Chess for Kids
The Pawn Game for Kids Learning Chess
How do you teach a child to play chess? By introducing the pieces one at a time. Here is a first game your child can pick up very quickly, the pawn game, sometimes called Pawn Wars or Pawn Battle.
How to Play the Pawn Game
Here's the idea behind the pawn game.
To set it up, place every pawn on its starting rank, with nothing else left on the board.
White moves first, then both players take turns. Whoever marches a pawn all the way to the far end of the board first wins. Once your child has that down, bring in one more piece, a rook is a good choice, and the win condition widens a little. From then on, getting a pawn across the board or capturing every one of your opponent's pawns will win the game.
Keep in mind that racing a pawn to the end isn't really the goal of chess, checkmating the opposing king is. Still, a pawn that reaches the last rank does earn something, a special move called pawn promotion that turns it into any piece you like.
We're preparing English video lessons on each piece, paired with exercises and games. Join the waitlist to get them first.
We also invite you to discover the fundamentals of chess for yourself, for free, so you can better guide your child through the wonderful world of chess.
Why Start With This Little Game?
Chess is not easy for a child to grasp right away. Every piece moves differently, and it is far from simple to organize your play around all of them at once. That's why we recommend introducing each piece separately, then giving your child a small game each time to check that the way it moves has really sunk in. That's exactly the method we follow, alternating short explanations with games, riddles and exercises.
Beyond introducing the pieces one by one through small games, we have a few more tips for you.
Give Kids Small Checkmate Exercises Early On
It's a little surprising, but kids have a blast solving these small exercises. On top of that, it works their logic and their concentration. Pure joy to watch.
Give Kids the First Rules of Strategy Early On
Chess starts to become fun once you understand that you can organize your play. Don't hesitate to hand over the first big principles for a good start to the game, for the middlegame, and even for the endgame. It's a real pleasure to watch your child find their footing in the complexity of the game.
Teach Kids Calculation Through Chess
Calculating variations matters a great deal in chess. The habit of anticipating the effect of your own moves, or of your opponent's, is extremely useful. Among other things, it helps children learn to solve math problems, because it trains them to chain arguments together logically the way you do in a geometry problem, working out that doing one thing leads to another, which in turn shapes how the opponent will respond, and so on.
And all of that happens in your head. Developing a mental picture of the board and a sense of space matters a great deal, and plenty of games exist to train exactly that. As an added bonus, it will sharpen your child's mathematical logic and their sense of orientation too.
Video lessons with games and exercises for kids are in the works. Join the waitlist to get them first.
You can also visit our dedicated chess for kids hub.
While you're there, browse more chess games for kids too.
That's it for our article on the pawn game. Feel free to share it on your networks below if you found it useful.