Write the game
Ready when: Forks, pins and skewers (i2) started.
What you are learning
Writing moves down in chess notation: a letter for the piece (K, Q, R, B, N, nothing for a pawn), the square it goes to, x for a capture, 0-0 for castling, + for check and # for mate. Written games can be replayed and learnt from.
Words on this card Board, File, Knight, Pawn, Capture, Check, Castling, Notation
- Board
- The board has 64 squares, light and dark in turn.
- File
- A file is a column of squares going up the board, named by a letter a to h; a rank is a row across, numbered 1 to 8.
- Knight
- Moves in an L shape (two squares one way, then one square to the side) and jumps over other pieces.
- Pawn
- Moves one square forward (two from its starting square) and captures one square diagonally forward.
- Capture
- Taking an enemy piece by moving onto its square.
- Check
- Check is an attack on the king; checkmate is check with no way out.
- Castling
- A special move of the king and a rook together to make the king safe.
- Notation
- The way moves are written down (Nf3, exd5, 0-0), and the sheet they are written on.
Show it first for the one teaching
- Show the letters a to h along the bottom and the numbers 1 to 8 up the side; every square has a name, such as e4.
- Move a knight to f3 and write Nf3. Move a pawn to e4 and write e4.
- Take a piece on d5 with a pawn from e4 and write exd5.
Your part while they practise
Replay a recorded game with the child.
Step by step
- Learn the piece letters: K, Q, R, B, N; none for pawns.
- A square name, x for a capture, 0-0 for castling, + for check, # for mate.
- Replay the Opera Game from its moves.
- Write down your own game.
How much: 10 moves 10 min a session 2 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Write and replay
Write your own game, then replay it a week later from the sheet.
Who plays: the child against you, both writing.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Play a game, each writing both sides' moves
- A week later, replay it from the sheet
- Count the moves that replay correctly before a mistake
- Fair play
- A grown-up writes both sides without looking back.
- Points
- 1 point for each move written and replayed correctly.
- Fouls
- The count stops
- A capture written without the x
- A wrong square name
- A move missing from the sheet
- Winning
- Beat your best count.
- 10 points for 1 star
- 20 points for 2 stars
- 30 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Write only your own moves.
Write both sides without looking back.
What you will see, and what to say
- the child mixes up the squares
Files are letters, ranks are numbers
Letter first, then number. - they skip captures
Write the x
Every capture.
Self-check
10 moves recorded and replayed with 0 mistakes.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains notation, memory.
awiseathlete.com/sports/mind-sports/mind-sports-i5