All this advice from last year has come in handy for our 5 year old who has suddenly taken an interest in chess. Here's what I what I would have told myself last year if I'd known what I know now:
1. It's good to have a book - the Murray Chandler Chess for Childrenbook mentioned above looks excellent, but the one I've got (called Chess is Child's Play) has been just right for us. There arelittle 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.
2. I was amazed how quickly he picked things up - I thought we'd be learning about the different pieces, check, checkmate etcfor maybe a week before we played a proper game, but it was more like 1-2 days, if that.
3. There's an app called Dinosaur Chess, which cost all of 70p($1) on my Nexus,and has been really good at reinforcing what he's learnt from me. It's got lessons, drills and games where the computer is handicapped by having fewer pieces.
4. He's got his nine year old cousin interested, and despite the age gap, they are roughly the same level and this has been good practice for the pair of them.
5. He sure doesn't like losing though. I've been trying to get him to shake hands and tell his cousin "good game" when he's lost. But he doesn't like it at all. Oh well, he's only five.
6..The only rule I've not really bothered with is en passant (although Dinosaur Chess does talk aboutit, er, in passing). Everything else, including under promotion, he knows about.
7. Praise, encouragement and positive reinforcement work wonders.
