I can't teach chess

Chessnetworks posted "Chess is too hard to learn". After playing chess for years, the request I find to cause endless trepidation in me is, "Teach me how to play chess". I was quite idiot enough to think I could participate in such a task early on, but now I respond to such requests with a simple: "I can't." This, of course, opens the flood gates to many, many more questions and curiosities. Such as: "Why? Don't you know how to play?" These questions came up a couple of weeks ago from a guest at the restaurant I work at, when I was bartending. Many sports playoffs were being shown on many television screens. Many people were at the bar. I was playing a game of chess on my little 'Excalibur', in between pouring drinks. The World Chess Championship was all the rage, in my mind, and I was completely inspired to play again, constantly.

A gentleman sitting at my bar had been watching me squat down to make a move every now and then, and he began telling me how he always wanted to learn the game, asking me to teach him. These are not exact quotes, I'm paraphrasing slightly...

"I can't."

"Why? Don't you know how to play?"

"I'm not even sure if I know how to play. It's impossible for me to teach you here." {This was an error on my part. My position was not well defended and he began a series of checks.}

"I mean when you get off work. Or even another time. I'll buy you some coffee and you can teach me how to play."

"Do you know how the pieces move?"

"Yes, I do know that much."

"Nice. Then you already know everything I could possibly teach you."

"I don't know strategy."

"You know, I just can't teach chess. I've tried before, but I see things when I play that I can't verbalize well. Part of playing chess and trying to understand it is spending a lot of time on it. Which means I don't have time to teach it."

"Oh."

"I mean if you wanted to have a cup of coffee sometime, that's different. But I can't teach chess. You would have to almost fall in love with the game in order to put in the time necessary to begin to understand it. It's just like understanding literature, art, whatever. In order to enjoy watching two Grandmasters of chess play, you have to at least try to meet them halfway by putting in a lot of effort yourself."

I went and poured some drinks, and came back.

"It's kind of like basketball, or any sport. Like golf, where in order to appreciate Tiger Woods, you have to play a lot of golf."

"Yes."

"I could teach you to play golf, you could teach me to play chess."

"No, thank you."

"You don't like golf?"

At around this time more people came in, therefore I was able to avoid that question. But people think chess is difficult to learn, and rightly so. Chess takes a lot of time and thousands of games, and study. If one doesn't study the history of painting, yet go to the museum once or twice a year, they do not see what you do, if you have studied it. It's just like Philosophy for me. The more I know, the more I don't know. For me, teaching chess is much more difficult than learning chess. Chess is a difficult game

It seems likely that the guy just wanted to have a coffee and chat with you, but anyway, you can be sure you'll feel more confident as your own ability grows. If you don't want to get systematical about it, the easiest way I can think of is starting a game and then pointing out his/her mistakes.

Nice post OP. Although I never really gave it much thought till now, it seems perfectly reasonable that learning chess is easier than teaching it - and people use to attribute me with good didactics skills...

You pointed to a huge problem I have, philidor_position. Of course obvious mistakes: "You lose your queen there." is much easier than say, a position that you 'feel' your way through. Where you immediately, through the habit of playing, play moves that are difficult to verbalize. What you see as being the best course to follow, when the person you are teaching is seeing every possible move. They don't 'feel' what you do. You're ahead of them, and in order for them to follow, you have to play through sooo many different variations of the postion that it becomes quite daunting. While you're doing this, you find out your original advise fails anyway, a few moves down the road. Now I'm starting to learn in the position and forget that they are quite lost.

checkin' out your record, u seem to be doin' pretty good for a beginner - reckon the guy was just attemptin' a pick up line

I was banished from the "beginner community" years ago, after trying to form a union.

And thanks, Raweyes

My 5 cents, as for any art there are two aspects: the technical side and the inspiration. You can't teach the inspiration, that God's spark that produces all pieces of art we enjoy on sub conscience level. Buut you can teach the technical aspect of the game, same as you can teach someone how to draw, but this person is not necessarily will become a Picasso.

one doesn't truly understand chess until he starts teaching it.

having that said....let teaching be the way for you to take your game to the next level

I don't really understand what that means. Anyway of explaining it to me?

Music is very similar. Someone can teach note names, rhythmic values, etc. but cannot force someone to "feel" the music, as they say; along the same line, you can teach how the pieces move, but perhaps you cannot force someone to understand the deeper aesthetic behind chess. "The more I know, the more I don't know" is an extremely astute observation. Understanding chess, music, art, literature, etc.... any one of things... is a deeply personal, individual experience.

Nevertheless, I am not sure I agree with the inability to teach chess. I have taken piano lessons for almost 25 years, and I would not understand what I do about music if my highly experienced teachers had told me, "The more I know, the more I don't know, so I cannot teach you music." My teachers taught me what they could, according to what they knew about. They could not force me to understand how to feel the music, but through their explanation of what the music is to them, I was able to cultivate my own understanding of musical aesthetics, an understanding that continues (and will continue) to evolve.

If you deem yourself an inadequate instructor of chess, I do not mean to second-guess you. After all, not everyone can be a teacher. But I just wanted to clarify: the subjective, aesthetic aspect of chess does not make it unteachable, i.e. by anyone. Chess can absolutely be taught the same way music is taught. It's not about getting the student to feel what you feel, or what have you; you tell the student what you know, and the student's understanding blossoms from there (if he allows it to). This is what music and chess instructors have done for me.

I had not given much thought to stuff like this untill recently when I myself tried to teach someone chess from square 1. Teaching them how the pieces move and all that, and the piece values. Those are things that even at the miserable level of ability I have gained  have become all too second nature. Beyond the basic rules and to move the pieces it simply takes far too much time and effot to learn anything deeper. I suppose that is the difference between a chess player and a non-chess player.

There are differences between teaching, coaching and sharing.  

Your post is another one that is intriguing to me, trysts.  I am a teacher by profession who dislikes teaching because of its implied top-down approach.

I prefer coaching and sharing.

Helping somebody float who is asking how to swim is actually one of the most wonderful experiences if both people are interested in trying.

Though I wasn't saying that chess can't be taught, quixote88pianist, I really like your comment

As I was typing, I realized that I wasn't sure if you were going that far.  Chess is indeed very difficult to teach. Just recently I was thinking how inept I would be if I taught chess, for fear that I would forever inhibit their understanding based on my narrow-mindedness. I'm just not sure you should think that you could have nothing to offer someone who wants to learn. Your level of understanding of chess is not worthless. You could surely pass along something of use to that gentleman (even if it's not much).

Well, I did pass a lot of free drinks to him, once he gave me a painkiller I love when people possess the inuitive awareness that I may need a painkiller.

Svidler said not a long time ago that he could bring a chimpanzee to a level of an expert

it means that your chess will get better once you start teaching it to someone.a good way to blast through plateaus me thinks.

Thanks. That just made my day (beating my chest...) 

If I don't reach "Expert" level within 6 months, I'm giving up, totally.

who ?