Chess with Conner (From Other Blog)

So I found out two nights ago that Conner has taught himself chess. I knew he'd been playing chess on the computer, but I didn't think he was learning. He proudly showed me how the rook, bishop, knight, queen, and pawn all move. So, last night I played a game of chess with him after work. His mom watched while he and I played and talked about the game.

So I found out two nights ago that Conner has taught himself chess. I knew he'd been playing chess on the computer, but I didn't think he was learning. He proudly showed me how the rook, bishop, knight, queen, and pawn all move. So, last night I played a game of chess with him after work. His mom watched while he and I played and talked about the game.

I taught him what to look for on a basic level: Can he take any of my pieces? Will he lose any of his if he does? Will he lose any of his regardless? Are my pieces starting to get to a place where they can threaten his king? I also taught him to use his pieces together to protect each other and to take control of different squares of the board. It was not a quick game. He quickly caught on and kept the pressure on me. He even managed to trap and take my knight, and there was nothing I could do about it.

The fun part was that he was sharing with me how he was thinking each move through. He would tell me, "I can move my rook here, and put your queen in danger, but then your queen would take my rook." He would also catch traps I was setting for him, "don't forget that my knight is guarding those squares." My favorite was his protective use of pawns. He kept a very effective wall protecting his king until I forced him to take it down or start losing important pieces.

So, I was curious how rare or unusual this is for a 6 and a half year old. It doesn't surprise me that Conner has this ability, because he has always been very smart and insightful. I found that many people teach their children chess at 6 years old. They tout the ability of chess to teach them patience, planning, reasoning, and simply slowing down. None of them mentioned the children catching the more advanced concepts like forking and zones of control.

Now, I'm not going to claim Conner is the next Bobby Fischer, but I kept looking...The National Association for Gifted Children's Gifted Children's Quarterly says, "a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 15 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding field of endeavor." I wonder, does it count if the grown-ups in his life don't set a high standard? This was his first game with me and I'm convinced that with practice he'll beat me consistently in a matter of weeks.

I am encouraging him to play against the computer. It will help him use the skills I taught him. He can also get ideas by watching how the computer moves the peices to work together. Is Conner a gifted genius? Perhaps not, I really don't know. I do know that he is gifted in many ways. He learns things faster than his peers, he appears to be thinking deeper thoughts than his peers, and it also seems to me that the only reason he is not conversing at an adult level is that he doesn't yet have the vocabulary (although he is getting close). I'm very proud of him.

I taught him what to look for on a basic level: Can he take any of my pieces? Will he lose any of his if he does? Will he lose any of his regardless? Are my pieces starting to get to a place where they can threaten his king? I also taught him to use his pieces together to protect each other and to take control of different squares of the board. It was not a quick game. He quickly caught on and kept the pressure on me. He even managed to trap and take my knight, and there was nothing I could do about it.

The fun part was that he was sharing with me how he was thinking each move through. He would tell me, "I can move my rook here, and put your queen in danger, but then your queen would take my rook." He would also catch traps I was setting for him, "don't forget that my knight is guarding those squares." My favorite was his protective use of pawns. He kept a very effective wall protecting his king until I forced him to take it down or start losing important pieces.

So, I was curious how rare or unusual this is for a 6 and a half year old. It doesn't surprise me that Conner has this ability, because he has always been very smart and insightful. I found that many people teach their children chess at 6 years old. They tout the ability of chess to teach them patience, planning, reasoning, and simply slowing down. None of them mentioned the children catching the more advanced concepts like forking and zones of control.

Now, I'm not going to claim Conner is the next Bobby Fischer, but I kept looking...The National Association for Gifted Children's Gifted Children's Quarterly says, "a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 15 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding field of endeavor." I wonder, does it count if the grown-ups in his life don't set a high standard? This was his first game with me and I'm convinced that with practice he'll beat me consistently in a matter of weeks.

I am encouraging him to play against the computer. It will help him use the skills I taught him. He can also get ideas by watching how the computer moves the peices to work together. Is Conner a gifted genius? Perhaps not, I really don't know. I do know that he is gifted in many ways. He learns things faster than his peers, he appears to be thinking deeper thoughts than his peers, and it also seems to me that the only reason he is not conversing at an adult level is that he doesn't yet have the vocabulary (although he is getting close). I'm very proud of him.