Ok. I know this sounds like bragging but my kid is good at playing chess. He will be 11 soon. He joined chess club at his school and has never been beaten by another kid. He has beat one coach both times he played her and got a draw and a lose from the other coach. He went to his first county tourny with his scholastic team and won all his games (the only one on his team) which allowed his team to tie for first place out of 17 schools. The tourny did not have a playoff for the "best" player.
I said all of that to say this...HELP. I have a very hard time beating him. I am not a good player at all. If my son concentrates I have a difficult time beating him. He plays intuitively and does NOT study chess at all. I have a hard time getting him to study any openings, tactics or theory. I cannot teach him much because he is better than me. I would like to help him learn a good opening as white (along with all the variations) and a couple good defenses as black depending on white's opening.
He has a good feel for the board and is aggressive in his style. He does not value his pawns as he wins before getting to the endgame when the pawn is crucial. He is very good at hidden attacks and double checks. I am saying all of this to let you know how he thinks so I can possibly steer him to an opening or style that he may like.
I have an account for him here but he rarely will play and then not well when he does. He is very intense across the board but could not care less on line.
Coaching is out of the question....no money for it. I don't want to push him like a bunch of parents do only to have their kid hate the game.
Any ideas on openings and defenses?
Thanks
What about some good chess books?
He seems very resistant to learning, probably because currently he doesn't see anything wrong in what he is doing. If he is winning, why should you come along and tell him what he is doing is wrong when you can't beat him?
Seems like that is probably his logic. I would say that if there is a local chess club you should bring him there. Let him play some of the better people. He needs to lose to realize that there are areas that he needs to improve.
Even if he is better, that does not necessarily mean that he's perfect. You can still and should try to pick out points in his games that he could have done better in.
He'll never improve if all he does is play the same way over and over again.
Eventually other kids will improve through their losses, and your son will be behind.
Maybe post one his games on here for critique.
Take him to N.Y and have him play some of the guys in the park. It's a good way to humble a kid and then make him open to learning if he is competitive. Maryland to N.Y is like a 3 hour drive I think? Go for the day down the the park on NYU campus and play some games. If you want you can even set up a board with a clock and have him play other people for 5 bucks a game.
This really is the only way. You can't try to force him to study when he thinks there is nothing to learn.
You are so right about him needing to lose. He is starting to come around to the idea he is not the greatest....playing the computer is teaching him that. I found a club close by in Delaware. I think I will take him there.
Any ideas on a good opening and a couple good defenses?
Opening: e4
Defense: e5
LOL
The openings are unimportant at this stage, let him play and then decide what lines he wants to play. If he is interested in chess he will be interested in reading some books and playing some stronger players, then he can choose what opening he prefers. If he's not interested -- why push him? I think you should only be asking these questions if he is pressuring you for more, not because you think he needs to know them.
We just got finished playing a game (he won) in which we recorded our moves for the first time. We then went back over it and we both pointed out our mistakes......I think there is hope! He does want to play stronger players. It's just that I am going to have to take him somewhere else to get that.
Question about NY. I have never been there. What is the etiquette when playing? Does loser pay? I don't want to teach him gambling. Or is it, if its your board the other guy pays? I could go broke fast! LOL
NY is a trip. Surely there is a closer chess club or scholastic tournament or something, where he can go test himself against better competition? I think that's the important part, not necessarily the Big Apple.
Maybe you could ask a better coach to teach him for free? Give him a book to read about the topic. I love to read!
He'll have to study sooner or later if he wants to get to be a good player. I agree with everyone else that the best thing for him now is to lose some games so he has the impetus to improve. Sounds to me like--at this moment anyway--he isn't sufficiently intrigued by the game to really immerse himself in it, which is the only way talent will ever fully develop (one indication of this being for example that he doesn't avail himself readily of the opportunity to play online).
But I agree that you shouldn't push him into it. If he's some sort of prodigy, it'll come; if not, there are a whole lot of other things in the world besides chess.
cool
Um . . I do not no any imformation.Try google!
i'm surprised he doesn't want to play online at this site....he could get realtime feed back from alot of the higher rated players, i'm sure would be glad to give advice.....i wouldn't push him at all, if he doesn't want to really get into chess it's not meant to be yet..
Like I said, he does have an account under my supervision. He does not play very well looking at a screen. He gets bored and he loses to a faceless person. Something clicks in his brain when he sits across from a real person and he is intense while he plays. He never looks up from the bored while playing.
I don't think he is a prodigy. My parental vanity does not go that deep...LOL. We went on YouTube and looked up chess openings. There are some great instructional videos there. He watched a 10min. video on the Gioucco Piano (sp?) twice. He naturally plays that line a lot. He was excited that there was a name for "his" opening.
Thanks for the encouragement. I would suggest looking at the YouTube videos. Good, free stuff there.
Jerry
I am a young player to ( I am 12) , maybe you should show him ruy lopez or quenns gambit. Pls post one of his games, I am interested.
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