Playing board games is a wonderful way to spend time with children when they are bored/sick or “the weather outside is frightful”.
Chess is a board game that is probably one of the most revered and shunned at the same time. An aura of exclusivity surrounds it. The rules are really not that complicated, but just like with classical music or jazz, people themselves create a barrier and stay away. However, it’s important to remember that any activity can be pursued at different levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, or anything in between. You wouldn’t expect every girl writing stories to become J. K. Rowling. You wouldn’t expect every boy playing hockey to become Wayne Gretzky.
It’s the same with chess. Every child can start playing this game as long as they remember how the pieces move. However, learning those moves can be a bit tedious and difficult at first. That’s why, I was very impressed with one idea. Look closely at the picture above. Can you see the words, numbers, and arrows on every chess piece? Respectively, these are that piece’s name, the number of squares that particular piece can move at a time, and the direction that piece can move in. Neat, eh? This may seem unnecessary to a grown-up. But any six-year-old will certainly appreciate as much help as they can get while learning to chess-crawl before beginning to chess-walk. And, yes, I did buy a set, and we’ve already started practising at home.
My father taught me chess many years ago. While he was quite good in his professional playing days, my abilities have been average. Still, I’ve always loved and appreciated the magic of this game. Hope you’ll chess, I mean, check it out now that someone has come up with the brilliant idea of putting those helpful tips on the pieces.
