Chess is one of the games that have been in existence for decades. This game has its origin in India over 1500 years ago. Following the invention, the game changed slightly after the advent of the queen in the 15th century. This made the game enjoyable by applying a checkmate at both ends. Thus, it is important to teach your kids the chess rules for kids.
In all games, the ultimate goal is to win, and this method applies to the chess game. The only difference is that you are trapping your opponent’s king for a checkmate. Meanwhile, the term checkmate is an alteration of the Persian phrase, which implies that the king is ambushed.
However, while the game is suitable for adult-play, likewise, it’s also useful for children. This is because it boosts their knowledge, makes them smart, and be quick in making decisions. At the same time, it fosters arithmetic skills and calculations, most especially the mathematics concept and multiplication.
As a parent, many of us would love to think about our children’s life achievement right from childhood. How do you think this process can be successful? Well, the most important thing is your mission and how you want your child to be successful. Remember, chess is a fair game, and it does have a lot of benefits.
In this article, we will walk you through the benefits of a chess game for your children. Not only that, but you’ll understand the chess rules for kids. This will help them play the game with the right moves and surprise their opponents with a simple checkmate. Read further to get the detailed facts about this game.
Amazing benefits Of Chess To Kids
Learning how to play chess at an early age is one of the significant factors to evaluate your child’s intelligence. It is a board game that requires several tactics to emerge as a winner. When you teach your child how to apply the method, they have a better winning chance. Check out these fantastic benefits.
- Chess Builds Intelligence – When it comes to the chess game, building IQ is one of the essential benefits. Besides, a search disclosed that over 3000 Venezuelan students showed different IQ scores after a few months of chess instructions.
- Increases Problem Solving Skills – The chess game also encourages problem-solving skills. Every day we face obstacles, and chess is one way to practice how these obstacles are being dealt with. It also gives your child the confidence to play through and win the game.
- Improves Child’s Memory – It’s definitely true that the chess game enhances the child’s memory in several ways. This happens when the child remember how to place a move to win the game. Understanding and mastering tips and tricks are some of the things that boost the child’s memory.
- Increases Creativity – Chess game measures creative thinking in your child. It allows the children to learn how to do things in different ways that suit them. While doing this, they may decide to check or track their progress and see if three’s any improvement.
- Planning and Foresight – Chess also teaches planning and foresight. More so, it ensures that the children can handle obstacles in a creative way. If you play the chess game with your kids, you can even teach them how to sight several moves from afar.
- Improves Reading and Readiness Skills – As said earlier, playing chess game requires planning. It also improves reading skills. That way, the chess game is a vital board game that improves reading performance with an outstanding result in the long run.
- Dendrites Growths – Dendrites are known as the tree-like branches that transfer signals from the neural cells to the neutrons. Here, you can think of the dendrites as an antenna. This means that the more antennas you get, the more you’re able to grab the strategy in place.
- Reduces Fear – Another benefit of the chess game is that it reduces fear and tension. On the flip side, it increases the sense of calmness and keeps any panic attack from progressing. For this reason, you’ll help your child to achieve his/her life goals through the use of a chessboard game.
7 Chess Rules For Kids
Studies show that many rules are guiding the chess game. Here, we will limit our practices to the best 7, mainly used while playing the game. Of course, you can capture the moment and teach your children how to play the game as well. Let’s take a look at the top 7 chess rules for kids.
1. Position Setup
The position setup is one of the first things to consider. In a chess game, the board is made up of eight rows and columns. This comprises a total of 64 square of alternating colors for each opponent. The vertical files are labeled with h, while the horizontal ranks are labeled with numbers.
Meanwhile, when your kid starts to play the game, you can set it up for the first time. However, place the light queen on a light square and, similarly, the dark queen on the dark square. After this process, you can now proceed to the next phase, which is the chess moves.
2. Identifying Chess Moves
This aspect involves a series of tips and tactics to get the desired result. There are many moves, as stated by professional players, but for kids, they are limited to a few. Below are the best activities to teach and engage your kids while playing the chess game.
- King’s Moves – The king can only move once in this board game. More so, they move exactly one square diagonally, vertically, or even horizontally. The unusual move that the king can do is known as castling, made once in the game.
- Queen’s Move – The queen is one of the most influential players in this game. This is because it can move in any angling, diagonal, horizontal, and vertical. Besides, the queen can move in more than one square at a time.
- Rook’s Move – The rook can move with the king while castling. On the other hand, the rook can only move horizontally or in a vertical format. If the children use the rook well, it may improve their chance of winning the game.
- Bishop’s Move – The bishop’s move is quite impressive. They only move in a diagonal direction through any vacant squares. There are two bishops in the game, and both are colored in white and black. This means the one for opponent A and opponent B.
- Knight’s Move – Knight can only move in a format that is mostly represented and seen in L format. They are capable of moving in any direction along with any rank at an angle. This angle can also be termed as a horizontal or vertical angle.
- Pawn’s Move – At the start of the game, the pawn can move twice if the square is not occupied. Also, you can use them to capture an enemy, but the only disadvantage is that the pawns cannot move backward. They can only be replaced backward if you want to eliminate the enemy.
3. Castling Method
While playing the chess game, you can only castle once. It involves the process whereby one piece moves during a turn to speed up the game. Using this rule can encourage your children to win the game and play like a professional. Here, the king moves two squares towards the rook.
4. Pawn Elevation
This process is also known as the pawn promotion method. When the pawn reaches the opponent’s edge, it can be elevated or promoted. This means that you can have more than seven queen, rooks, knights, and more. Remember that this is only applicable if the pawns are promoted. Therefore, to elevate your pawn, you need to play the game with many tactics.
5. En Passant Rules
The En Passant Rules means passing in the French language. It entails moving the pawn two squares on the first move. If the pawn land on any opponent’s pawns, your opponent pawn can capture your pawn. This will make your opponent lead you after capturing your pawn in his next move.
6. Check and Checkmate
The check implies that your king is on target by your opponent, and there’s a place to jump into. On the flip side, the checkmate means the game is over. This method appears when your opponent has already captured your king, and there’s no option to navigate to in the square. Meanwhile, many players would want to end the game with a simple checkmate.
7. First Chess Move
Unlike other games that require choosing the first player, chess is quite different. While playing the chess game, teach your child to understand that the player with the white pieces moves first. Therefore, it is the players that’d decide on the person to go first by flipping a coin.
Conclusion
Playing the chess game for the first time may be quite challenging for the kids. That way, teach them the rules with an easy step and explain different tactics to win. Finally, embrace the chess rules for kids listed above for better understanding and improvement.