Teaching Children to Play Chess (and Draughts)
Christmas Quiz answers are due in today - but before that, here's some musings on teaching children to play chess.
Firstly and most importantly, a reminder that the Christmas Quiz answers are due in this evening by 11.59pm, for those who are hoping for a shot at Honour and Glory. Typically, the cut-off for the honour roll starts somewhere between 80 and 90, if you're wondering whether it's worth sending in answers1.
Regardless, I hope everyone who attempted it had fun doing it. Answers will be out at some point tomorrow afternoon, once I've marked them.
However, as I'm sure half of you already know that, and the other half aren't doing the quiz in the first pace you also get a short post on my experience of teaching my children chess and draughts.
But before we get on to that, a reminder that you can sign up to receive an update every time I post by entering your email address into the subscription form below. You can also help by sharing what I write (I rely on word of mouth for my audience).
I wrote last year about the role of skill and luck in games - and why, for playing with children, I often prefer games with a fair degree of luck, or where a couple of key decisions (such as throwing a generous trade in Monopoly) can make a game even, rather than having to sabotage one's entire play style. But I also said then that chess was a fundamental enough game that it was worth persevering with, despite that. So how have I done that?
I should say now that this isn't an expert guide on how to teach chess. If you want one of those, then there's a website called Amazon that you may have heard of, which I've been told has plenty. There are plenty of people better qualified than me to give you real advice. This is just some basic musings from a someone who's tried to figure out how on earth he can teach these games in a way which didn't completely discourage the people learning.
Teaching the moves and so forth is, of course, no problem. But one only improves at games by playing them - and, at least at first, that means against the adult teaching it. And here's where the core problem comes in: both games are entirely skill based - and so if nothing is done, I would always win. And the reality is, that both games are complex enough, it's entirely possible that my children won't reach the skill level to beat me for years - or even ever2.
Most children don't like losing dozens of games in a row over the course of several years[citation needed], so what to do? Obviously, one could just play badly - but how? Make deliberately stupid moves? Won't that end up teaching them terrible habits? And how badly to play? Constantly badly? Randomly? With a plan but making mistakes? In any case, that's no fun - and if I've not having much fun, I'll probably play it less3.
One thing that one can do is cut short one's thinking time - only spending a second or two per move. That helps, but it's not nearly enough at this stage.
For draughts, the solution is easy: just remove some stones. Because all the pieces are identical, the game plays in fundamentally the same way with fewer stones. The handicap can be adjusted easily, adding a stone if the child wins confidently, and removing one each time you win. As the adult, you can play as hard as you like, and so can the child, and it's a genuinely fun game4. Youngest is now at the stage where they can beat me consistently with a four stone handicap, but tend to lose with three stones5.
For chess though, it's harder. One could take pieces away, each type of piece is a fundamental part of play. Remove your queen and the child will never learn to play against a queen - or see the potential of a queen in action.
What I've ended up doing is using a computer programme to make the moves for me. I use Lucas Chess (which is free) and we still play on a physical chess board, with me entering the child's moves into the computer, and then making the move the computer makes on the game board. It has a range of engines designed for children, with the easiest moving essentially randomly, to the hardest able to put up a moderately decent game. And, of course, one can always give additional hints and tips, too.
Ultimately, of course, the ideal is that they'll find peers to play with, at school or amongst friends, and can improve that way. Eldest is already doing this. But until then, and even after (given it's still fun to play at home), these are ways that I've found work well to create a fun game for both parties.
Don't forget to send in Christmas Quiz answers today, if you're competing - and the 2024 Prediction Contest will open on 10 January.
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Thanks for this. I want to play chess with the kids, but really haven't found a satisfactory way to do it. Removing my pieces means I'm not playing chess (as you describe) and makes me play hard to catch back up, so they get the upsetting position of just losing ground. Limiting myself on time is a good idea, but I still win every time, unless I pull the clock down so low I lose every time on time. For a while I had success with playing alternate moves with my youngest against my eldest. My youngest's effectively random moves averaged with mine were a pretty good match for my eldest's (plus hints). I've also had some success letting them 'trick me' in an opening like fried liver and then providing enough hints for them to keep their advantage.
Chess seems to making a comeback, at least in this little corner of Vermont! There is a thriving chess club at my boys' school (and it's not a private school) that meets fortnightly through the winter and probably about 16-20 children aged 8-12 come. They've basically figured out each other's level and pair up in a reasonable even match and it seems that most children are winning some and losing some. So, that can be one strategy - just have the children figure it out amongst themselves. I've never seen people enthuse so much about chess...
Other than that, I definitely do the not-putting-too-much-thought-into-it strategy, still win but makes it closer. What demoralises them are the routs (where you beat them in like 9 moves).
Finally, I had the pleasure of having an electronic Kasparov chess set when little (it still works!). This moves you up from Level 1 to 8, and therefore, while you're trying to beat the machine, you're also trying to beat yourself. This was really effective and means you're not constantly bugging someone else to play with you.
Ultimately though, I've run with the strategy of just having the children play for fun and not really to try and work on developing their skill in it. Maybe that's lazy, or maybe that's fine given their age?