Training Chess: Rook, Bishop, Queen moves
Chess authors Brunia and Van Wijgerden made a very nice and well designed training method for learning chess. The method has several `steps'; Step 1 teaches the rules and very basic principles of chess. In the second lesson of this step, two simple games are given for training the basic moves of pieces. These work great for practicing the moves of the pieces with children that do not yet know all the rules of chess. I somewhat changed the rules of the second of these games, to make it even simpler. I used this game succesfully in my `chess class' with children of 7 - 8 years.A CDrom-version of this training method is sold by TASC.
The game
Squares c4 till h4, and c5 till h5 are covered by a piece of paper - these may not be used. We put a white queen, rook, and bishop on h1, h2, and h3, and a black queen, rook, and bishop on h6, h7, and h8. The players should move their pieces to starting positions of the pieces of the opponent; they may not cross or use the covered area.
Comment
Keeping a piece on your starting area to prevent the other player from finishing is considered cheating. After one or two of these games, most players will remember the moves of these pieces. As a variant, use the king as one of the pieces. See also the training game that practices the moves of the knight.Written by Hans Bodlaender.
WWW page created: October 2, 2001.