I believe Grinity suggested that you give new chess players a change to switch sides if they find themselves in a pickle. Then they get all your extra pieces and you don't have to always play all the way below your own level when teaching your child. My DS5 recently did this while playing chess with his older cousins (10+). He still lost, because they played their regular game, but he got to play longer!
That's a great idea. I am constitutionally incapable of losing purposefully, and DD likes to be able to win at games at least once in a while. That's another reason I've been reluctant to introduce chess. I finally taught her to play checkers, and she only played a few games before she started to feel that she ought to win one. (I was very surprised at how easily she picked it up, but she's obviously not yet a match for me.) Maybe we'll try this with checkers and see how it goes.
