How can I get a 10 yo, who thinks chess is boring to play?

Please help me

+1 Play, study and analyse your games in front of them, have a chess set permanently set up in the home. If the child has no interest in chess why would you want to force chess upon them?

tell them to play chess and then you will give them candy.

and then take the candy back.

it's like taking candy from a b̶a̶b̶y̶  I mean, 10-year-old.

Yeah, like that.

Make up other games with the pieces. Have a look on ChessKids, they gave great content for that age. It's fun. My kids prefer doing tactics puzzles to playing. They like watching me lose fast games (they get bored with slow ones). See if you can get them interested in the idea of chess in any shape or form and leave the rest to time and their curiosity.

You don't.

If he thinks it is boring, why should he play?

We had a grandmaster and former US champion move to our small city.  He did it because he wanted to establish a scholastic chess program here.  He did.  He's been very successful.

I signed my son up for his classes.  I admit that I was a bit in awe of this coach.  What a wonderful opportunity for my son.

My son has all the competitive and predator instincts of a goldfish.

This is almost a verbatim transcription of what I overheard one day when I arrived early so I could listen a little before picking him up.

"Why did you give Nancy your queen?"

"Because she's my friend."

It was a fantastic opportunity.  He learned some basic rules of chess.  And we both learned that chess wasn't his thing.   

You dont .. either people like to play or they dont. If he does not enjoy the game you should respect him enough to accept that.

I would say take him to a Washington park , show him an atmosphere there, trash talk, money betting, speed chess , show him bad guys etc... just to show him different side of chess that it's not just boring , geeky game played by old, quite man.

I think maybe convince him to give it a try, or give him hard chess puzzles maybe (if he knows the rules) to get him to realized the aesthetics maybe.

Maybe show him a simple tactic like the back rank mate. Does he know how the pieces move?

He won't become anything great in the subject if he doesn't have interest for it. Let him choose what he likes, and then train him hard in that.

Show him the game and how it works. ask if he wants to try it. 

If he doesn't then leave it, not everyone likes chess, and that will never change. 

There's really nothing you can do to force the issue.  Enjoy the game yourself, and let the kid choose if/when to get into the game.  If a child is forced into some activity they don't like, they can never really excel at it, and will rarely pick up anything useful from it.  They have to at least feel it's their decision to make.

But do make sure they put in full effort into whatever does interest them.  Do as much as you can to discourage laziness and mediocrity.

In the 2001 US Open, I played some little kid (I think he was 8 or 9) in round 2 and after he rebuffed my attack and exchange sacrifice, I lost.

Later he was interviewed in Chess Life. He said he wasn't interested in chess but his dad made him play it. He gave up the game on graduating high school.

In 2006, I played an upcoming chess whiz-kid (maybe 10 years old & 1700 rating) in the Missouri Open. After beating him in an Evans Gambit, I posted the score and looked back to see him crying at the board with his dad standing over him. The kid would go on to get a 2300 rating and then abruptly quit. Hasn't played in years.

I have bunches of other examples of kids pushed by parents to play chess. Not one is a good story. Please don't add to the crappy stories of kids who resent their parents for pushing them to play a game they have no interest in.

Thanks for sharing DrSpudnik. Totally agree.

Thank you everyone

So maybe chess isn't for him 

But I do hope that one day he will gain interest in chess. 

what to help?