How were you taught chess?

My Dad taught me...I wasn't a very good student, got bored too easily!

I aim to please. 

My old man showed me how to play and then my uncle showed me how to beat my old man. It was great.

 ROFL

imprisoned in shawshank...carved the pieces out of sand-stone took 20 years ....den played with that set until now...now we have internet up here in shawshank.....    : )

JUST KIDDIN!!!

Mom bought me one when I was ...hmm....don't even remember my age den...i think 6 yrs....never played or maybe don't remember playing then...

started playing seriously about a year ago....to take part in my college chess event!!....since then eating, drinking, sleeping with a chess set!! :)

Don't think I'm mad but sometimes when you do excess of something...you have dreams of it too..... oh yes played in my dreams too...but I don't think those games made any sense :)

I think I was about nine years old when Santa left a chess set under the Christmas Tree. There on the living room floor, my Dad and I read the rules and learned how to move the pieces. Then we played a game and I won. I don't think Dad has played another game of chess since then, but he took up golf and became very good at it. And me? I went on to become an average chess player who hardly ever played but always wanted to learn how to play good chess. At the age of 60, I finally got my chance when I discovered chess on the Internet. That was four years ago. But it's too late now. I'm hopelessly addicted and still just average.

I learned the moves (except castling and en passant capture) from a feature in MAD magazine comparing old chess with new thermonuclear war chess (where the K and Q were an A-bomb and an H-bomb, the rooks were bomb shelters, and the pawns were terrified civilians.)  In thermonuclear war chess the opponents sit and stare at each other and the board for hours without moving (just like real chess).  Eventually one gets distracted and the other launches a first strike. 

My parents thaught me the moves when I was around 9-10. At age 13 I participated in my city's youth championship. I won my first four games (in a single day, including against the big favorite). I still remember the feeling after that day. My brain was "clogged", I was extremely tired. Of course, I lost all my remaining games on that tournament The following year, the local university's team was recruiting young players. I applied and received professional coaching. That was in Hungary in the 1970's, so my chess education is very similar to the old Soviet school. Start out with endgames and a lot of analysis (which we kids were not so fond of). I played through my high school years with an Elo of 1700-1800, but then stopped playing because I could not find time beside my other activities. After 25+ years, now I am back playing on-line, but I would not venture out to OTB yet. There is still a lot of thing I have to refresh and of course my brain is not working like it did at age 18

I learned from the instructions on the back of the box-top.  I then taught my Dad.  He never beat me.  It was the beginning of our  intellectual separation.  However, it was also the beginning of a certain modicum of respect he had always maintained with me.  I love him for that.

My dad taught me to play when i was in preschool.  We would just play against each other and he would always win (but he would explain where I went wrong).  By the end of kindergarten I had won the school chess tournament.  By the time I was in second grade I could beat my Dad.  I continued playing until sixth grade when I realized it was hard to pick up chicks with chess... I just picked it up again a few months ago.  It's really depressing to think that my elementary school self could kick my ass.  Moreover, I think that an advantage that some kids have (shocking as it may seem) is patience.  At such a young age, chess was mystical and as such I much enjoyed analyzing each possible move and its outcomes... Now I just play off the hip based on analogy.  Teach your kid well.  And teach him that he should continue playing chess even if it's not "cool."  I'm sure he'll appreciate it in the long run.