Obama Girl

[Michele Clack]

First of all chess needs to be played in all schools. I run a school chess club for 5 to 9 year olds and in every year group so far there have been at least one or two who are really grabbed by it and I suspect some of these will become serious players in the future. That's not many compared to all the children in the school but multiply it by all schools and you have a wave of possible new members.

I seen several online articles suggesting a later age than this to start children off but if it is done in a fun low key way this age has advantages particularly in attracting girls. I get more boys than girls but I have had about 25% minimum, sometimes more. To learn to play well it is important to try things and girls can become very worried about making mistakes as they get older, which holds them back. I had one girl who started as an 8 year old who needed a lot of encouragement because she worried so much about getting things wrong. The younger ones are not so inhibited. If you don't catch girls interest at this age you will struggle to interest them when they are older.

Secondly, more computer game versions of chess would be helpful. I know there are some but I haven't seen anything outstanding. If anyone knows of anything good on playstation 3 or PC suitable for a 10 year old I would be interested.

These are things for the long term of course. What we need at the moment is more adults now. Our club tries to make new members welcome but it is hard to know how best to help people who might not have played for 20 or 30 years get past the beginner stage without getting discouraged. Any suggestions on that?

[Ben Purton]

Classic quotes from this read

First of all I would like to point out that Mr. Nigel Short is a very happily married man and he would I'm sure have no interest in Michelle Obama however scantily dressed she might be

Thats a real Bang table with laughter quote, If that was sarcastic that was really funny Matt because, "Its female, its gonneee" must be Nigels Logic.

Dismissing Obama Girl with such easy disdain

Reading that one was a real TREAT!!

And I would have thought the Official ECF Council Yoof Candidate would have had a better understanding of "cool".
Now come on.

I mean really Paul dont you live on your Jack Jones in Hayes?
So dont say I dont understand "cool", when well your you.

Ben

[Paul McKeown]

Jack - love your contrib. - best response I guess.

Ben - happy to say you're misinformed about Jack Jones.

Ground Control to Major Tom. Ground Control to Major Tom. Now, Ben, why don't you go and put your helmet on. Strewth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge penned "Kubla Khan"!

Now can we get back to the subject at hand?

Please?

Thanks Michele!

[Mick Norris]

First of all chess needs to be played in all schools. I run a school chess club for 5 to 9 year olds and in every year group so far there have been at least one or two who are really grabbed by it and I suspect some of these will become serious players in the future. That's not many compared to all the children in the school but multiply it by all schools and you have a wave of possible new members.

I seen several online articles suggesting a later age than this to start children off but if it is done in a fun low key way this age has advantages particularly in attracting girls. I get more boys than girls but I have had about 25% minimum, sometimes more. To learn to play well it is important to try things and girls can become very worried about making mistakes as they get older, which holds them back. I had one girl who started as an 8 year old who needed a lot of encouragement because she worried so much about getting things wrong. The younger ones are not so inhibited. If you don't catch girls interest at this age you will struggle to interest them when they are older.

The view from New York is that my daughter should start to play at age 4 - do you agree?

[Michele Clack]

[
The view from New York is that my daughter should start to play at age 4 - do you agree?

Yes definitely, with the proviso that she must want to do it herself. We have a wooden chess table and set that lives permanently in our living room. My middle niece was always fascinated by it from a toddler and we taught her how to play. When she was 9 she went to one of the only schools around here with a serious interest in chess and was going to join the school club. Unfortunately the club was all boys and this put her off. In area junior clubs that typically meet on Saturdays there are usually a few chess playing families with girls as well as boys playing. If your daughter takes to chess then one of these would be the best way forward for her if you have one nearby.

The chess table in the living room then caught the interest of my nephew. He was so desperate to play that I started a chess club at his first school which I still run. His middle school does not play chess and he plays football on Saturdays but I expect he will come back to chess later on as he enjoyed it so much.

We have 2 youngsters playing for us in a County match on Saturday aged about 10 and 11. They are playing very well and probably won't be in the under 100's very long. Their dad is a good player and that is definitely a big advantage in getting going with chess.

[Mick Norris]

Thanks for that - she has been to many chess congresses, and is used to me disappearing off to chess matches and meetings, so I guess she'll want to play soon, unless meeting Nigel Short has put her off (only joking)

[Nigel Wright]

Michelle, try Chessmaster for the Playstation, it really interested me for a few months, especially playing the 4-year old version of a GM, and also playing in a tournament which included a monkey!!!

And for the PC, I suggest www.playchess.com, and speaking of which, I paid for a year's subscription 6 months ago, and have only used it for 10 hours so far...