4 ms·
I think the key to teaching chess is to gasp deliberately lose to the kid a few times. In my experience at the age of 5 I lost (in my recollection) about five
by jonbarker 9y ago
I think the key to teaching chess is to gasp deliberately lose to the kid a few times. In my experience at the age of 5 I lost (in my recollection) about five times in a row and then lost interest, only to regain interest in my 30s. Not sour grapes at all, just food for thought.
- ideonexus 9y agoI find this very important. I will find ways to turn competitive games into cooperative games just to keep my sons' interested in them. It works wondefully, and the increased engagement has a great payoff in seeing them get better at the games.
- jonbarker 9y agoIn Go we have 'pair go' where each side is a team conferring on the next best move. 'Pair chess' might encourage kids similarly.
- dorkwood 9y agoI had the opposite experience as a kid. I'd lose to my father in Scrabble over and over, but I'd continue to play against him anyway. I think I just enjoyed playing a game that was meant for adults. As I got older, I started to win more and more, but for the first year or two I don't remember winning at all (although it's entirely possible I'm not remembering things correctly). Still, I like to think losing at games as a child taught me to be focused less on the act of winning and more on the act of playing the game. It's a quality that very few people appear to have, even as adults.