Most people
think chess is a hard game to learn. It’s
not. Once someone learns how to move the
pieces they can play. Sure, there are a
few slightly complicated moves like castling or en passant, but generally speaking moves aren’t an issue. Learning how to move pieces in combination, that is where the game
gets involved. It’s not the rules; it’s
all of the strategy and tactics that make the game complex.
Except with
kids. Now we are into a whole different
area. First of all, kids want to know
all of the odd-ball rules, not only castling and en passant but also the three-position and 50-move rules. Normally, I try to just move past these
topics, but generally someone has heard of them and I eventually end up
explaining these rules. They will try to
invoke them, and be completely wrong; this is particularly true of the
three-position rule.* However, we get past them and put them away.
So what is
the concept that wrings all the certainty out of their heads, leaving the idea that chess is hard? What is the hardest thing for
children to learn (that actually does show up in their games): the knight’s
move? No, they need some help with that, but it comes pretty quickly. The key to that is not only the shape of the
move, but the fact that the knight changes the color of the square he stands on
with every move. If the knight is on a dark
square now, it will finish on a light square.
What about the pawn? The fact
that the pawn moves differently when it attacks causes a little confusion, but
that’s cleared up quickly.
The toughest part of chess to teach is check
(and by extension checkmate!) Then
how do they end the game? They end the
wrong way, at least in the beginning.
Here are the most common misconceptions:
- “If I threaten the king on this turn, and don’t call check, I can capture it next turn!” Of course, the king is never actually captured in chess. When the king is threatened, it’s in check, and must get out of check. If the king can’t get out of check, then it is checkmate and the game is over.
- “But you didn’t call check!” Check is check, called or not. Often it doesn’t need to be said, because it’s that obvious. This is a common source of disagreements, because this statement will probably follow the previous thought!
- "I’ll move my king next to theirs and put my enemy in check!” The problem with this is that two kings next to each other are both in check! Since a king cannot move into check, it’s an illegal move. Last night I actually had an 8th grader, who has been playing for a year, suggest that doing this would allow a player to win with just a bishop and a king – wrong!
How does
this get solved? In the immediate game,
I try to back the players up to the last legal move, and then continue the
game. Otherwise, I call it a draw.
Speaking of
draws, stalemate is also a problem concept, but not as hard to overcome. It is truly amazing how often stalemates
occur at this level. Last year our youngest
member played his first ten games without a loss – 3 wins and 7
stalemates!
As
frustrating as it can be, teaching chess has its own rewards. It is wonderful to see their enthusiasm, and
fun to watch their faces as the “light comes on”. Even though my son graduates from the school
this year, I can’t imagine giving this up.
It’s
Your Move!
* The three position rule says that an exact board position occurring three times is a draw. For this to happen, every piece and pawn must be in the same position all three times with the same moves available. As a result, a piece captured or a pawn moved means none of the prior positions can be repeated, since those pieces can never go back to where they were.
