Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Chess tournaments

FWIW, I'm suspicious of adults who seem to have their best interests (glory) at heart rather than that of the child.

Learning to win and lose graciously is an important life skill but you don't need a private chess coach for that.

Yes. I really hear you.

I think you and Mama are being too cynical.

It's the job of piano teachers/baseball coaches/chess coaches/kindergarten teachers to identify talent in piano, baseball, chess, and academics. The failure of teachers to identify and nurture academic talent largely explains the existence of this forum. You described earlier what your 5yo can do in chess, and other parents and I said he was ready for tournaments. If money were not a concern, I think private lessons should be considered. I teach my 6yo daughter (who has some talent) at home.

An inexpensive alternative to private lessons that I recommend (and have used with my children) is a subscription to Chess Magnet School http://www.chessmagnetschool.com/ , which costs $30/year. There is a series of lessons and problems through which students progress.

I'd avoid private tutors, myself, for fear that my DS might grow up to be a financial trader (shudder.) Actually, I'll be curious to see whether he'll will take up chess or it will just be another amongst dozens of other games he enjoys.

I like the idea of the online magnet school, so I thank you for that. He loves the Fritz and Chesster CD-ROM we got him.

I very much like the idea of nurturing his passion and excitement for the game. I don't want him to get caught up in a hyper competitive environment around this, where this is a really huge thing that parents are cutthroat about...at this age, it seems premature anyway. He has time later on to decide if this is really something he wants to emphasize. He will be at this school for 6 years. Don't get me wrong--I feel very lucky that we have this resource. It's a reason we decided to enroll him there.

It's fair to point out that I do not pick DS up from chess, so all this is secondhand. I think it's reasonable to say that I can't know whether the coach is just excited to see young talent (and wants to make sure we understand that there IS talent--my DH is laid back and does not exude tiger parent in any way) or whether he is eager about the idea of adding DS to their team. I can tell you that my DD spent a year in this club and the coaches never spoke to us once.

I have found that people who love chess (admittedly not a mainstream hobby) can be very passionate about it and get very excited when they find someone talented at it. That's been our experience with DS. Three chess club teachers have told us he has grandmaster potential, given practice/coaching, and one parent who knows the game well pulled DH aside after watching DS play several times. She wanted him to know she thought he was exceptionally talented at it and needed higher-level coaching than the club teachers couldn't provide. So it may just be that they are genuinely excited about his potential!

Thanks, CD--that's a good perspective to hear.

We will just keep him going to the club for now and maybe consider trying out the online program that Bostonian recommends (since it is cheap, and DS could do it or not as he pleases). Maybe we will try him in a tournament this spring. He has so much time.

UM
Where we are the chess culture is huge and everywhere and there are a lot of very very competitive parents involved. I say parents because thats usually where the attitudes come from. We know a family who has two kids - we met them when little one was DS age in K - older was maybe 9 - they had been doing the competitive chess for the older and the parents played and they travelled and it was a fun thing for the family - then its noticed just how good the little one is - like scary chess prodigy good - so they started entering him in tournaments and then did get him a chess coach. What was interesting is that it was kind of like MoN's thread about skill vs interest. Its hard to tell if the little one is as interested in it as the older kid - but wow is he good. So the parents are nurturing it - perhaps even pushing it - where the little one wouldn't go on his own because he was 5 - now at 7 he is doing more tournaments, and again its a big family thing for them and he is winning. Does he like it or view it as something he does I don't know - but basically their point was that he could not get better to the level he understands without the coach appropriate to the level, which the school coach might not be. So I think if the coach is saying he needs more - its not necessarily about the drive to win or compete, he might be saying that your DS can go deeper and would need special instruction to do so. Ironically this is the reverse of what we all go through here - when was the last time some teacher came to a parent and said your kid needs more!!

DeHe

Well, that's the truth.

Kind of makes you think...