Best Way to Teach a Young Kid to Learn Chess

Passing your love of the game of chess to your kids can be a great new way to wean them from video games and other isolating technologies that are doing more harm than good to their social development and their overall wellbeing. Starting your kids young and teaching them the basics of playing chess, either by yourself or with a chess tutor for kids, can be very beneficial to their cognitive development. Numerous studies prove how chess can help increase earner’s IQ as the game effectively exercises both sides of the brain. Other ways that chess helps brain development is by encouraging originality and enhancing creative thinking. Apart from its brain benefits, chess also teaches children valuable social skills through increased face to face interaction as well as the competitive component of the game. Chess teaches children how to win graciously and accept defeat well.

Teaching children chess is a great way to impart these kinds of skills and principles and whether you seek the aid of a chess tutor for kids or choose to start introducing basic rules at home, here are some effective steps that can help you teach young ones this highly beneficial brain sport:

• Getting to know each piece – It helps introducing chess pieces like characters on the chess board to your child. This is a great way to make them identify individual pieces and the value each one has.
• Learning the object of the game – Start with a completely set-up chess board, which is an easy way to explain each piece’s role in protecting the king and capturing the opponent’s. This is a great way to capture their interest and get their thinking gears working.
• Knowing how pieces move – Setting up the pieces in their proper first positions is also the best way to teach your child how each piece moves. Start with the pawns and gradually add other pieces with more complex movements like the knights, castles, bishops, the queen, and the king.
• Playing an actual game – Perhaps the best way to wrap up all that you have taught your child is by playing your first practice game. This way, they can understand the rules and the object of the game more, and how they can use strategy to win.
• Hiring a chess tutor for kids – While anyone can teach anyone how to play chess, it pays having someone who knows better teaching techniques and has the right tools to help enhance your child’s skills. This is especially true when you want to maximize the brain benefits of the game as well as to get your child more interested in pursuing it competitively.

IchessU stands for International Chess University. We are an online entity that specializes in chess education. We teach chess openings, chess strategies and more about the chess game in detail to kids.