- Check the space and the kit.
- Get your child's attention first.
- Show it from two sides.
- Say one thing only.
- End on one that works.
Put the phone down where you can see it. Tap Next with your thumb, or use the arrow keys.
Is the space marked?
- Set the board with a white square at the bottom right of each player
- Queen on her own colour
Puzzle positions from a free puzzle set or a chess book.
Three minutes to get warm.
Easy jogging on the spot, then arms and legs. How to warm up well is explained at workonfitness.com.
- Fork: put a knight where it attacks a king and a rook at once.
- Pin: line up a bishop, an enemy knight and the enemy king; the knight cannot move.
- Skewer: a rook checks a king with a queen behind it; the king moves and the queen is taken.
Show it once from the front and once from the side, slowly. Then let your child try.
- One motif a week: fork, then pin, then skewer.
- 5 puzzles per session.
- For each, say what the winning move attacks.
How much: 5 puzzles
What does the opponent threaten?
Puzzle race
The rules
Who finds the fork first.
- Set a puzzle position between you
- On "go", both look; the first to say "found it" shows the move
- Right: a point. Wrong: the other player has 30 seconds to try
- 8 puzzles
Fair play: A grown-up waits 20 seconds before looking.
- Points
- 1 point for each puzzle solved first.
- Fouls
- The other player scores 1 point: touching the pieces before saying "found it"; a move that leaves your own piece hanging
- Win
- More points after 8 puzzles.
Child
Grown-up
- 3
- 5
- 7
4 of 5 puzzles of one motif solved.
End on one that works. If it was hard today, finish with the easier version.
Well played.
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