Talking about “Chess for Children” before we talk about “Chess For Parents” might be like putting the cart before the horse. First things first! Whether your children are playing chess at school, in a chess club for kids or just after school with their buddies, you will be talking about chess with them. You need to understand what they’re talking about. Hopefully, you will be playing a game or two with them as well. If you don’t know how to play chess, you should remedy the situation immediately if not sooner.

It won’t be long until your kids are beating you in chess, but let’s delay that inevitable outcome as long as we can. Most parents whose children want to play chess have little or no experience. Even the parents of Sergey Korjakin from Ukraine, the youngest Grandmaster in the world, did not play chess when their son began his incredible ascent to the elite ranks of world chess players.

There are many reasons why parents should learn to play chess if their kids are participating in a “Chess for Children” program. Learning to play chess will:

1. Bring the family closer together by having a common interest.
2. Allow you to speak with your child with knowledge about a subject he loves.
3. Provide opportunities to spend quality time with your child practicing and studying the game.
4. Make your child look forward to coming home and spending time with you.
5. Earn your child’s respect, if not for your chess ability, then for your desire to learn the game.
6. Enable you to follow your child’s progress and understand the challenges he or she faces.

Let’s say you are a parent who has decided to study chess for any or all of the reasons above. How can you begin? Here are just a few ideas:

1. If you haven’t already, buy a chess board and pieces and set them up in a prominent place in the house.
2. Find out what materials your child is using and study them.
3. Augment his program with a good beginner book of your own or on-line, interactive chess course.
4. Once you have the basics, buy a good chess computer game .(The Phantom Force Electronic Chess game would be an excellent choice.)
5. Get experience playing games both on your electronic chess game and on-line.
6. Play your child as much as you can.
7. Keep a record of your games and analyze them together.

The idea isn’t to learn to beat your child in a game of chess. The idea is to bring your family closer together, to learn and grow together. Chess provides the perfect medium to accomplish just that. Just as chess will teach your child to think critically, to analyze a situation and weigh choices before making a decision, it will do the same for you. Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

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