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Let Your Child Teach You Chess!

posted February 24, 2014
Written by Laura Sherman of YourChessCoach.com

Many children learn to play chess at home. You, the parent, teach them how to move their chess pieces, set up the chess board and begin play. Depending on your skill level these lessons may be rudimentary, but know they are invaluable. You have started him down an exciting path. Inevitably he will venture off and play others in school or perhaps even take lessons. As this happens expect him to come home one day and beat you. As he continues to learn and expand his knowledge those victories may become commonplace.

How you handle these losses will determine your child’s future in chess.

If you are upset in any way your child will probably give up playing chess rather than risk hurting you again. Count on that. If you are elated and proud, you will give him the greatest win of his life. Just try to stop him now!

When your child is trouncing you consistently, that is the time to allow him to teach you something about the game. Yes, it may involve swallowing your pride a little to allow your cute little 9-year-old child to show you the ropes of this ancient game, but you will actually be continuing his instruction in the best way possible. And he will in fact be able to help you improve your game.

When anyone is given the opportunity to teach someone else a skill, their ability improves in that area. Teaching is a powerful way to learn. Breaking down a subject so that someone else can grasp it involves a challenging process that brings about a greater understanding for the teacher. It is truly a way to master a subject.

As a chess instructor, I’ve come to discover that many parents have a limited knowledge of chess: some parents were taught by their parents to play chess, while others learned from a two-page instructional sheet they got from a recently purchased chess set. Needless to say there are some misconceptions and missing information, which, if not corrected, could be passed down to younger generations learning chess. For example:

  1. You can capture the king. NO! You never take the king off the board. Checkmate is the only way to win (unless your opponent gives up). Checkmate simply means the king is in danger and can’t get out of it by any means.
  2. A pawn can only be promoted to a piece that has been captured. NO! You can promote a pawn into anything but a king. You may have multiple queens on the board! Some chess sets provide you with two queens, but if yours doesn’t simply flip a captured rook over and voila you have a queen.

Congratulations on having a brilliant chess champ in your family! Their victories on the board will translate into life wins, which will carry forward into adulthood. Remember your child’s victories are in fact yours.

Editor's Note: Wholesale Chess offers a number of chess sets perfect for beginning chess players, many of which include two queens and a missing piece replacement guarantee.

This article was written by Chess Instructor Laura Sherman, of YourChessCoach.com. Your Chess Coach is devoted to teaching chess to children of all ages, giving them the many life skills that the game offers. You can learn more about Laura at YourChessCoach.com.

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How To Improve Your Chess Game

posted December 2, 2013

Improving Your Game

Chess is a huge, vast, complex, massive game - big enough that you should never get bored with it! To get better you need to do 3 things: play chess, study chess, and get involved in chess. People who get burned out on chess are probably not doing all of these things!

Play Chess

In order to improve at chess you will need to play lots and lots of chess. This means winning games, and losing games. Just remember that you are never losing when you are learning! Learn something from every win and every loss. And never be a poor sport! There are lots of places to play chess. You can play at your local club, online, through email, through regular mail, with friends and family - there is never any excuse not to play!

Study Chess

Along with playing chess, you need to study if you want to get better. First you need to make sure you know all of the rules. Then you should learn the basic principles of the game such as controlling the center, developing your pieces, attacking and defending pieces, piece values, etc. After that you should learn more about tactics and strategies. Don't start studying openings at all until you fully understand all of the elementary tactics and strategies! You will be wasting your time. Learn to play sound and solid chess. Don't get caught up in trying to get cheap-o wins with opening traps. Once you understand tactics and strategies, start learning some opening systems and endgames as well. Make sure you study master and grandmaster games so that you can learn what the best players are thinking and doing when they play! Also, it is a good idea to study with a friend. You might also consider getting a private chess coach at some point to accelerate your learning. Most important, find a good chess book for studying the basics and great games of the masters!

Get Involved In Chess

If all you do with chess is play online and read books by yourself you are bound to lose interest at some point. Get involved! Teach a friend. Go to your local club. Play in over-the-board tournaments. Teach chess at a school. Get involved somehow and you will see that chess is more than a game - it is a great community as well!

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Wholesale Chess is home to one of the best selections of chess sets on the web! We offer many differenty styles and types to choose from including club chess sets, tournament chess sets, and even electronic chess sets! Every set comes with the right pieces and board to fit your needs and many come in a variety of fun colors! Find your personal chess set right here at Wholesale Chess.

More than Just Chess Sets

Sure, our strength lies in chess sets, chess pieces, and other chess supplies . . . but Wholesale Chess also offers a wide variety of classic games available at guaranteed low prices.

Why Buy From Wholesale Chess?

We do everything we can to offer you the best price possible. We also offer quantity discounts on many of our most popular items and ship for free to the contiguous US when your order total is $50 or greater.

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