Hints during game?

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Mx_Nat

I'm teaching my 8-year-old chess. She knows all the basics; all the rules, lots of basic tactics. She handles openings quite well considering she is going entirely on opening principles.

However, in the early parts of the middle-game there always comes a point where she gets stuck. I've attempted lots of ways to help her through this, like talking about plans, looking for tactics, exchanging pieces and so forth. But it just seems to overwhelm her and I think it's making her less interested in chess.

I was thinking it might be fun if she could get a move hint from a computer or bot, so it's not coming from me at all.

Is there a way to set this up here on chess.com or on chesskid.com? (or any other suggestions?)

Hope you can help!

Oh, she enjoys puzzles and various mini-games and challenges. Would it be better to just stick to this and re-visit entire games at a later time?

Larra2801

Getting a hint from a computer or bot violates the site's fair play rules, even for beginners, so don't do it.

You might try telling her that, when she's stuck, she should identify her weakest piece or pawn and try to move it to a better position. 

Personally, I think it would be okay for you to help her, provided that she's playing UNRATED games. But the admins might disagree.

Mx_Nat
Greg5291 wrote:

Getting a hint from a computer or bot violates the site's fair play rules, even for beginners, so don't do it.

You might try telling her that, when she's stuck, she should identify her weakest piece or pawn and try to move it to a better position. 

Personally, I think it would be okay for you to help her, provided that she's playing UNRATED games. But the admins might disagree.

Well, I'm talking about playing her in a learning environment otb at home, so by definition the games are unrated. She is only playing me, no one else. 

Mx_Nat
Snookslayer wrote:

My daughter went through the same thing at 8 y.o. so I bought her an e-z-bake oven. 

She still stinks at chess, but she can cook a tasty brownie.

Why an ez-bake oven? I think a remote control car would have been more fun, no?

_Number_6

Good luck! My son learned around the saw a

_Number_6

My son learned around the same age and did well at tournament and reached 1000 elo here fairly easily. My général impression from TDing tournament is kids are relatively as good as their parent. Thus a kid with a strong A class parent is 80% of the time stronger than one with a C class parent and 90% of the time stronger than a non-playing parent.

_Number_6

So, my advice: don't worry about it. If you play otb leave her tactics...hanging pièces, easy kQ vs K endings. That is what she is going to see in her cohort. Eventually chess will be work and she'll make a choice but she'll always be as good as she is.