Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Talented in chess- what to do?

To add to our busy day already, we had a long time planed meeting with a very good rated chess player-teacher later in the afternoon. My DS (5) learned how to play chess about half of year ago, it was his initiative. He loves it and wants to play chess all the time. They picked him at school to be part of their chess team. I thought he was good for a little kid (I really don't know much about chess, just how the pieces move.) The teacher's assessment today came as a shock: He said that my son is so extremely talented for chess, that this is very very rare to see (maybe 1:100 000 he said)
Do any of you have children interested in chess, what do you do? My DS just loved working with this chess teacher, so we will scrounge some money and have him work with him once a week. I guess some local competitions are next. This whole chess world is kind of new to me.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We play online on chess.com. We've also found a local chess club at the YMCA. It meets once a week (a little late, but we go early). DS has a chess mentor that gives him informal lessons for free. If you can find a local chess club that would be your best bet. When you're searching, google for "scholastic chess" because that is what they use to describe younger players. People are generally really friendly and if you're lucky like us you'll find someone who will take your DS under his/her wing. It seems like when they seem someone with interest they go out of their way to help. I like the "chess club" culture that I've run into so far. I have not yet taken DS to a tourney. That'll depend on his interest and if he decides to stick with it.

Some other things that you may want to look at... google for "fritz and chesster learn to play chess". It's a well done chess tutorial game aimed for kids aged 8+. Our DS blew through the first game, but the second and third volume (we have but haven't played) get more into the deeper strategies.

Also your local B&N would probably have lots of books your DS would like. In particular "how to beat your dad at chess" is typically a favorite (even if it is a little sexist--mom can also play chess!) If your kid is a "patterns" guy like ours is, he'll really dig chess.

If you want to arrange for our DS's to connect for correspondence games on chess.com, send me a PM.

Hope that helps. We've been getting into chess these last four months. We went to NYC and played chess in central park. It really, really illustrated how our children are: he was super excited to play chess with people and then immediately afterward wanted to head to the playground.

JB

I should add that the chess club we go to is relatively small and not really focused on scholastic chess. It's mostly adults, but they've been very accommodating.

P.S. Go Phillies!

I'd get enrolled in some online chess clubs and get a more objective ranking for your son.

Those are great ideas. Thanks.
DS plays at school once a week (at the chess team-club). There are 8 kids mostly from higher grades, but he seemed to keep up just fine. DS came up with the idea of tournaments, I thought he was too little to get into anything competitive like that. That was part of the reason to meet with the professional to get an idea, where he is.
I have considered the Chess club, we have one not so far, I have been researching their web site, but it seems very adult oriented.
I am glad, JBDAD, that your experience with chess clubs is very welcoming towards the little ones. I think, based on your experience we will go there and see. They do meet pretty late in the afternoon, but at least it is on Fridays.
I will check the chess.com and the tutorial game.
We bought one book already: Teach yourself visually chess. And it is exactly what my DS did, he thought him self. LOL
The teacher kind of rank him at least a 1000 as of yesterday, maybe more he said.
There is some local tournament in our area in beginning of November, DS is really begging us to go. I guess I will let him do it. I just need to make sure that he is emotionally ready, too.
Thanks for all great ideas.

chess.com is oriented towards adults so we monitor who DS plays. (Friends, family, etc.) A rating of 1000 is higher than the casual player so you might need to go beyond friends & family to get your DS a good match.

We have the Teach Yourself Visually Chess book. Pretty good book for the basics.

Good luck.

JB

A few more Chess ideas:

We found FREE chess Club at library, This is probally a more casual club but it has been a good start for us.

There are Chess Summer Camps, search Davidson Data Base & google

Our Barnes & Noble book store has an outside Over sized Chess board, the squares are big enough to stand in. I'm not sure how common this is but might be worth looking into for Fun.

There are also some more threads here about chess.

Hope this is helpful

My DS taught himself how to play chess at about the same age. He isn't playing so much this year, but was involved in a chess club last year where he was able to regularly play GT and older kids. It worked out perfectly and he loved it. Good luck!

Thanks everybody for your ideas. I will take them under consideration.
Our local B&N has meeting of people interested in chess (show up and play, type of deal), but it is on Monday nights. I am still trying to keep DS to a regular bedtime schedule. Maybe when he is a little older.
I really don't know much about the rating, I just remembered the number, that the teacher said that it would be his minimal estimate.
Thanks for the summer chess camps idea, I will research that. I think DS would love it.
I don't know how long he will stick with it, so far he likes it more and more. The chess club at school just fueled his interest. He is the only kid from K, one other kid from 2nd, the rest are 3rd, 4th, majority of 5th graders. I think, or hope, that this would be challenging for him at least for some time.
Last night, he had set up two boards side by side, designing some strategy or something...

Oh, great. Albs
We can keep in touch and compare notes on what our kiddos are doing. It amazes me how much DS is into it.