ChessMy son, Ethan, is fascinated with games.  Any kind of game. Video games, sports, card games, board games … you name it, he likes it.  My nickname for him is “Game Boy.”

One day, at the age of five, he discovered an old chess set lying around and asked what it was.  “It’s a game called Chess, ” I told him.  “Game” was the magic word that got his attention, and he wanted to learn to play.  The game intrigued him.  I would have thought a five year old boy who plays the Wii and battles with Pokemon cards would find Chess a little boring, but I guess not my Game Boy. 

I did some research, and as I expected Chess is a really good game for kids.  It helps improve childrens’ math and problem solving skills.  Research also suggests that it improves reading and writing skills as well.  A Parent’s Magazine article discusses The Brainy Benefits Of Chess.  I also found a blog post that explains how Playing Chess Helps Children Excel In Math. 

Since then, I’ve been encouraging him to play and learn more about chess.  I figure it’s a great way for him to get smarter while having fun at the same time.  I purchased two books for him. The first one,  Checkmate!: My First Chess Book (Everyman Chess), is a beautifully written and illustrated book written by Gary Kasparov.  Ethan loves this book, especially when I told him that it was written by the greatest chess player ever.  And I have to say, it does a really great job at explaining rules and strategies in chess in a way that makes it interesting and easy to understand for children.  The second book, Chess for Children, was also written by a Chess Grandmaster and teaches Chess with the help of a cartoon boy and his pet alligator (coincidentally, the boy resembles my son and the alligator looks like my son’s favorite stuffed toy).  Although I wish this book had some color (even the cartoons are black and white), my son enjoys it especially for the chess puzzles and quizzes that it contains. 

We also have a Chess video game for our Nintendo Wii, which I downloaded from the Wii Shopping channel, called Silver Star Chess.   Not a bad program for five bucks, but I’d like to get something a little more polished and which helps you improve your game.  There doesn’t seem to be too many options … the one Chess game for the Wii that looks like it is any good is Fritz Chess.  For Nintendo DS owners, there is also a Fritz Chess for Nintendo DS. 

Ethan still likes chess.  We just played a game yesterday.  He won.  And he also wrote about chess in his blog entry, A Game Called Chess.

If you can get your child interested in Chess, I highly recommend it.