Several years ago I taught and school chess at a elementary school. There were more students than I had chess boards. Of course, I improvised and doubled some of them up.
Two of the students had already played in my tournaments and they were eager just to play. I utilized the knowledgeable ones as tutors and they enjoyed that.
Most of the others were willing to learn since they were truly beginners. The class time passed quickly but I kept them trying new things that they never thought about in chess.
“Before you go home today I'll give you some homework to do.”
“Oh. No.” “Homework?” Were some of the comments I heard.
“It is going to be some fun stuff to do. It isn’t like math!.”
I gave them the homework to do. I showed them how to recognize the location that each piece is on.
I showed them the fool’s mate. I showed them how to avoid getting mated that way.
“Last thing I want to show you is how you can play chess blindfolded.”
“I can’t do that. I got to see this,” said one boy.
“Let me show you using this board. Look I move the white pawn to 1. e4 and the black pawn to 1. ... e5. Now I move the bishop to 2. Bc4 and then black to 2. ... Bc5. I move the knight 3. Nf3 and the black knight 3. ... Nc6. I castle 4. O - O and the black knight 4. Nf6. Thats all that are moved."
I pointed to each piece I had moved on my DEMO board and I had the kids name the piece and the square they were on.
"Now I am going to cover the demo board. Ian come here and play black against me, making the same opening moves."
“Ok. But you might have to remind me what the move is.”
Now with just a empty boards between us and all the kids watching I said,
“I’m moving my pawn to e4. Ian can you picture that on the empty board.”
“I see it,” he said with a smile on his face.”
“Ok. It’s your move. Make it.”
Ian said, “Pawn to e5.”
“Ian, can you see both pawns? Where are the pawns?”
“Yours is on e4 and mine is on e5,” He said.
“All you guys can you see the pawns also?”
“Yes, Yeah, sure.” Were the responses.
“I know that you can't see them, but you know they are there. Ok my move. Bishop to c4. Your move Ian.”
“HUH . . . bishop to . . . c5 I think.”
“Perfect now my Knight to f3. Your move Ean, Look at the board.”
“Knight to hus . . c6.”
“Mine: bishop take pawn on f7 check. Your move.”
“hu . . . huh . . Hey You didn't show us that.“
"But can you see it Ean?"
"Yes I can. It was supposed to be the castle move."
"Ok that is enough for now. Ian I want you to tell me where are all the pieces that you and I moved. Where are they right now?”
Ian said, “Yours are, pawn on e4, Knight of f3, . . . bishop on f7 checking me. Those are all yours. Oh. . . Mine are, pawn on . . . e5, Bishop is on . . . c5, and the knight of c6 . . . Wait . . . I can see I am going to take your bishop with my king on my next move . . . ”
“Excellent, great job Ian. See? It can be done with some work. How about all you guys can you see them on the empty board? I know that it will take some practice to do that but you will be able to do some of it soon.”
I told them that by the end of the training in six weeks they would be able to do that also. You should have seen their eyes light up. Most of these were third graders. Ian was in the fifth grade.
I couldn't wait for the next lesson and see if their homework was done.
My son is currently 7 years old and he has been learning chess for a year now. To develop memory and visualization skills, I tried an exercise that turned out to be surprisingly good. I asked him to tell me moves without looking. I knew he could tell me a few moves of the opening, but to my surprise, he actually told me all the moves of the game. I recorded it and am sharing the YouTube link ( https://youtu.be/WNxAMWyTigA?si=hIgDESDjG9P61PZm ). Of course, he might not be able to play an entire game with anyone blindfolded, yet I am wondering if what he did is something that other kids at this age would also be able to do if they have been learning for a year or if it is rare. Also, there are some people who say that it is not good, especially for kids. Your thoughts, please.