Beginner Chess

Full chess games take forever, especially before you know how to checkmate! Starting with fewer pieces on the board means games are quick, and learners can actually think logically about the options in front of them.

These mini-games form the basis for our Beginner Chess programming at The Number Garden. Each game invites a natural puzzle and a natural mastery challenge:

• The puzzle: would you rather play as White or Black?
• The mastery challenge: can you beat the teacher?

Students play in pairs first, and when they are ready, they can challenge the teacher in order to demonstrate their skills. With this approach, we scaffold students through all sorts of key chess insights as they move toward playing full games.

Chapter 1 offers a gentle introduction, with just a couple of pawns for each player. 1.1 and 1.2 are pretty straight-forward (pun intended), but 1.3 and 1.4 are rather subtle! With best play, Black can force a win in both 1.3 and 1.4 -- can you find the winning strategy?

Chapter 2 adds a Queen to the board, which makes things a whole lot more fun. With a bit of practice and a little technique, the Queen should be able to stop 8 pawns. But can she stop 9 pawns? How many pawns can we add before the pawns have the advantage?

Chapters 3 and 4 introduce Knights and Bishops, and we can ask the same sorts of questions that we did with the Queen: how many pawns can we stop with a bishop (or a knight)?

Whether you are a parent or a teacher and whether you're an expert chess player or a totally beginner, we hope these mini-games are useful for your own chess teaching & learning.

Have fun, and good luck!