Learning to play chess is one of the most rewarding things a child can discover.  Chess is fun and exciting, offering wonderful opportunities to grow a child's self respect and build valuable social skills. Encouraging kids to study the game of chess is a great move you can make as a parent. Kids that are mentally gifted as well as children with lesser abilities and those that struggle in school will all benefit from the challenging game.
Chess levels the playing field and allows every child an opportunity to succeed. With encouragement from parents and coaches, children will catch the spirit and eagerly embrace this game, desiring to excel and looking forward to chess competitions.
Chess will not only help a child in school, it will help them in life! As a child learns and studies chess, he or she will be exercising and creating disciplines of the mind while expanding mathematical and calculative abilities. The child will also be learning patience, planning, consequences, balance of time, resources and other essential life skills.
Chess is Fun!Let's not forget though, chess is fun!! Kids have a blast playing their friends, siblings, and schoolmates. Experience your first chess tournament and you will see that chess teaches a lot, and is a great opportunity for children to socialize, compete, and challenge themselves.
How to Learn ChessSome children love to read and are very easy to teach. You just hand them a book, and let them absorb it. In most cases however, kids are visual, have a short attention span, and need to be encouraged. It's best to select materials that are not overwhelming, that will be visually appealing, and at a suitable level - especially if you will be letting your child learn on their own.
If you have a quality teacher or chess coach in your area, you may want to take advantage of this, but there's every reason to learn at home, with the great tools available.
Get a basic, but good quality regulation plastic chess set. This will be useful whether you only play at home, or if you are part of a class or club.
Next, choose a combination of DVD instruction, books, and software as you see fit for your child's needs and learning style.
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How to Start Kids in Chess
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Home Chess Learning Kit
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Encourage your child to discover more potential with encouraging, friendly, no nonsense, life-skills based chess teaching, that even 5 years olds can follow. The "Kit" enables parents who want to invest in their child's future, to spend their resources wisely on smart, painstakingly developed chess learning material, that invests in the much needed minds of our young generation.
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Elliott's Chess School
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The most enjoyable, easy-to-follow, carefully paced chess learning on DVD. Ideal for the whole family
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Sets and Equipment
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Here are the chess sets and equipment most suitable for young chess players.
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Books for Kids
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For kids aged 6 to 12 we recommend three basic and inexpensive chess books: 1) Chess Rules for Students, 2) Checkmate Ideas for Students, and 3) Chess Tactics for Students. The first one explains all the rules and chess notation, the second delves into checkmating patterns, and the third explains and challenges with important chess tactics.
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Chess Software
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For young kids ages 4 and up, the Fritz and Chesster software teaches chess in a fun way. For kids that are 7 or older and showing a serious interest in chess, the TASC Chess Tutorial (see video), lacks the snazz, but offers a lot more extensive value, with over 2600 interactive positions, introductions to each concept, testing by making the correct move in a position, and scoring. It is a smart investment.
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Electronic Chess Sets
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A chess computer gives your child "someone" to play when you're just too busy with the housework. It always knows legal moves too, so kids will always learn correct, legal moves. It's a good way to practice what they've already learned, and any computer can play at multiple levels to grow with their experience level.
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