Learning To Play Chess

The idea of our 6 year old joining his school’s chess club came up, so we asked him what he thought. His answer was, “If they teach you how to play, yes, I’d like to join it. If they just teach you how to get better, well, I don’t know how to play.” I offered to teach him how to play and he was thrilled. The 3 year old wanted to be taught how to play, too, so we all three went to the kitchen table with a new chess set we’ve had in the closet waiting for this day.

I haven’t played chess in a very long time. A friend taught me one morning while we waited for the school bus, back in 9th grade; I beat him that afternoon on the ride home from school, much to his annoyance. For the next few years, I played only occasionally with friends or by myself. After high school, I rarely played, even by myself. I went several years without playing a single game.

About four years ago, while waiting for everyone to show up for a D&D game, one of my gamer friends challenged me to a game. He was fresh out of high school, and loved chess. When he heard I hadn’t played in a long time, he jumped at the chance to thrash a dupe. He started his game going for the 7-move win, which I don’t remember the exact moves, but I recognized the general direction he was going. I thwarted his quick victory. We went on to play for half an hour, and I beat him.

So, my two biggest chess accomplishments were the first and last games I’ve played. The time in between those two is filled with plenty of lost games.

At the kitchen table, we opened the new chess set and placed the pieces on the board. As I tried to explain all the pieces to the 6 year old, the 3 year old wanted attention. I didn’t want to shut him out of the experience, but really, he’s far from able to understand this yet. I tried to involve him and let him see and touch all the pieces, too, but he wanted more involvement. He was very disruptive to the whole process. The 6 year old was very good with the distraction, but it was driving me crazy.

We played a couple games, and I even let the 3 year old move some of my pieces and remove captured pieces. But the whole experience was not at all what I had always imagined it would be. I had been looking forward to teaching my boys how to play chess, so I’d have someone to get back into the game with. I’ve taught the 6 year old how to play checkers, and we play other games, too, but chess will be the first truly complicated game. Checkers was the first real competitive game.

I was happy with how quickly the 6 year old picked up the various rules, but he needs to learn to consider the whole board rather than just one or two pieces at a time. It’ll come with practice, and I’m anxious to play games where I don’t need to help him. The only thing is we need to find time without the 3 year old around.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com