Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Chess club and advocacy.

DS9 was so excited to start Chess Club at school this year and has not been matched up with Challengers for 2 weeks. Chess club only lasts 6 weeks. He is very dissappointed. Here is an opportunity for him to be with some older kids and be challenged. He has been playing Chess for 3-4 years and can beat me.

DS is the smartest kid in his grade and I've been dealing with the school to challenging him, but this teacher doesn't teach him. I said nothing before Chess started thinking the teacher would be challenging the kids in Chess. My son is not one to ask for more challenges or what to get extra attention.

This all brings me back to general school fustrations. I would like for my son to feel comfortable to ask for more. I would like the teachers to look out for opportunities to challenge him. I'm not saying they don't care but something is wrong with this situation. Do I have to supervise everything? I want him to feel more independent. OK thanks for the venting. Can anyone help or is this just the way it is?

I sent the teacher a very brief note. Hopefully she will do something.

Look in your local area for some chess groups. Some are very active and he can play against adults. I know my Dad was in one and played against kids sometimes.

I think this is easy to fix. Find a local chess club. They are often attended by kids and adults of different ages and abilities. You will often see younger and older kids playing against each other as well as adults playing with kids. My kids get to play adults in ours.

Most of the tournaments are ability based and young children are allowed to play with older kids as long as they are up to the challenge.

Is there a way they rank players so games are a good challenge?

Thank you. What a great piece of info you gave me. I will check out the website.

When I looked at the site it says "think like a king" I thought oh no, we already have him thinking a little too much like that. LOL, My son loves to be in charge and the expert.