I am looking for an advice (especially from chess parents). My son is in kindergarden and he recently started to play chess. He is taking lessons ( once a week) in the afterschool program.
He learned notation to some extent, can solve very simple mate in one puzzles, most important he is very happy to play.
Until now, he never played in any tournaments.
So my question “What time is the right time?” Should I wait to enroll him until 1st grade, or the earlier is the better? Is there any way to prepare him psychologically and here I mean, I am sure he is going to loose many games if not all. It can be a blow and discourage him from playing alltogether.
My daughter is five and learning chess. My requirements for her to play in a rated tournament are she has to be at least 4/5 of these goals before she can play in a rated tournament.
Knows the correct moves of all the pieces. (no horsey moving wrong here)
Can mate with K+R vs K and K+Q vs K endgames
Has a general knowledge of how to go about winning a game and not just moving pieces at random and calling checks. (I know lots of kids that have never one a game in which the opponent didn’t resign… ie they can’t achieve mate purposefully.)
Can write notation. (at least knows it) (this is the one I will let slide if she is still young and can’t write well enough to keep notation but has mastered the other 4)
She actually wants to play in a tournament. (This one is absolutely required. No Daddy dragging daughter to tournaments.)
Based on these rules, about 2/3 of the players in current k-3 tournaments I’ve directed across the country (including nationals) wouldn’t pass the test.
You also need to be aware of the types of events in your area, because you want to find one with either age-appropriate or skill-level-appropriate opponents, if not both.
If they’re held that frequently, maybe you could take your daughter to observe one for an hour or so, then enter her in the next one if she seems interested.
If she has some friends who also play chess, you could try running a mock tournament at home.
Also, as a chess mom with two kids who have played in K-1 sections, there are differences between K-1 sections. Here in NYC, there are at least 8 (maybe 10) different tournaments (organized by different programs) with K-1 sections. Some of them are more competitive (both in the sense of stronger players and in the sense of more intense parents) and some are less. One tournament even offers an unrated “no score” section where the kids play four games of chess but no one announces how many points the kids have and each kid receives the same sized “participant” trophy. It also depends on your child. Others are rated and scored but each kid gets a trophy which makes them happy, even if they finished with 1/2 point. Others only give trophies for the top quarter and ribbons to everyone else. It also depends on your kid. I have one who started playing in tournaments only after she had been taking lessons for a year. She won her first 3 games in a novice section and then proceeded to cry for a half hour after losing her 4th and final game. But she begged us to take her to the next tournament. My other child started playing in tournaments in kindergarten long before she knew how to move all the pieces but has never cared about whether she wins or loses and is slowly learning to play chess. For her, going to tournaments is as much a social experience as anything else.
The tournaments with the “No Score” sections are run by NYChessKids at P.S. 116 and other schools. Here is the web site. nychesskids.com/ Click on tournaments and you’ll see the dates of the upcoming tournaments. I think there is one on April 26th. Hunter and P.S. 6 have unrated K-1 sections but they do keep score and I don’t think everyone gets a trophy. Columbia Grammar has a separate Kindergarten section. Everyone gets a trophy but it is scored and rated. I would go with the “No Score” section and see if he likes it. Keep expectations low. For us, it took us a few years and 3 chess teachers to figure out the obvious proposition that every time your kid moves up a section (i.e. from “no score” to novice K-1 and then from novice K-1 to either novice 2-3 or to reserve), s/he shouldn’t expect to win too many games. Good luck!
I still remember when the younger brother of one of my top students won a game with K against Q+K. You read correctly: the lone king won when his opponent got frustrated and resigned!?!? As the kindergartner explained later, he kept chasing the enemy queen until it ran out of moves, sort of like this: 1. Qh5 Kg7 2. Qh4 Kg6 3. Qh3 Kg5 4. Qh2 Kg4 5. Qh1 Kg3 0-1 The younger brother did know how to checkmate with Q+K, but his opponent obviously did not.
Several TDs have told me later that the proper result of this game should have been 1/2-1/2 because black did not have sufficient material to checkmate.
The word “resign” was likely not in the kindergartner’s vocabulary. The player ran away from the board in tears and was dragged back to the board by a TD or helper. I don’t know what was said at that point; the bottom line is the opponent refused to continue playing and the TD or helper decided that she had “resigned”. They didn’t wait 20 minutes or whatever until her time expired.
To put the question in a different way: If Player A states that he or she has no interest in continuing the game while Player B has insufficient material to checkmate (lone king), what should happen? (I doubt this happens often!) If we wait until Player A’s clock runs out, then it is a draw. But if the TD determines that Player A “resigned” by stating his desire not to continue, then it is a win.
and the subsequent statement that a TD should have ruled the game a draw based on insufficient material. That would be true if the TD was asked to make a ruling, such as a time forfeiture claim, but a resignation does not require a ruling by the TD.
You put the most important criterion last. Even if they know checkmate and notation and how the horsey moves, they’ve got to want to go.
Some want to go at that age. Some are perfectly happy to play chess in a less structured environment for a year or two more, yet. That’s fine. We had one of each at our house.
If they never been to the tournament to begin with, how would you expect them to want or not want to go there?
For the kids K-1 age parent is going to make this decision initially. Then if they like it they will want to come again.
The same 5-year-old got his first “bite” of reality 6 months ago at the swimming contest.
He had two tries and came 6/6 in the first one and 4/6 in the second one. It was one of those “everybody got some reward contests”, still I have never seen him that upset as on that day and needless to say the next contest last month was safely skipped.
With the regards to chess the more I think about it, the more I tend to wait another 5-6 months before letting him to compete.
In the case of my older daughter, she had a friend in first grade whose older brother was a serious chess player. She convinced my daughter to go with her to her first tournament. After that, it was my daughter begging us to let her go to more tournaments. She literally cried for two hours when she was diagnosed with strep throat on the day of the next tournament and couldn’t go. But it is really kid specific. Your story about the swim meet tends to make me think that waiting is the right thing. On the other hand, my younger daughter is the type of kid who skips out of the playing room with a smile on her face whether she wins or loses so we felt more comfortable having her play in tournaments at a younger age.
Time for a story. I’m at Monday morning chess club with my six-year-old kindergardener. The leader, a more experienced chess mom, says to everyone “there’s an unrated tournament this saturday. If you’re interested in going, have your parents call me, and I’ll let them know if you’re ready.” My daughter tells me she wants to go. I ask one of the other leaders if she’s ready. He says, “No. She’s way too young for tournaments.”
My daughter hears this, and whispers to me “Mom, I want to go.” So I ask the chess mom/leader, and she says “sure, she can go.”
We went. After one of the middle rounds, she comes out and says “I played this big kid who said he’s in third grade and his rating is 600. But I won anyway.” Hmm…this was a K-1 section. BS over the board starts at an early age, I guess.
She won three games and got a medal, and was hooked.
Some kids just know they want to compete. By then my daughter had been playing AYSO soccer for a year, so she knew about playing, winning and losing.
If they’re in a school club, they’ll hear about the experience from the other kids, or they’ll want to go with a friend who’s going.
Some kids go for the intimidation factor by telling their opponent they’re older then they actually are. I’ve gotten complaints from kids who say their opponent said they’re in fifth grade in a k-3. It’s always a lie. Somebody who is trying to sneak into a section they’re not eligible for isn’t going to boast about it.
I decided to re-visit this thread, as the 5-year-old turned 6 and actually played his first tournament over the past weekend. His score is 1.5/4, which is actually more than I expected. I cared less about the score, but 0/4 would be devastating and would likely had affected his motivation in a very negative way.
With 1.5/4 and him being so happy about his single win, we already started to discuss next tournament.
I had mixed feelings enrolling him in the tournament, but I guess the “risk” paid off.
Re KRvK: it is hard to talk about zugzwang with a kindergarten tyke.
This may be a good place to start…
White: Kf7, Rg6
Black: Kh7
White to play
Observation 1: kids will often obligated to “do something” in this position when doing nothing wins.
Observation 2: think how confusing you find certain zugzwang-dependent pawn endings (well, I still find them confusing!) I think this position can be just as confusing to the absolute (and not-so-absolute) beginner.
Suggested teaching technique:
Imagine changing the rules of chess so that “pass” becomes an option:
