Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school "No Stress Chess"

Wasn't sure where to put this - but here goes Yesterday at Barnes and Noble I spotted a chess game on the shelves - "No Stress Chess". It's a chess game (duh)- but the difference is that it comes with a deck of cards. Each player takes turns taking a card, and on each card is a chess piece and all the moves it can make - you can only play that piece on your turn. Check out this link for instructions that make more sense ! - http://www.winning-moves.com/images/NoStress_Rules.pdf

I can play regular chess, but it takes forever and I'm really not very good- this is great, 'cos you don't have to know everything straight away - and after a few games, you've got alot of the moves figured out already ! Thought it might be great for some of your younger kids !

We got this a couple of Christmases ago and it's great! We only needed to play with the cards a few times before we were ready to play without them, but using the cards made learning completely "No Stress." Now, we'll often go several months without playing chess, and it's always nice to be able to play a game or two with the cards to refresh our memories of which pieces can make which moves. (BTW: We got this game when our kids were newly 5, 7, and 10, and the 5 year old had a very easy time learning to play. I'd actually never played chess before that, and I picked it up as easily as my kids did.)

We got this last year for my 5 yr old(now 6). He loves it and picked it up really easily. My 4 yr old was even able to play and started to remember how the pieces moved. We still use the cards when they play each other but I'm pretty sure we can go without the cards or dealing out some cards for him.

I think my DS would love this, thank you

We bought this game for our then 4.5 year old son. He had started playing chess beforehand but was not consistently moving the pieces correctly. After purchasing the game he quickly picked up the correct moves. He also became quite obsessed with chess and went on to a summer chess camp at 5, joined the school chess' club in kindergarten and just had his first chess tournament (5y3m).

In addition to this game, we also have the computer games "Dinosaur chess" and "Chess with Maurice Ashley". We liked both of them, too - however I feel it is better to get "No stress chess" first and then the computer games.

With DS5, I found that a few drills, repeated several times, were sufficient for him to remember how the pieces moved.

For example, for the knight, I taught him to see the possible moves as a circle of the opposite color from the starting position. We spent some time with me placing a knight on a square, and him setting up opposite-colored pawns on the squares reachable by the knight. He quickly picked up the knight move this way. IIRC we did this at three.

Another easy way to learn the moves is to let a child play a software program that shows available moves upon selecting a piece. Most chess software does this, even Windows 7 "Chess Titans" and a free chess application I have installed on my Android phone.

Another approach would be to simply print out, and keep next to the board, a diagram of the legal moves for each piece while you play.

The thing I don't like about "no stress chess" is that the strategy of chess goes out the window, and that's the fun of the game. I don't see what it offers that's superior to using other methods to learn the moves. I also don't see why restricting the child's choice of moves to one type of piece is necessary.

Lego chess game (PC) - brilliant if it's still available

Fritz and Chester I, II, and III is without any doubt the best chess software for kids. It teaches all the rules, basic mate patterns, basic end games, and tactic ideas.

It's also really fun to play. The only problem may be some of the not so good language, which I have to admit, only made it more appealing to my children (4 and 6 at that time). LOL.

I really wish there were additional levels of Fritz and Chester.

LOL - this is exactly why I like it - I have no patience for the real game - so I can play chess with my son with "no stress chess", and then he can play the real game with his dad - who loves the strategy

No Stress Chess was DC's absolute favorite game when they were 3 or 4 (now 6 and 8). Now it's standard chess.

Agreed, the strategy for No Stress Chess is very different than a standard chess game, but we weren't looking at it as standard chess, so that didn't bother us.

In our experience with DC when they were 3-4 years old, the restricted choice of moves in No Stress Chess helped a lot. At the beginning, our DC found it overwhelming to look at every possible piece's move, and No Stress Chess gave them the ability to look at the best possible moves they were allowed to make. The other benefits were that it leveled the playing field to some extent, giving them a chance to legitimately win; and they didn't need an hourlong attention span to play. It was also simple enough that DC could interest other kids in playing, too (like at playgroup). That was a big deal here.

Just our experience. YMMV.