Of course, I know I could never teach as well as someone much stronger, but I would hope to get him to a point he would know if the game were for him or not....
Tips for teaching an old timer chess?
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The only thing I can think about is teach him endings first. Less pieces make it easier to understand. Teach him how a minor piece and a king can't check mate and how a major piece and a king can. You play your king, he plays his king and another piece and he must check mate you. After that, set the board with only the pieces needed to pin, fork, etc. Then the special moves like en passant and castling. At the very end, you set up a complete board for a regular game.
Good advice... I will try that... But I know (if I were him) I would be anxious to play a real game pretty soon. Would it be a good idea when playing "real" games to deliberately set him up with "traps" so he could sense the fun of success? I mean, he would know what I was doing but he would have fun finding the winning move anyway...
give him a broad love of the game, introduce him to the great players and literature of the game......while teaching him how the game is played.....show him morphy beating the duke....tell him about euwe overcoming alekhine..... and.1972 and all that....once hes hooked hes away
I don't know if a real game would not overwhelm him and get lost. If you play first a real game with him, make it easy for him to see gains, but do not make it too obvious you are playing easy for him (I think that is kind of hard to do). Whatever you do, get him excited about chess, like classof1971 just pointed out.
TRfortin wrote:
...... just try a few things i.e. sometimes I use 'pawns only' games. Goodluck and have some fun with it.
I did think I would start with the pawns and just do maybe 4-5 minutes of quick pawn exercises... I think more than that might bore him... "fun" is the operative word... Thanks
classof1970 wrote:
.....show him morphy beating the duke....tell him about euwe overcoming alekhine..... and.1972 and all that....once hes hooked hes away
Sure..... I would touch on much of that over time... maybe just one anecdote after the first session.... great idea!
hukes wrote:
................ If you play first a real game with him, make it easy for him to see gains, but do not make it too obvious you are playing easy for him (I think that is kind of hard to do). Whatever you do, get him excited about chess, like classof1971 just pointed out.
What if I play completely transparently with him... that is, say to him "OK, now I'm going to 'Hang" a piece. That means I have made a mistake (in this case)and left a piece where you can take it with no meaningful loss to yourself. Your object is to find where that is happening and which piece can capture it..."
I'd warn him about his hanging pieces or minor mistakes. At the end it would be playing like yourself vs yourself, but it may work. I once was playing with a friend and pointed out every error I could see in her play and giving her the chance to move back. At the end she "beat" me and she was pretty happy she did.
Just remind him that it's "baby steps" at first, like learning a foreign language or reading music. Then start with a simple K & Q vs. K checkmate, move to two major pieces (the staircase), then the K & R vs. K. Then introduce the knight and show him how it can fork. Then the bishops (quickly), and finally some simple pawn races and promotions.
The best way to give him a feeling of accomplishment is to give him a winning position (after you've explained the concepts) and have him win it against you. Often he will not be able to, as when he will no doubt stalemate you in the K & Q vs. K, but just back the pieces up and let him try again.
I think one of the best best books out there for teaching an older beginner is Patrick Wolff's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess." There are SO MANY diagrams that one can read it almost in its entirety without a board. Urge him to get it as a supplement to your sessions together. He may surprise you by starting to beat you!
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I have been asked by an older friend to teach him chess , starting next Wednesday. Any comments or tips come to mind?