5 year olds and chess

The other day my 5 year old daughter saw that I have set-up my chessboard. Ever since then, she had hounded me to teach her to play chess. Unfortunately, she is not keen to accept the answer 'WHen you are older'.

Then I started thinking that perhaps there are some things about chess or perhaps some scaled-down approach I can take.

Has anyone here been in a similar situation or know of a similar situation? Am I just underestimating the abilities of a 5 y.o. to grasp the basic moves? Or am I just affraid she will be crushing me at chess by the time she is 7?

The very strong adult players started when very young. Let her play, see how it goes.

I teach chess in elementary schools. 5 year old depends on their maturity level. If she is eager to learn I would say teach her.

If you go to chesskid.com (which is a sister site of chess.com) there is a downloadable teaching manual that is just right for that age group. I dont know if you need to be a paid member to get it or not. I am a paid member (I create accounts for my students so they can play each other and do tactics).

The basic idea used for that age is teaching pieces one at a time, and setting up a game where one side has only pawns and the other side just the piece you are teaching, like say the king. If one pawn makes it to the other side, the pawns win. If the king gets all the pawns, the king wins. Etc with all the pieces.

I learned the pieces when I was 6 or 7.  I was forced to play be these rules from my brother to start:  You could not move any other pawn but the center two (e,d).  You had to move each night and biship once before you could move any a second time, you had to castle by move 10.  en' passant was known but not allowed.   It wasn't til I was able to tell him "yeah huh!" I saw you do it.. that I could use the other pawns.  His attempts to cheat actually turned out to be pretty good rules.  It will be obvious if your daughter is interested enough in the game to push the issue but knowing the game mechanics at such a young age will be a priceless platform should a further interest develop.. GL!!!

Thanks Ubik42.

It is indeed free and I just downloaded it and looked over it. It looks very promising. She is in for a treat when she gets home from school today.

Do you by chance know if a membership on one site gets a membership on both sites?

I started learning chess when I was 6, though I've never really gotten good. I'd let her play, it wouldn't hurt.

Okie. I'm going to start teaching her today. But, I don't want to hear any complaint from any of you if she is on here in a few years crushing you at chess.

My kids are 4 and 2 and they enjoy playing with the chess pieces and board, even if they don't know the rules yet.  I did teach our son what the pieces are and he knows how to set up the board, and when our daughter gets a little older I'll teach her as well.  With my son turning 4 next week I think he'll start to learn the idea of turn-based games, and I think soon he'll be ready to learn how each of the pieces move.  I'll let him learn at his own pace but I'm not going to force him.

Expose her to the game... what have you got to lose?

My son, 5, enjoys playing. In fact, we played two fun games this evening. At the age of 4, he learned the rules of the game and even some basic tactics like pins and forks. Of course he had no idea how to bring situations about in which those tactictal opportunities arise. But he knows to develop his pieces, fight for the center, is aware that closed positions are for knights and open ones for bishops, and understands rook queen checkmates. He currently attends a chess academy in our area and enjoys it. 

I learned when I was 5, and it came naturally to me. Of course, that won't happen with everyone, so maybe you should show her now, but If she's not ready to learn, keep her interested for later years. :)

My three girls are 5, 7, and 9.  They all started playing at 18 months, when we just had the 6 pieces each and they learned two things.  We take turns moving pieces (taking turns), and we don't touch the other person's pieces (toys).  Two good life lessons!  They are never too early to learn.

I know of a kid that started when he was really young (like, before he could talk). His oldest brother got into chess at a young age and had a natural talent. Their dad thought the youngest one would be even better if he'd started earlier, but the kid doesn't really enjoy chess anymore because it's too much work and he feels like there is too much pressure to win.

In fact, I know lots of really strong elementary school kids, but they never continue in high school. Most of the strongest high school players I know started really playing chess in 7th or 8th grade. At that point they have the maturity to stick with it for personal motivation, not because their parents tell them to.

I would recommend teaching her--but she will probably get bored after a year or so. Don't push it, keep it in the background, and let her forget everything. Maybe a few more years down the road and she will rediscover it. That's what happened to me. I joined the elementary school chess club for 1-3rd grade, then stopped. I still played chess a few times a year against relatives, but I'd never been taught real strategies or anything.

In high school, I realized that I wasn't in any clubs, remembered that I used to do chess, and popped by. Upon rediscovering it, the game took a much larger part of my life. I became the "chess  guy" at my school. It was sort of a running joke that I would write every English or Spanish assignment about chess.

So again, encourage her to play, but once you get her on the bandwagon, don't push her too hard. When/if she gets tired of it, leave her with fond memories so she might come back later.

Thanks 9thEagle

Your comments remind me of the first, and to date only time, I was in a tournament.

My first game was with a kid who was about 10 y.o.. He was a decent player and almost beat me because I didn't know how to checkmate with a king and rook.

After the game, his jerkoff father berated him for not recognizing this and win by forcing me to run my clock down. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to say "You're an asshole" in Thai.

I agree about pushing young kids. I think, with the encouragement of many people here who started at a very early age or dealt with kids learning at such an early age I'm not too worried about her ability to enjoy trying it out, even if it is a short time.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I like this site. I tried another popular chess site last year and everyone on there was quite aggressive in their comments and made for an unpleasant environment for discussions.

its a seperate membership. But like this site you can get on as a free member and still do stuff, you just have more options if you are a paid member.

Kai sounds like a Thai name. Are you Thai?

I like how the chess pieces are almost as big as he is.

Those are cool pictures of special times.

I learned at a very young age with a children's book. 

My 5 year old son...

Knows the:...
•The name of the pieces ✔
•The starting position ✔
•How the pieces moves ✔
•The values of the pieces ✔
and at the moment learning Chess Notation (Algebraic)