Chess Rules for Kids

Chess rules for kids should be made easy to understand and fun to know, otherwise chess is not the kind of game a kid will be interested in. Children have very short attention spans, so to teach a game as complicated as chess, requires you to have patience, incorporate fun and use some tips from this 'chess rules for kids' article. Today, the world has known chess champions in their teens, so just imagine what your kid could do, since you're starting him off early. Before moving on to the chess rules for kids, let us try to understand how to teach chess to kids first.

Getting Your Child Interested
Getting your child to think that learning to play chess is a fun thing to do, will be the most tedious task. The chess board is neither colorful nor interactive, so it might be more difficult than you think. But take it step by step with your chess lessons. Don't push your child if he says he's had enough, or he might lose interest forever. Your child should be able to pick up things quickly, when he's that young, so utilize it to the fullest. Know more about chess for beginners.

• Show your child a chess board and help him familiarize himself with it. Let him know how it works; you have one color and he has another, you have one side and he has another, etc. Don't forget to tell him the objective of this chess game for kids and how he can win it if he captures your king. I remember when I used to sit and play chess with my niece. She used to be more interested in toppling my king over with hers than anything else. The whole point of the game was to set up the board and topple each others king... and then set up the board again for another game.
• The first step to get your child interested in chess is to play chess with him without using any chess rules for kids. Let him move any of his pieces (make him understand that he only has one color at his disposal) while you continue making legitimate moves. You will find that your child invariably copies you. Keep repeating the names of the pieces he moves and he'll soon grasp the names. The piece movements will take a little time though.
• The next step is to encourage legal shots even if the boards checks are ignored. The point is to get him to understand the kind of movements a piece can make, not how he can make them on the board. For example, it is okay if he puts his bishop diagonally on a square, which required him to jump over one of his own pieces. Appreciate that at least he's grasped that a bishop moves diagonally.
• Give suggestions about how your child can get your king. The aim is to let them win. There is nothing like the high of winning that can get your child hooked on. Let your child learn and he will pick up every point you make about the game much faster.

Easy to Learn Chess Rules for Kids
Playing chess should not be a chore you make your child do, just have fun and he will be automatically inclined towards it. Chess games for kids are not about teaching them all the chess strategies and tactics, but just about getting them to think that chess is just another fun game for them to master. If your child comes to love the game, he will learn to master it on his own. Below are some basic chess rules for kids to help your child learn how to play chess.

The Chess Board Set Up
Show your child a set up chess board. Show him the checkered black and white chess board before you set up the pieces for him and explain the chess basics, i.e. two sides (separated by piece colors) on the chess board. Tell your child that he has 8 pawns, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 1 king and 1 queen, just like you do. Don't expect him to be an overnight expert with the piece names but be patient and he will grasp them eventually. Don't forget to show him the placement of each of his pieces on the chess board. Know more on rules for setting up a chess board.

Chess Piece Movements
As he will not remember everything immediately, it is good to be rhetorical and repeat the following every chance you get, every time you play. It is just like teaching your child the English alphabet, the more you repeat it, the sooner he will know it by heart. Know more on the basic rules of chess.

• Pawns: Though the simplest and most easily accessible of all chess pieces, the pawn is the most difficult to explain because of the many different types of moves it can make in different situations. Pawns can move two squares forward on their opening movement and one square forward every move after that. When capturing another piece on the board, they move one square diagonally forward and hence, only a piece that's situated diagonally, is under threat from a pawn. Remember that you're teaching a kid, so leave pawn transformation, castling and en passant chess strategies for the time when he knows the game basics fully and is ready to promote himself to the 'chess strategy and tactics' phase.
• Rooks: They can move forward, backward or sideways, for any number of squares, as long as they move straight and do not jump over pieces.
• Knights: This will also be tricky to explain to your child that a knight can only move in a 'L' shaped manner in any direction. They can go two spaces forward and one space sideways in one move and are the only pieces on the chess board that can jump over other pieces.
• Bishops: Bishops can follow the color of their starting square and move diagonally on the board, for any number of spaces. They cannot, however, jump over other pieces.
• Queen: The queen can move in any direction for any number of spaces, but only in straight lines (either forward, backward or diagonal) but she cannot jump over pieces.
• King: The king can move in any direction but only one space at a time.

Once your child grasps the basic chess rules for kids, he shouldn't have a problem playing the game at an extremely basic level. Once he gets the basics, you can start tutoring him on some chess opening moves and some other advanced chess strategies for beginners. The winning chess strategies will only come once he turns pro. Good luck with your little grandmaster. Let me know how well he's doing.