Quote:
Originally Posted by MoneyGuy
Asked this on the questions thread. Didn’t know there was a chess thread so here goes.
Any advice for teaching a nine-year-old how to play chess? We’ve had one game and I basically threw the game. I had him mated in six moves but explained his mistake and didn’t do the mate. He had a slight advantage on points (5 for a rook, knight 3, etc.) but lost interest. His moves made no sense, moving a piece then two moves later back to the same position.
I get that he’s only 9. He’s playing online against a computer. His ninth birthday is actually Sunday and I’m getting him his first chess set. Maybe he’d be best off playing the computer opponent for a few weeks so he can gain experience. Or maybe have him watch his dad and play a game and explain strategy. He’s bright so he’ll be good - eventually.
Any ideas for keeping him interested?
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Start with giving yourself an extreme handicap... like you've got a king and three pawns and nothing else, he's got the full set. Let him work out how to checkmate you. Give him heavily-weighted odds where he'll probably be able to win, but keep changing up the actual pieces, starting yourself with a the king and a couple rooks, the king and queen, king and the knights and bishops, etc.
It'll probably be more fun for you, too, since you don't have to hold back, you can actually try and win even when you've got virtually impossible odds.