Chess for Kids (and dummies like dads)

[Damon Butler]

> As a BSD user, I can't help you.  As a chess player, I will comment that
> there's a certain learning curve involved, and playing against random
> moves isn't going to advance you far along it.  I've never known anyone to
> become even moderately facile at chess without getting their head pounded
> in on a regular basis.  If you or your son's ego isn't up to that, OSB
> (Other Sports Beckon).  ;)

Point well taken. ;-) But...
It's not that either of us mind losing per se. What I've discovered that 
gnuchess and crafty are orders of magnitude stronger than the old 
program we used to play against.

Say you want to learn to play tennis. You're just beginning. Who should 
you begin challenging in order to improve your game and enjoy yourself 
while doing it? Andy Roddick or the friend who's been taking 
intermediate tennis lessons through the city rec dept? In this analogy, 
the standard chess engines are Andy Roddicks and our old program was the 
intermediate friend.

My son is just not gonna learn that much nor enjoy himself much playing 
against Andy Roddick. I don't want his first serious foray into computer 
chess to be *that* intimidating or demoralizing.

> That said, the MOST frustrating part of learning chess is usually
> tactical, not strategic (inadvertently throwing away pieces).

That's it exactly.

> There are a
> number of good web/Java based free chess games on the net - have you tried
> any of them?  Many will show possible moves, blink to indicate pieces at
> risk, etc.

That sounds great! Do you have any suggestions off hand? I thought my 
searches were pretty exhaustive, but I didn't come up with anything like 
what you're talking about.

--Damon