to teach your child to be assertive about competition rules and safeguards to manage tactics some competitors use....even as 12 year olds.


With strategy....I have heard my son say he aims to win quickly with as few moves as possible. His favorite only takes two turns. He has also tries to increase his possiblities while minimizing his opponents.


I have tried to get him to play competitively again, however, he has told me he didn't want to be called a nerd.:S.

Interesting topic!

This summer I tried to get DD5 interested in chess. She learned very quickly the names and positions of the figures and some of the movements.

Strategy? what's this? I do not have any.

Anyway, after the summer we have not played because with DS (meine kleine tornado) it is impossible to play chess, unless you want to try how high the pieces can fly, or you want to spend your time looking where he could have stuffed the pieces... but that's another story...
It does not help that I do not know to play chess. And DH hates it.

I checked on the game of Fritz and there is one for the Nintendo DS. There is even a Spanish version
I think I am going to get it.

DD6 asked her grandfather to teach her to play checkers 2 summers ago and after 2 games she won by a mile. I told my dad he didn't have to let her win, she'd be ok. He replied - let her - I'm teaching her chess tomorrow so I might have a better chance of winning for a bit longer
She has not managed to beat him yet, but has gotten very close.

Our elementary school had a chess club and my daughter was in it for Kinder and first and loved it.

We chose to begin Math Pentathlon after that and that was wonderful. Many states have tournaments and it is for K-7. There are five games per division and the books teach the strategies. There are many rules and the games get quite complex. I was a coach for this for several years and I highly recommend it. They have a website.