Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Chess in Foxtrot

Found this nice strip about chess from Foxtrot, one of my favorite comic strips.  They feature chess from time to time, but I had a chuckle with this one.  Click on the pic to get to the site and enjoy it yourself. Read More......

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Beginner Chess Mistakes to Avoid


I never thought I'd see the day when I will be linking to a Yahoo! article, but here's a decently written article on how to avoid beginner chess mistakes.  Click the pic for the link. Read More......

Monday, July 04, 2011

Chess is Child's Play

Well, not really.  But my 5-year-old son has started playing chess.  He's been interested in the game since last year, but it was only this year that I could get him to sit still and listen to me so I can teach him the basic stuff.  My wife was telling me "good luck" when I unfurled my vinyl chess board and started setting up the pieces while my son is looking, ready to start.  With a board full of pieces, I began to wonder: how can he start learning the moves without getting all confused?


Then, I had an idea.  I removed all the pieces except the white knight, and started spacing black pawns across the board.  Then I started teaching him how the knight moves.  Luckily, he found it very amusing and interesting, and he started capturing the pawns.  At first the pawns were spaced such that each capture will allow him to capture the next pawn. Then we started spicing it up a bit, so that he would need to make two to three moves before he can capture the next piece (placing the pawns side by side would normally do the trick).  


By the next day, he is still getting used to it, but he is ready to be taught how the other pieces move.  I was surprised that in less than an hour, we were able to go through the movements of the other pieces.  Then it's off to a couple of games to further clarify the moves, like the fact that the king can move in any direction but only one square at a time, as compared to the queen.  It took us more than a week of playing before I introduced the concept of castling, pass pawn, and pawn promotion.


Strategy is something I'm teaching very slowly, as I would want him to discover things for himself.  Mostly I just guide him on the relative value of the pieces, the need to mobilize all of them, not using the queen too early,  and checking the board first before making a move.


His younger sister (4 years old) also joined in the games, and he's teaching her the rules and the moves.  Playing games almost everyday has become a fun family affair for us, with the uncles and the aunties and the grandparents joining in as well.  It has also rekindled my love for the game, as I am back in my correspondence chess games and brushing up on my tactics and strategies.





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