Chess for Young Kids ( age 4-6)

Thanks for the update, and congrats on the good results.

One way I helped my kid play slower is to give him a reward if he finishes the game using at least 15 minutes on his clock.  Each extra minute (after the 15) = 1 minute of free screen time.  Now, he doesn't need this incentive any more (and I've removed it) since his games last longer.

I have the same problem with some of the older kids that play chess at our school. They all move way to fast, but I will see if there is a way I can reward them for playing longer, thanks for this tip.

There are two possible factors why they move fast. One is  if they don't know what to do as they don't have much knowledge yet and number 2 is lack of patience. For lack of patience reward might work and solving tactics problems appropriate for their level. For lack of knowledge, solving easy puzzles will add knowledge to them that they will consider more things. One thing  you can also do is to give a reward to whoever will find first the solution to the tactics. Mix up with mate problems with tactics that win material.

Tell them also to:

Always study your opponent's last move

Look at the whole board

Before they make a move, check if there is a tactical drawback.

A game I played with my 4 year old son today. I was reading "The Amateur's Mind by Silman" when he came and asked me if he could play a game of chess with me.

If you look at some of his previous games, I think progress is taking place.

Definitely there is a progress. You can also tell him that instead of qd3, he can play d3 to open up the bishop. Tell him in the opening, you need to develop/bringout all your pieces. Does he know that queen is the strongest piece?

Yes, he is aware of those things you mention... I explain developing to him as "his pieces are sleeping on the back rank".... I did not want to "teach" him during this game as I wanted to get an idea of how he progressed. 

There's still work to do, but I am very pleased with the progress so far, just don't know what he was thinking about moving his queen around like that, but hey, small steps at a time.

usually beginners like to move around their queen(with no good reason). but in due time such habit will lessen. what did your son say when you checkmated him? yeah, it is  a good thing at giving pointers after the game.

He used to get upset when i checkmate him, but lately it is more a sense of disappointment of losing than the emotion of anger. He still gets a bit angry when his mom beats him at times, but mostly his attitude has improved. 

After losing this game, we shook hands, and he gave a cheeky little smile afterwards. 

So my son turned 5 the other day and it seems that with the new year came new interests. 

I feel that he can play a good game of chess, but for some reason, when he plays at school with older kids, he doesn't focus and play weak moves. I noticed that, when playing friends, he is more concerned about making jokes and socializing than actually focusing on his game (which is somewhat fine as the point of it all is for him to have fun), but this comes at the cost of playing some good chess which he is capable of. 

Now I know, it might seem that I only care about him playing chess (which I can assure you I don't), but I would like to see him play at the level I know he can play on.

Here is a short snippet of a game I played against him today....

Thank you. Yea, I am quite happy that he started playing on such a young age. Very good for developing his mind at a young age.

Just a small update for whoever is following. My son and I will be playing in a our first Tournament that we play in together.

It is taking place at the end of the month.,... so for training, I am running him through simple "one-move-mate" tactics from chesskid .com (the kid version of chess,com), and I am planning to get him to play at least one game per day against one of the older kids at school that can just point out general mistakes he makes.

I am not sure will be able to notate his games as I will be playing at the same time, but maybe I will be able to witness a game or two in-between my rounds so I can notate it and share it on here.

Does your son play with a clock?

 Nice. Good luck. Win or lose that will a nice experience for both of you.

I assume they will play with a clock. We have played some training games with a clock, so I am sure he should be okay.

Thanks for pointing that out though, I will maybe train him with a clock from now on just to get him more into the swing of things.

and don't forget the rules. pressing the clock with the hand that you used to move the pieces. also the touch move rule.

@jambyvedar - O, yes, he is prone to using the wrong hand when pressing the clock...

I get a fair number of very young players into my local club.  The important thing is not to overwhelm them with too many concepts, and to let them play as much or as little as they wish.  This is easier said than done, of course.

I would recommend taking notation for them, and when they lose, show them how they could have won and/or drawn the game.  The sting of losing won't seem as harsh if they realize they had a chance.

@Dsmith42 Yes, I agree. As I have mentioned before, its about having fun and loving the learning process. 

The best part is that it is a "father-and-son" hobby that we share which makes it more special for me. Playing a game that I enjoy and spending some quality time with my eldest son... nothing better than that.

If you guys would like to, here is a link to the story I wrote about how chess started for my son when he was 4 years old..

https://www.chess.com/blog/PastorJLM/teaching-my-4-year-old-how-to-play-chess