When can a kid trick an adult and win? How often can a 4-year-old beat a 12-year-old in just a few minutes?
Maybe not during dodge ball or quiz bowl, but all bets are off during a chess game. Winning in chess is all about skill and strategy, not height or strength.
Many kids are heavy into chess; the game’s popularity is soaring. The United States Chess Federation says its membership has grown to 90,000 members, and more than half are kids.
The number of kids playing chess with the Federation has increased from 5,000 to 50,000 in the last 20 years. And, says Ed Scimia of the U.S. Chess Federation, “it’s really picked up over the last decade. There has been a boom [because of chess] in schools.”
Isabel B., 7, of Chicago recently took up chess. She’s been playing since last summer, after she went on a vacation to Europe and saw a life-size chessboard where people moved around giant pieces.
Isabel spent a month learning the game, and now plays with Chicago Chess Kids, a club that meets every Saturday morning.
“I’ve beaten two adults,” she says. “Chess is very fun, it’s nice to have the power of the board.”
Having the power of the board can mean capturing your opponent’s pieces in just a few moves. Julius D., 10, of Chicago says he couldn’t believe it when a 7-year-old beat him with just five moves.
“I didn’t expect to be beaten by a 7-year-old boy,” he says. “It felt surprising that such little kids could be so good.”
Being good isn’t only about first place. Beating someone during a tournament who is ranked higher than you or has a better point average can be just as rewarding.
Both local and national tournaments get intense too. Games can last up to two hours and kids play as many as seven games per tournament, Scimia says.
Players compete in tournaments individually and as teams for clubs and schools. Claire A., 8, of Chicago played with Chicago Chess Kids at a tournament in December. She received a trophy when her team took home first place for grades kindergarten through 3rd.
Claire has been playing chess for about two years and says it helps her in school. She says her report-card score for problem solving has been 95 percent ever since she learned chess.
“You need to think a lot, and [chess is] kind of hard,” she says. “If somebody is real good at chess, they might be good at problem solving.”
Getting to be good at chess takes practice and learning about the different pieces and how they move. Julius says there is a big difference between chess and checkers.
“Chess is harder because there are more pieces that do more things,” he says. “And it’s harder to understand it.”
But once you do, Julius says it’s “the thrill game” you’d rather be playing. That often means practicing or studying moves before you get started, though.
Julius reads a chess-skills book to learn moves, and says it’s fun thinking up strategies.Plans don’t always work out, so players sometimes have to come up with new strategies on the spot. “It’s fun watching how things turn out,” Julius says.
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Defending the kingdom
Think chess seems dull and quiet? It actually is a war game. “Our modern chess comes from medieval times when you had kingdoms fighting each other,” says Lamarr Wilson, founder of Chess in Chicago.org.
Each player is an opposing kingdom and needs to protect its king from being captured. The pawns are “on the front of the board and represent the field workers. They defend the castle first,” Wilson says.
Behind the pawns are rooks and knights that “charge ahead to defend the attack,” Wilson says. Bishops are on each side of the king and queen and “if necessary the queen comes out to prevent the attack,” Wilson says.
Preventing an attack and hunting down other pieces is what makes the game thrilling for Julius D. of Chicago: “It’s kind of like Battle Tag.You have to keep an eye out for your own pieces as well as the other team’s.”
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Learning to play
Want to play but don’t know how? There are many ways you can learn chess, compete against others and not have to spend a dime.
Online: Chessforkids.com costs $6 a month. Online classes let you learn at your own pace. Other sites like testyourchess.com are free and will let you test your skills and learn new moves. And you can compete without leaving your house. Yahooligans! Chess is free and just for kids.ChessHall.org costs $3.95 a month; you have to download the software.
On your computer: Software can teach you the basics and test your knowledge.Some programs are just for kids. Try “Fritz and Chesster Learn to Play Chess” (ChessBase, $29.95) or “Chess Tactics for Beginners” (Convekta, $25.95).
At the library: Hit the books to learn the basics. There are a lot of guides for kids; check out books such as “Chess for Kids” by Michael Basman (DK Publishing, $12.99) and “Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors” by Robert M. Snyder (Random House Puzzles & Games, $30.90).
