Learning chess must be a holistic process since every child’s learning process is unique and is stimulated by various internal and external factors. Starting to learn chess from a young age is definitely beneficial for a child’s brain development. Some studies even show that the best age for a child to start learning chess is around seven years.
Benefits Of Learning
Playing and learning chess has multiple benefits for a developing brain. Chess helps develop perspective and thinking abilities. Further, a child’s analytical skills and problem-solving capabilities get better with continuous practice of the game. Studies also show that chess players have the ability to recognise patterns. Problem-solving is essential in the growing years of a child’s life to go through minor barriers in the activities of the daily living of a child. Finally, chess helps majorly with enhancing concentration and attention span.
Learning Patterns
Unlike sports, chess does not involve too much physical strength and activity, making it easy for children to learn chess at any age. The game is divided into three parts – The Opening, The Middle Game and The End Game. Learning chess involves mastering certain aspects of every part of the game. As your learning progresses, a child goes from Beginner to Intermediate to Advanced. Starting chess at an early age gives no guaranteed success since age is not a defining factor in a chess player’s success.
Levels Of Learning
To move ahead from the Beginner level, one must set goals related to the next level. As your level progresses, you must be thorough with certain level-specific objectives. Certain tactics are very integral to know before you move up the ladder in this learning process. For example, a Beginner level player is expected to know certain tactics like – a fork, pin, skewer, and castling.
Further intermediate students are expected to know certain basic openings before they move to the Advanced level. Further, a FIDE rating is a great goal to set in terms of a chess player’s progress. For example, an Advanced level player should have a FIDE rating of 2100 or more.
The Young Learner
The calculation capacity for younger children is lower, which makes it harder for them to analyse patterns and think further ahead in terms of the moves they are about to play. So it takes more time to get across the initial stages of learning with children. Older learners will absorb the fundamental concepts and tactics alot faster than young children.
Practice Connectivity
Previously coaches emphasised the training aspect more than the practice; however, in today’s day and time, the connectivity across the world allows people to play chess with other people across the world. This makes the practice aspect easy to cover alongside the training, making the process more interactive and fun for children.
The competition while learning inculcates great sportsmanship and spirit in young learners, which helps with their learning process. Further, the analysis of these games is easy through new age chess analysis machines that can help students learn from the mistakes they made in their games.
Conclusion
Not all traps and openings can be memorised while learning, but the analytical skills and problem-solving abilities can be improved with constant practise and training, allowing a beginner’s game to thrive. There can never be a set time on how long it would take for a child to learn chess as that would be subjective from child to child; however, multiple internal and external factors cater to that process.
Thus, exposing your child to multiple arrays of opportunities to learn playing would help with a student’s game and allow the student to thrive faster. Chess has multiple aspects that benefit a player’s mind, and a player can excel with these abilities in different arrays of life.
