THE MOM WITH BROWNIES TEACHES CHESS

I didn't learn to play chess as a child. It wasn't until I had children of my own that I became interested in the game. Once I figured out the basics I was hooked. I wanted to teach our sons as soon as they were able to comprehend the moves.

When Kazz was about 6 or 7 I started teaching him the moves. The words that came out of my mouth were not exactly chess teacher words but they worked perfectly for teaching a young child to learn the basics. I've since taught a number of young kids the basic moves of chess pieces, and decided today to add this little tid-bid of information to my blogging vault. If you're reading this, my future grandchildren, this is how grandma taught your dad to play chess. :o)

The Mom With Brownies teaches chess.

The pieces of a chess game are The King, The Queen, The One Eyed Bishop, The straight and narrow Rook, The Crazy Knight and the scaredy-cat, cowardly Pawn.

The King is big and fat. He sits on his throne all day and doesn't get much exercise so when he does move he only moves one space. He gets to move any which way he wants, because he's the king, but he gets tired easily because he's so big and fat so once he gets to the next square he stops to take a rest.

The Queen is in great shape because she shops all day. She knows right where she needs to go so she moves in a straight line right to her destination. She can move in any straight line she wants because she is the queen but if she runs into another person she stops to kick them out of the way. She would never jump over anything because they may see up her dress! If she decides to stop before she gets to another person she can because she's the queen.

The One Eyed Bishop only has a slit for an eye. He can only see the color he stands on so he only moves in one direction on that color. He goes as far as he wants or until he runs into another person in his path. If he does run into another person, he throws them off the board and stays there to laugh about it.

The Crazy Knight rides a Crazy horse. That horse can JUMP over people! The Knight is Crazy because every time he moves two squares he thinks someone is coming to get him so he always jumps one square to the side to get out of the way!

The straight and narrow Rook wants to be the king so he always tries to travel in a straight line whether he travels north, south, east or west. He goes as far as he wants but never diagonally because that would be north/west or north/east! How crude! If he runs into a person he will kick them off the board just for fun but if he wants he can stop before he gets to another person.

The Cowardly Pawn thinks he is brave when he first begins. He can choose to move one square or two on his first move, but as soon as he makes his first move he freaks out! He never moves two squares again and if he comes up to a person in front of him he stands there and shakes because he is such a scaredy-cat, BUT if he can see someone diagonally from him in the very next square, he will wait till his next turn and jump on that person in a sneak attack! What a yellow, belly that Pawn!

I don't know the fancy moves yet, though I hope to get more into those as time goes by, but when it comes to teaching our guys the basic moves, this has worked every time. :o)