Many people who know me have heard me lecture how important it is for parents to take an active part in their child's development as a chess player.

     The basic rules of chess are quite easy to learn.  In fact, they can fit on a single piece of 8 1/2 by 11 paper!  After maybe 20 minutes of study, any two people can sit down and start banging pieces around the board.

     It is the more subtle nuances of the game that are hard to learn.  Advanced tactics and strategies.  Combinations of pieces working together, many pieces advancing together in an "opening," or acting in unison in the endgame play.

     It is said, and with good reason, that there are more books written on the subject of chess than any other topic - except religion.  It is also said, you can spend a lifetime studying chess and still not but scratch the surface of total understanding of the game.

     Maybe so.  But that doesn't mean you can't learn the basics, and read just a few books, or even study what is written in Chess Life or Chess Life for Kids magazines, and have a much better appreciation for the game of chess.  I have heard people watching a chess game in progress say things like, "that is the most boring game I have ever seen!"

     And I forgive their error in thinking, for they know not what they are looking at.  In chess, it is not always what is happening on the board where all the action is, the real action is going on inside each player's head at the speed of light.  Each player looking at "What ifs," as in "What if I move there with my knight?  And she takes with the bishop?  And I take back with my rook? etc., etc., et cetera."

     Practice in chess is a huge part of development.  And nothing is better than a child playing, learning where blunder points are, growing in experience and confidence, with their own parents or guardians.  It is not about beating each other.  It is about growing together.  Sharing an experience, instead of sitting in front of a television screen playing a video game and learning how fast your fingers and thumbs can move.

     Many parents have come up to me and thanked me for giving them the gift of chess.  The gift of giving them something they can do face-to-face with their children.  Even when that means the delight they see in their kids faces when they get a four move checkmate, or capture Mom's queen out of nowhere, or slip out of Dad's mating net, only to turn the tables and put him on the ropes!

     Most parents are surprised at how many thrills and smiles a single game of chess brings, as their family comes together over the chess board!