hi ,
any suggestions on how to teach chess to the younger ones?

Though an engaging game ( and i am a beginner myself ) it can be challanging , so any thoughts will be appresiated
thanks

Some recommendations:

* http://www.chesskid.com/
* http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Chess-Fritz-Chesster/dp/B0000950SM
* http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Childre...mp;ie=UTF8&qid=1302814620&sr=1-1

For a while DS (then 6?) was hot on chess. Not as much these days. But he used those resources as well as attending a chess club occasionally.

Good luck.

JB

My DS6 learned to play chess on the computer. The chess program that came on our Mac lets him back up if he makes a mistake -- this limits frustration if he makes a beginner's mistake. He has older siblings who play and give him instruction how to play against the computer. The girls have taught him a lot more with this common adversary (the computer) than they ever would have if I had asked them to play against him and teach the game. My girls both learned through the chess club at our school in first grade.

My DC and I have enjoyed the free online resource offered in conjunction with USCF at: Chess Magnet School

I second the recommendation of Chess Magnet School. The pay version ($30/year) goes beyond teaching the rules, and my 5yo enjoys it.

No Stress Chess is great!! I don't often make recommendations, but my son (also five) and my husband BOTH learned to play. I'm sure I'm not the only one on this forum who has used it (check Amazon, for some reason the site is not allowing me to switch to full reply to leave you a link)

Anyway, the gist of it is at first you learn to play by choosing cards (chess pieces) the cards explain how you can move your piece and I think initially you have a choice of three cards to choose from. Eventually, you wean off the cards and just learn to play on your own (which my son is now able to do).

I don't think my explanation is doing the game any justice, it really is a great game--check it out, I think you'll really like it.

We have just got Quick Chess which has been good to help DS4 learn the basic moves. It doesn't go much further than that though. It looks like this:
http://www.liveandlearn.com/educational/quickchess.html
But we got it used at a flea market.

I second the recommendation of No Stress Chess -- when my son was 4yo he also used it to learn the rules.

ChessMaster is reasonably-priced chess-playing and teaching software. ICC Dasher http://www.chessclub.com/helpcenter/interface/Dasher.html is software used to connect to the subscription-based Internet Chess Club, but it comes with a free chess engine that plays at various levels and can be used without an internet connection.

It's fun to hear all the different ways people have introduced chess at home!

I wanted to start playing chess with my 5 yo son, so I started playing chess with my husband in front of our son.

We played speed chess (since speed chess doesn't allow you much time between moves, this is less boring for a beginner to watch).

My son started sitting on his dad's lap, then after a few games his dad would whisper, "Ah, let's move our queen here and get her bishop--ha ha!" and point how my son could move the piece.

After a while, my son started making suggestions, then taking initiative. We counted the time loudly when someone took too long to move, and did dances when we had a good move. We played every morning and had fun as a family.

After a while, our son made up his own versions of chess, and we played by his rules. It turns out there are lots of variations of chess, so it's fun if both parent and child are learning strategy at the same time--some include setting up the board differently, giving pieces different powers, using checkers as well as chess pieces--guess there are whole articles written about the variations, so we have found these fun, e.g. Chess960, see overview of options at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_variant). I think it's great to play with chess and experiment!

Now our son plays orthodox chess (beat his dad this afternoon) but also has fun experimenting. I was a miserable chess player at first (had only played a few times), so this was a fun way for me to learn as well (and speed chess helped even the playing field with my husband)!

Hope you guys have fun whatever way works best for you!

I would not stress this form of chess to children, because they generally move much too fast to begin with. You can go a long way in chess if you simply

(1) capture pieces your opponent leaves hanging
(2) not hang your own pieces

To do these things, kids need to SLOW DOWN and SCAN THE ENTIRE BOARD before EVERY MOVE. Sorry for shouting with all caps, but
watching my children play at the local club has accelerated my hair loss. But we have fun, too.

I run the chess club at my son's grade school. We get 5 years olds who come. I quickly explain and show them how each piece moves. Then I have them start playing.
At the start, I basically suggest moves but have them physically move the piece. At the start especially, I deliberately make dumb moves so they can take my queen with a pawn, etc. I say, oooohhh, I blew that! They really like that!
You'd be surprised how fast kids pick up chess. A few of the older kids, I show them some moves I've picked up on Youtube, etc. I teach them how to castle.
I try to explain in terms they can understand. For the girls, I tell them that the king is a wimp and the queen is the most powerful piece- chess is about girl power! I tell them the point scheme- a pawn is a first grader (one point), a rook is a fifth grader (5 points).
I taught both my kids how to play at 5 this way, and they are pretty good. Then just play with them and they will naturally get better.

Have you seen this site: http://www.chesskids.com/newcourse/index.htm

Free and fun online Chess lessons - Aiden is 4 and loves playing with this.

I've gotten hooked on chess.com It's free and you can play people from literally all over the world of different abilities.