Why you should teach her to play chess
An afternoon not too long ago, my daughter went into our games cupboard and dug out a checkers board and a box of old chess pieces and said to me, “Let’s play.” I was truly dumbfounded at that moment as I had never taught her to play as it wasn’t a game you can simply pick up like Snakes and Ladders. Curious, I indulged her and replied, “Ok, set up the board.” Little did she know that I used to play chess competitively. Little did I know that she has been taught the ways of the game through an after-school program. When the board was fully populated, I noticed that she had oriented the board correctly and placed the queens on their respective colors. I was pleasantly surprised and looked forward to further revelations in the impending duel. Then her opening move of a rook’s pawn gave her away. This was confirmed by the subsequent opening of the other rook’s pawn. Clearly she was going for symmetry. Clearly laying waste to her army and slaughtering the royal couple will win me no trophies and forever ruin her game. I was gentle and our first game ended in less than ten minutes. But that was the first of many short games we would play and she enjoys it still.
In every game, I allow her unlimited time to consider two things before every move: what does she want to do (not where does she want to go) and what’s at risk? I also allow her to take back a move because she’s calculated a better outcome. This allows her to keep thinking of better moves and not be penalized for trial and error as she learns. In many ways, chess has huge similarities to life and is a fantastic rehearsal for it. Consider just three parallels:
Chess has huge similarities to life and is a fantastic rehearsal for it. Among them, it teaches about choices, trade-offs and planning.
- Like chess, like life. We all start the same way. Even the first two or three moves can be predicted with great certainty. But what follows is a rapid and chaotic spiral to madness and mayhem of moves and countermoves. With millions of possible moves and trillions of possible pathways to only three outcomes (checkmate, resign or draw), the simple 64 square playing board is truly representative of the complexity of life choices! The lesson here isn’t to bask in the luxury of choice (too much is not good) and be subsequently lost in the eternity of outcomes. The lesson here is to help the player focus on the few and necessary decisions that will drive the highest outcome. Holding the entire game in your mind is too complicated and superfluous; it’s also gratuitous and next to impossible for a child. Help her to eliminate the noise so she learns to focus.
- There are trade-offs. My daughter likes to go on a war path and collect as many pieces as possible (kind of like Checkers). But when she exposed a knight in favor of taking my pawn, I told her to back up and consider if it was worth giving up one of only two knights to collect a piece of cannon fodder. She reflected and unwound her move. Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices and sometimes you have to make a trade. If it’s the latter, make sure good value is coming to you for what you’re giving up.
- Plan at least two moves ahead. I verbalize my attack plan to my daughter as we play. She sees my attack unfold as she counters in defense, unknowingly putting herself at risk from a new and diagonal attack vector by a piece from the other end of the board. I let her uncover my strategy on her own so she sees that sometimes the initial moves are a diversion to what is being planned. In life, getting what you want requires effort on multiple fronts that are coordinated to the right timing.
There’s a lot going on and we keep our games simple and short. Once she learns a new concept we play to extinction and put the board away and then do something else. This way, she’s not intellectually inundated as her brain will have time to process the game. She finds this way of play to be engaging, untiring and constantly evolving. It’s a nice balance of intensity and rest and it keeps things fresh. She’s getting good. One day, she’ll be formidable.