I worked for five years (2012-2017) as part of the after school activities at the Lycée Français in Shanghai and also in others international Shanghai schools like YCIS, Wellington, Concordia, YK Pao in 2015.
In small groups of students, I teached children from 1st Grade to 5th Grade. The first group is the “beginner” level which consists of presenting in a simple and progressive way all the rules that one must know to dispute a game of chess:
- How to Setup the Chessboard
- How the Chess Pieces Move
- How much are the chess pieces worth
- Discover the Special Rules of Chess
- How to Win a Game of Chess
- How to Draw a Chess Game
- How to Checkmate
- How to Castle
Once the child has mastered the movements of the pieces and knows how to concentrate on solving small exercises, we move on to the second “intermediate” level to begin to see strategic and tactical notions:
- How to start a game
- Control the Center of the Chessboard
- Protect your King
- How to attack
- How to defend
- How to make a plan
- Checkmate in 1 move
Chess have considerable and undeniable benefits for children. They develop motivation, concentration, memory and vision in space.
Feel free to read the article where I explain in detail the benefits of chess for children: here