I used to know alot about chess, such as the basics, intermediate and a little bit of expert level of it. But always fail to teach kid at first due to lack of patience. I always find myself frustated because I want to do job over for a short period of time.
I think patience is the key. They wouldn't get it that fast (unless they were prodigy such as kasparov) but still teach them to love the game and they would find themselves a way to make it easier. :)
Have a program on how your going to teach him. Efficiency is a must on training.
My sister is also 7 years old. She knows how to play chess but only to the extent of moving the pieces. No plan. She only knows that play e4 (or d4) on the first move, then if it's safe, play d4 (or e4). Then move the knights and bishops. Make unnecessary pawn moves. Castle. Move pawns and bring out the queens and rooks. I play with her only about twice a month, and it is really frustrating.
Teach them more than just making random moves. Make them learn the basic mates. Try to improve their game. Have patience. (Slightly off topic but I hope it is helpful).
Start with bishops, knights and queen off the board.
Teach basic rules of how pieces move and interact (don't mention en passant or castling yet). Play a game, but don't dominate his pieces let him play out like 40 moves maybe even winning.
Then bring in the queen, go over new rules.
Then bishops, then knights, etc.
Introduce en-passant and castling at some point.
Have him teach himself.I am not trying to be mean leave the board and pieces out and let him watch when you play
Many different methods and suggestions in this thread.
First I tell them there are only 6 pieces. The order I present is Rook, Bishop, Queen, King - then a pause and refresh their momories - and Knight spending 5 minutes or more and lastly the pawn (no en passant at this time). This process should take about 20 minutes including how to capture and set up the board. They are told that the King cannot be captured.
Not long after that the concept of Checkmate must be introduced as well as castling. After a few more sessions en passant is taught and they are good to go.
Then next big step is introducing chess tactics and this can be great fun!
So forth and so on...
Mike
1. It's good to have a book - the Murray Chandler Chess for Children book mentioned above looks excellent, but the one I've got (called Chess is Child's Play) has been just right for us. There are little bits of advice such as how to physically take another piece of the board without forgetting which square it was on that I'd never have thought of myself.
+1 for the book _Chess is Child's Play_
I also used Chess is Child's Play to teach my five year old.
We've followed the basic exercises and mini-games from the book to get him started.
After about a month, he can now play a full game.
I feel like it was getting easier after I've taught him how the pieces move.
Tough ones to teach are the knights and how pawns!
Chess is a Battle, So I will introduce him to the battle, starting with a brief history of the game, then I will follow that with the Battle Field: 64 Squared Board. Then the Objective of the game...: To Capture the King, Then I will introduce the pieces, How they move followed by their value...Q 9 R5 B3 etc. Then I will show him how the board is set up. "White square to the right" Show the Board positioned properly. Then I will identify the Identity of the Squares...( From White side...'a' to 'h' starting from left to right Filess and then '1 to 8' Ranks, starting from the White side. I will Then Talk about the Language of Chess...: 'Algebric' and 'Descriptive' After this we identify the name of each Square: a1 to a8 etc.Then Show him how to set up the Board and How we determine where the Queen and King stands and then the other pieces and then the 8 pawns. Teach him next the Symbols of the pieces eg. 'K' for King 'Q' for Queen, 'B' for Bishop 'N' for Knight ( using N because the King is already K) etc. I will introduce him to Descriptive by letting him know when Notating in Descriptive we divide the Board into 'King side' and 'Queen side' etc. I will then Talk about the Central Squares and the importance. The best places to position the pieces. How to develop the Pieces etc. Then I take him through an Instructional Game where he can Learn how the game is played. Here you can intoduce an Opening. I usually introduce King Pawn Opening Like Ruy Lopez or Guico Piano. I use the Book: Logical Chess Move By Move...Every Move Explained. By the time you are finished with this he will be well on his way to playing Chess. I keep it Simple.
1.Teach chess moves.
2.Teach how to set up board.
3.Teach complicated rules.
4.Teach tatics.
At least that's how I learned it. :P
Teach them the basics first.
Teach them the basics first. Chess is a Battle, So I will introduce him to the battle, starting with a brief history of the game, then I will follow that with the Battle Field: 64 Squared Board. Then the Objective of the game...: To Capture the King, Then I will introduce the pieces, How they move followed by their value...Q 9 R5 B3 etc. Then I will show him how the board is set up. "White square to the right" Show the Board positioned properly. Then I will identify the Identity of the Squares...( From White side...'a' to 'h' starting from left to right Filess and then '1 to 8' Ranks, starting from the White side. I will Then Talk about the Language of Chess...: 'Algebric' and 'Descriptive' After this we identify the name of each Square: a1 to a8 etc.Then Show him how to set up the Board and How we determine where the Queen and King stands and then the other pieces and then the 8 pawns. Teach him next the Symbols of the pieces eg. 'K' for King 'Q' for Queen, 'B' for Bishop 'N' for Knight ( using N because the King is already K) etc. I will introduce him to Descriptive by letting him know when Notating in Descriptive we divide the Board into 'King side' and 'Queen side' etc. I will then Talk about the Central Squares and the importance. The best places to position the pieces. How to develop the Pieces etc. Then I take him through an Instructional Game where he can Learn how the game is played. Here you can intoduce an Opening. I usually introduce King Pawn Opening Like Ruy Lopez or Guico Piano. I use the Book: Logical Chess Move By Move...Every Move Explained. By the time you are finished with this he will be well on his way to playing Chess. I keep it Simple.
One thing I've found helpful when teaching beginners (regardless of age) is to teach them how to win. After you show them how the pieces move, give them an almost empty board where they have enough material to checkmate you while you play the Naked King Defence. Let them checkmate you. As Yogi Berra said,"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there."
My 2 1/2 year old grandson learned how to move the pieces. He loved the horseys how they jumped.
MY 2 1/2 year old grandson moves the horsey to Nf3.
Notice that he moved the other horsey twice to NC3 and NB5.
KAI & I ARE PLAYING A REAL GAME he is screaming "ATTACK!"
The best thing to do is have fun!
I agree with JimbobJones, yyoochess, and pianoknight: +1 for Chess is Child's Play. After having read / worked through that book and having watched a dozen or so self proclaimed chess playing 10 year-olds play chess I'm convinced the approach it outlines is probably the only good way to get a kid started in the game.
The approach seems to be guiding the kids to knowing how to use the pieces, not just how to move them. There's a lot of focus on what the authors call mini-games. These mini-games are essentially drills that can be run repeatedly and you can always learn something new. The book is meant to help even non-chess playing parents coach their little ones from as early as 4 years-old. They start with the castle then bishop, queen, king, knight, pawn, and finally how to set up the board and play a first game. The goal of the first game is for both players to have fun and not make illegal moves. Not a bad goal really.
If instead you want to bore the hell out of anyone under (and probably over ) 40 and kill any interest in playing the game for fun, then by all means start with the history of chess, how all the pieces are initially set up, and then take 5 minutes to tell them how all the pieces move. Oh and then by all means go into a long-winded explanation about why Na3 (or whatever legal move they make) is a bad move because it doesn't "support the center".
My dad taught me how to play chess when I was about 6. He just showed me how the pieces moved and we started playing a regular game. At first I would try to make illegal moves but I pretty quickly learned how each piece moves. I had trouble learning the knights (the weird diagonal threw me off) until my dad explained it as "two forward, one sideways" or "one forward, two sideways". We played normal games, and sometimes if I made a really terrible move my dad would ask, "Are you sure you want to move there?" and give me a chance to search for why I might not actually want to do that and if I spotted the threat and changed my mind he would let me take the move back and try a different one. Otherwise it was just regular old chess and I lost a lot, but I was playing with my dad so it was really a win either way. 
Also: knowing the point values of the pieces helped me make decisions about which were more important to protect (generally speaking), etc.
While I lost many times to my dad I was fine with it because I knew he was playing to win, and when I finally did win I knew it was because I had outplayed him, not because he had let me win, and I really appreciated that. That being said, he played a very defensive game (which is his tendency, but I think he played extra defensively when I was first learning) which allowed me to mount some attacks before he outmaneuvered me: he didn't just crush me from the outset like he could have.
Finally, I'd say don't explain castling until you reach a point in the game where it is advantageous and it makes sense to do so, then explain it. If it's a good move for him then he'll be delighted. If it would benefit you, maybe explain that you could make that move and how it works, but don't actually do it that time, as it could seem sneaky since he didn't know about it beforehand.
Teach Rook and King moves. Then teach two Rook checkmate. Very quickly they win. The concepts of limiting the K's space for the checkmate and the purpose of the game are there. Then the other moves. Set up pawns in a pattern where the B and Q capture. Then add pawns of the same color to block the piece's scope. The N gets its array of target pawns with 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 pawn targets. Incidentally the instructor is pointing out where each piece can reach the most squares. Not so subtly, the instructor is teaching the importance of the center. Teach the pawns. Expect some confusion on the blockaded pawn not being able to go forward except to capture diagonally and not being able to move diagonally to a square. Play some games. Then teach pins and Knight forks. Play some games. Then Q checkmates and skewers. Then play. Then other forks and discovered threats. Some more play. The instructor may "move into" tactical puzzles during the games. Now you are praising every find.
I have to commend the chess.com team for what they've done with chesskid.com. My 6-year-old has taken an interest in the game, and I have him set up there; he just loves it. It can be highly cringe-inducing to watch the strategic choices he is making, but I am just letting him explore and play with the puzzles (AKA tactics) -- I hope for it to remain fun, rather than a lesson every time he gets near a board.
don't try to teach him to much at once give him time to understand what he is learning
My father taught me to play chess one weekend when I was a kid. He kept it simple and only included the "basic" rules.
A few weeks later, my uncle comes over and learns that I play chess, so we have a game. A few moves in, I see him move his rook and king at the same time. What!?!? He explains this is a "special " rule called castling. I try to do it later and am told I can't for rules that seem pretty arbitrary and made up to me.
A while later in the same game, I see him capture a pawn by moving behind it. What!?!? He explains this is a "special" rule called en passant. I am also told that when I want to do it, it would be illegal.
My uncle won the game. But when my dad came home I told him that my uncle cheats!
(I don't think I ever beat either one of them, even after I learned all the rules).
Have patience... Patience... And patience, then your good to go.