Pawns not prawns
“In chess, the infantry are the pawns, a long line of pieces stretching across the board. Your first move with the pawn is a choice between moving forward one square or two, after that, there is no choice, it’s one only. To capture another pawn, you move one square diagonally forward. That’s it. Not very exciting!”
I’m teaching my kids chess. I’ve taken all the other chess pieces off the board and most of the prawns (a desperate dad trying to make it fun). The board is set up for the kids to play 1 v 1, and 1 v 2. We talk ambushes, trial and error, and then I leave them to it.
When I come back to the game some 30 minutes later, one of my kids had a long line of pawns, and the other has three. They have made their own rules. “ When you win the battle you start the next game with another pawn.”
I shouldn’t be surprised. But I do need reminding. Take dad, his lame jokes, and his fear out of the equation.
Only joking….reduce the task to its simplest form and let them play.
