Chess for Kids: Fun with Benefits!
We have never come across a primary school that started chess and had to give up because the students lost interest.
Something about this game really appeals to children of the 7-12 age-group – and we mean, almost all children. Not just the ‘brainy’ ones or the ‘non-sporty’ ones – and not just the boys! Chess offers children power. When you play a game, you (and only you) decide where to move your pieces. It’s not dependent on the throw of a dice, and it doesn’t matter if your opponent is bigger than you. You both start with an exactly equal army, and it’s up to you to manoeuvre your forces skilfully. It’s complicated enough to provide a challenge to the highest human intelligence, but not too complicated for the basics to be mastered by the average child of seven. And it can be played with cheap equipment, in small spaces, on rainy days…what’s not to like?
From the perspective of parents and educational authorities, chess offers many surprising benefits. As well as the obvious training in concentration and strategic thinking, chess is a wonderful resource to practise emotional intelligence. Because the game is so much fun, children will persist with it, will keep trying, will learn from previous mistakes, will analyse where they went wrong. An encouraging adult will nurture these tremendous life skills, but they arise from the child’s natural desire to improve at a game they love. So give chess a go in your home, school or youth service…you don’t need to be an expert yourself to introduce chess to children, and you’ll earn their lifelong gratitude!
Fun Ways to Get Kids into Chess
For Parents:
- Teach yourself and your kids through chess minigames. These are an easy, fun way to learn the basics of chess. Go to www.movesforlife.ie and click on Chess 4 Fun to find out how!
- Make a chess set together from junk materials. See a lovely origami set on the Moves for Life homepage.
- If you and your children already know how to play, why not join a free online chess platform such as Lichess? (www.lichess.org) Don’t forget to ‘Enable Kid Mode’ if you are signing up a child, to keep them completely safe on the Internet. Lichess has lessons and puzzles as well as thousands of online opponents ready to play at the click of a button, 24 hours a day. Warning: online chess can be addictive!
- If you’ve already watched The Queen’s Gambit, try The Queen of Katwe for a wonderful true story of how chess transformed the lives of shanty-town children in Uganda.
- Ask your children’s school to get involved in chess. There are courses for teachers running in the education centres, online competitions and lots of support available. Email [email protected] to find out more.
For Teachers:
- Sign up at your local education centre for teacher courses in chess. Email us at [email protected] for details.
- Ask your principal to buy a couple of chess sets for each classroom. Great for rainy breaks!
- Register your school on Chessossity (www.chessossity.com) for a wealth of chess teaching and learning resources.
- Encourage your players to practise online by joining Lichess or chesskid.com.
- Above all, give chess a go in your school, at whatever level, and you’ll find that chess is huge fun and can benefit every child!
The Benefits
Chess help foster key skills. See The Role of Chess in the 21st Century Economy
FIDE's Chess in Education Commission write:
- Educational chess (chess is the tool for educational development) is different from Sport chess (educational environment is the tool for chess development) https://edu.fide.com/educational-chess-vs-sport-chess.
- Educational chess can be a curriculum subject or a transversal and interdisciplinary tool, with chess integrated in other subjects.
- Chess is also suitable for children aged 2-6 to promote social and simple logic skills (eys.fide.com). We favour instruction by qualified education professionals over chess tutors.
Cúchulainn played chess
"Irish mythology tells us that Na Fianna, the ancient Irish warrior band, recognised the benefits of chess; when training young men to join their band the youths would spend one third of their day playing hurling, one third of their day learning poetry and one third at chess." President Michael D Higgins, ICU Patron. https://president.ie/en/media-library/speeches/speech-at-the-glorney-gilbert-international-chess-tournament