Author: gentlesoldier

So we’ve exhausted the single pawn games. What do we do next?

What I do (assuming I’m teaching an individual or small group) is set up a position with white pawns on d2 and e2 facing just one black pawn on e7. I ask: would you rather be white or black? Who do you think will win?

Usually they’ll get the idea that if you have two pawns against one you’ll win as long as you’re careful. Of course it’s possible to lose: after 1. e4 e5, 2. d4 will lose as Black will reach the end of the board first. But instead 2. d3 will win at once. Let the students play a few games, trying different sequences.

From this very simple PP v P game students learn two of the most important ideas underpinning chess:

1. SFW: (other things being equal) Superior Force (usually) Wins. (I like TLAs but sometimes also use FLAs.) Chess is a battle between two armies. The bigger and stronger army will usually win, and here, with PP v P, your army is twice as big, twice as strong as mine. If Chelsea and Manchester United are playing a football match and Chelsea have a player sent off, who will be more likely to win?
2. The Magic Question: If I play that move, what will my opponent play next? This is all about self-regulatory skills, impulse control, thinking before you move, looking before you cross the road, understanding someone else’s perspective (your opponents will try to play the best move, not what you want them to play).

Where next?

There are some equivalent PP v PP games if you need further reinforcement of the ideas: you can learn about and play them here.

For many children they won’t be necessary, and they will be able to move onto the complete pawn game.

Most children will be able to manage 8P v 8P, but I’ve sometimes seen children who are unable to consider the whole board and will only play on one side. In some cases, therefore, you might want to move to 4P v 4P, and then 6P v 6P.

When I’m teaching beginners I start off by playing black and removing the c7 and f7 pawns. Once they’re confident about winning this, I’ll then replace those pawns and play without my e7 pawn instead. This is harder: they might get away with making one mistake, but not with making two mistakes.

One thing I like to do, because it makes children laugh, is give my pawns names from the files on which they start. My default names are Alfie, Bertie, Charlie, Danny, Eddie, Freddie, Gerry and Harry, but if my students have names starting with letters between a and h I’ll change the names accordingly. If they think about them as real people they might also be more careful about not losing them.

How do you teach beginners? Which piece do you start with?

With younger children I’d probably start with the line pieces (rook, bishop, queen), just like Momir Radović.

But with slightly older children I’ll sometimes start with pawns.

I’ll begin by talking about making decisions. Imagine you’re in a restaurant. There’s a menu. You have to make a choice. Will you choose the pizza or the burger? How do you decide? (You might prefer the steak, but then you wouldn’t be able to afford the ice cream afterwards, but that’s another issue for another lesson.) I also talk about impulse control. They’ll probably tell me they don’t know what it means. What do you do if you’re crossing a busy road? You’ll stop and look in all directions. What happens if you don’t?

So we’re going to play a game. Every day of your life you make thousands of decisions. If you don’t stop and think first you’ll make the wrong one. You’re going to learn a new game. If you make the right decisions you’re going to win.

I start by explaining the pawn move, and let my students make some moves on the board. At the moment it doesn’t matter if they don’t get it right at first. If they play a few games they’ll soon get the hang of it.

I place a white pawn on e2 and a black pawn on c7, explain that White always starts in chess, and tell them that the winner of the game is the first player to get their pawn to the end of the board (and ‘capture the flag’).

They have to make their first decision: White or Black? Why did they make their choice? Four ways: random (mentally tossing a coin), magic (it’s my lucky colour), false logic (I’ll be black so that I can copy you) or true logic (it’s a race: the player who goes first will win).

Eventually they realise that White can win by playing 1. e4, but if instead they choose 1. e3, Black will win by playing 1… c5 rather than c6.

I then start another game, but this time the pawns are on e2 and e7. I tell them we’re adding a second way to win. You win the game if your opponent can’t move. (Of course this is a draw in ‘big chess’ but this won’t be a problem.) Again they have a decision to make: White or Black? If you choose White will you move one square or two? If you choose Black will you copy White or do the opposite?

Once they’ve mastered this game we start again, but with the pawns on e2 and d7. Again, White or Black? What’s your strategy. Of course you’ve worked it out yourself, but it’s not so easy for young kids. You need logic and foresight.

My website chessKIDS academy features a lesson on these games.

So in this lesson kids learn the pawn move, one of the hardest pieces to learn. They also start to understand the non-chess skills of decision making and impulse control which are fundamental to good chess play.

I’ve just come across a series of articles about teaching beginners (adults as well as children) written by Momir Radović, a chess teacher from Atlanta, Georgia.

There are only four so far, all covering the same minichess game. You can find Momir’s page on chess.com here. Start with the article Joe Learns Chess Outlaw Way, and then follow through with the next three articles. There will, I’m sure, be many more to come.

Most experts agree that using minigames is the correct way to teach beginners. Instructional courses throughout the world, such as the Dutch Steps Method, use this method. Starting with the simplest pieces, the rook and bishop, makes a lot of sense. I sometimes start with pawns, which, because they’re the least powerful pieces, are the best to use if you want to teach the vital skills of calculation and looking ahead, but I’d guess that, especially for younger children, starting with rooks and bishops will work better.

What happens in most primary school chess clubs is that at least half of the children I see have been taught the moves in half an hour by a parent, a grandparent, an older sibling or a friend, and perhaps played a couple of random games. Because I’m trying to cater for a couple of dozen children of varying experience and abilities, I can’t give the beginners the attention they need. Furthermore, if they see their friends playing ‘big chess’ they’ll want to do the same thing themselves. rather than playing minigames.

While one or two very bright young children might pick up chess ‘all at once’, most will do much better learning one piece at a time, one concept at a time, gaining full mastery of each step before moving forward.

The main purpose of this site is to promote the use of minichess in schools to ensure all children get the best possible start in chess. If you’re a primary school teacher, how can you best use minichess in your school?

 

An updated version of the Download pack has been released this evening. Some of the new activities can also be accessed here.

ADHD involves problems in three domains (not necessarily all three): attention, impulse control and hyperactivity.

Solving puzzles and playing simple strategy games can be an excellent way of helping children with these issues while ensuring they have fun at the same time.

• Many young children have problems with impulse control. Playing strategy games gives an immediate reward for controlling your impulses. If you keep yourself under control, stop and think before playing your move, you’ll be rewarded by winning the game. If you play too quickly, don’t think, don’t look at the board before you play your move, you’ll lose.
• It’s very much the same thing with attention. If you’re not paying attention, not focusing, not concentrating, your mind is elsewhere, again you’ll make a mistake and lose the game. Playing some of the minichess games will provide children with practice in developing their attention skills.
• There are also some children who have difficulty concentrating, but can focus intently on a particular interest. In some cases, that particular interest might be chess.
• Children with attention problems are sometimes overly distracted by external sensory stimuli. Chess takes place in a low sensory environment in which many children will find it easier to maintain focus and concentration.
• While children who are physically hyperactive, constantly fidgeting or getting out of their seat, might not be welcome in a serious chess tournament, playing minichess could be very helpful in teaching them the importance of controlling their hyperactivity.

For most young children I’d recommend starting with minichess rather than ‘big chess’. These lessons are better learnt by playing simple games which children will, with improved concentration and impulse control, be able to master, rather than a very hard game such as ‘big chess’. Children can, if they want and when they’re ready, move onto ‘big chess’ later.