68
votes
How should I make a 6 year old think more?
What else can I do to make her understand this
Wait a few years. A 6 year-old's mental capacity is very limited. The good news is that at that age and for several years to come her mental capability ...
- 94.5k
65
votes
Accepted
Why do children move so quickly?
The answer is very simple. A 6 year old child does not have an adult brain. It has the very immature, underdeveloped brain of a 6 year old. It has a short attention span and struggles to sit still for ...
- 94.5k
32
votes
Accepted
How should I make a 6 year old think more?
From my 15 years experience as a chess teacher - and then chess dad.
Stop telling her to think longer !
This is the wrong thing to do.
First, it is useless: as you have noticed, even telling her so ...
- 15.8k
31
votes
Accepted
Is there a trick to help kids know which direction pawns are going?
At 5 years old a child's brain is still very immature. The good news is that it is also developing very fast. The easiest and most effective solution is just to wait. Within a year or two the problem ...
- 94.5k
28
votes
How should I make a 6 year old think more?
Math educator here. It's very difficult for children at this age to think much ahead in their heads.
According to Piaget's theory, they don't even reach "concrete operational" stage at this age, ...
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18
votes
Why do so many children stop playing chess?
Dan Heisman writes about this in one of his books. He states that 90 % of children who start in 1st grade or kindergarten stop playing around 7th grade. I have seen this in my work as Executive ...
16
votes
Why do children move so quickly?
I would propose another plausible explanation:
Time moves slower for children.
I don't mean that in a gobbledey-gook spiritual sense but in the sense that the way humans experience temporality is ...
- 177
16
votes
Accepted
When should I introduce chess clock to a child?
I am wondering if I should let her start using a chess clock, or should I wait when she gets older.
At your daughter's age (5) the most important thing is having fun. If she is having fun now I would ...
- 94.5k
14
votes
How should I make a 6 year old think more?
Short Answer
Just keep doing exactly what you're doing: practicing with her and reviewing the game later and pointing out the main mistakes. Let time do the rest.
Long Answer
It is amazing that ...
- 1,089
12
votes
Accepted
Where to start with a child learning chess?
Does it make most sense to just start playing with setting up all the
pieces, or are there smaller "games" that one can/should start with?
It doesn't really matter the age of the person learning to ...
- 94.5k
12
votes
Why do children move so quickly?
Incentives and/or tactical ability tend to explain this.
Sloppy chess against similar fast-moving and reckless competition (U600 - U1200 tourneys or sections within larger tournaments) produces flip-...
- 3,313
11
votes
Is there a trick to help kids know which direction pawns are going?
On a screen, the pawns are always moving "up".
You know her better, so you could pick on of the following things as an example, and let her compare them to the pawns on a screen.
airplane.
balloon.
...
- 32.4k
10
votes
How should I make a 6 year old think more?
Firstly, I would like to say that her performance is really impressive.
Second, I would like to say not to go hard on her, since she might lose the interest and probably feel as if she's being forced ...
- 608
10
votes
Where to start with a child learning chess?
I tend to disagree with the other answers that suggest starting with just a few pieces.
Kids absorb so much, so quickly. When my daughter was 4, she used to just watch me so she got some familiarity ...
- 32.4k
9
votes
Accepted
As a coach what is the process to create a repertoire for a child?
A repertoire is not built overnight, and for most players, having a deep theoretical knowledge is not required. They simply need to understand opening pawn structures.
That said, if this child is ...
- 32.4k
8
votes
Is there a trick to help kids know which direction pawns are going?
The best way I believe is to put them in front of the board and explain that pawns are so brave they only move forward and never move back. If they know the other pawns are his/her opponent's they ...
- 301
8
votes
Where can I find chess tournaments near me for kids or teens?
Junior tournaments in the US doesn't narrow it down very much. As a chess player living in the US your first stop should always be the US Chess Federation website.
If you are looking for tournaments ...
- 94.5k
7
votes
How should I make a 6 year old think more?
The simplest and the most effective might be the "count to 5 before making the move" rule. Works like a charm, but doing it all the time will definitely take the fun out of the game. Probably you may ...
- 1,716
7
votes
How can I make my child interested in playing chess?
I have grown up loving chess from 4 years old playing a video-game(for Windows DOS), which a lot of old school animations.
The game is called "Battle Chess".
You can play here: https://classicreload....
7
votes
Is there a trick to help kids know which direction pawns are going?
This is similar to helping a kid distinguish "left and right".
Kids at that age are visual, so you could use a black sticker and a white sticker, placing these on opposing sides and tell her that ...
- 275
7
votes
Accepted
How old was Judit Polgár when she learned to play chess?
In her TED talk Giving checkmate is always fun, Judit Polgar says (t=0:59):
My mother taught me the first moves when I was about five years old...
- 3,333
6
votes
What is the easiest possible way to start teaching children how to play chess?
Start by playing with only pawns on the board. First person to the opposite side of the board wins the game. This was Magnus Carlsen's training method used by his father when he started to learn chess....
- 161
6
votes
How should I make a 6 year old think more?
Learning is a combination of logic and memory. All problems can be reduced to search. Thus, problem-solving boils down to exploring some solution space, and optimization problems involve finding ...
6
votes
As a coach what is the process to create a repertoire for a child?
I know what type of positions he enjoys playing, so opening will be easy to select.
In that case the hardest part is already behind you. Let me suggest the following strategy: Copy the repertoire of ...
- 15.8k
5
votes
Why do so many children stop playing chess?
I think that it's a healthy response for young individuals to completely divorce themselves from an activity that requires so much dedication in order to be successful at. These people derive more of ...
5
votes
Why do so many children stop playing chess?
As a kid who played a lot of chess from 3rd to 7th grade and then stopped I feel obligated to point out that many children stop not because of loss of passion or online chess or video games, but ...
- 51
5
votes
Why do children move so quickly?
I have another aspect to offer. Being a life long kids chess trainer ("Think, for gods sake!!") and a still lightning-fast old geezer now, I think it might also be linked to self-esteem. I ...
- 15.5k
5
votes
When should I introduce chess clock to a child?
I wouldn't overthink it since you can always go for a trial-and-error approach. You can try online if you don't have a chess clock and see how it goes. I wouldn't say there's a specific time control ...
- 16.3k
5
votes
Where can I find chess tournaments near me for kids or teens?
I've never played chess in the US but if I were you I'd call some of the chess clubs nearby and ask for information. While you can definitely find some events online, the people who are dedicated to ...
- 16.3k
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