Author: Albert Silver
Date: 09:09:44 03/07/01
Go up one level in this thread
On March 06, 2001 at 07:54:26, Jorge Pichard wrote:
>My nephew Enrique just turn 9 Sunday and my sister which lives 300 miles away
>from me told me that Enrique has been telling her that he would like to learn
>how to play chess like his uncle. When my sister told me that, I told her that I
>would send him one of my chess program (Nimzo 8) as a gift for his birthday.
>Now I also told her that she should start by getting him a good chess teacher
>who can spend a least 3 hours every saturday, but that he could also pratice
>against Nimzo 8 to improve the opening and middlegame where Nimzo 8 can help him
>improve on his tactics.
>
>PS: Can somebody provide good tips which will help a child to improve his chess
>skills by using Nimzo 8. Please provide step by step intructions so I can
>paste it and email it to my nephews. For instance what features of this
>chessbase product will help him the most etc...
>
>Pichard.
I think that a beginner and especially a 9 year-old will have trouble
benefitting from a program such as Nimzo. Certainly he can play against it and
analyze, but as for real learning, I think that nothing can replace contact with
a real teacher. Still, you might look for a program that actually deals with
teaching beginners, whether they are starting from scratch, or know the moves
but haven't gone much beyond that. Convekta (http://www.chessassistant.com) has
several programs for that purpose.
For a child learning just now, you might look at Chess School for Beginners, a
program written by GM Yuri Razuvaev, and aimed at children in particular.
If Enrique understands the moves well, and is beyond that, then perhaps Chess
Tactics for Beginners, and Advanced Chess School (aimed at bringing a player
from beginner level to intermediate) would be better suited. You should be able
to find reviews of these programs by Robert Pawlak in the reviews section here.
I don't think that Leonid's advice will really do the trick. It might work for
an adult, but I don't think it is well-suited for a child. Nimzo and other
program may be able to point out errors, but at such a stage in development,
what matters is why and not what. Just my 2 cents.
Albert
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