Teaching children chess

My 7 year old grandson seems to have an aptitude for chess. I taught him the moves a few months ago, and had my first "game" with him yesterday. He remembered all the rules of play and could instinctively recognise basic tactical moves - "That's not a good move, grandad", when I decided to take a piece that was defended

How can I best encourage him, and what resources are available for young players on the internet? Does chess.com have any resources for young players?

I realise that there are many issues related to young people on the internet, security being the foremost. I'd appreciate any advice that members can give me.

I know when I was 6-7 I joined my schools chess club and that got me really interusted, as well as playing games with family members. Like having friendly games to determine the best chess player of the family. That's basically what got me into chess, I don't know how much of a help this is =X but thats what did it for me.

With regards to security on the net make sure an adult is with him if he plays.  Normal rules apply to a chess website as to any other website of course. 

As for the game of chess itself is there a chess club at his school?  If not see if there is interest in it by asking a teacher to set up one, (or maybe doing it yourself.)  Playing against other family members, and if he makes a bad move you could allow him to take it back once in a while for him to see why it was a bad move. 

Just yestarday, I heard of a site called chess magnet school, that gives chess lessons to kids, and adults for something like 30 dollars a year. I haven't checked it out yet, but I'm thinking about it. I heard it was really worth the money.

Has chess.com thought about a junior site?

The tactics trainer, at a junior level, would seem to be ideal for teaching mates in 1, capturing undefended pieces, etc.

How about it, chess.com? Has this been discussed?

Great idea!

I think the best way for him to learn is to keep playing.  Any exposure to the moves of the pieces is good exposure for a beginner.  Give lots of encouragement and be very patient.  I am trying to teach my younger brother and sister how to play and they are 8 and 9 respectively.  They have not properly grasped the entire concept yet but progress is being made nonetheless.

Good luck.

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 I don't see why Chess.com needs a junior site. Kids learn the same problems adults do, sometimes faster, and the tactics trainer gets as basic as it gets. 

Children learn the same problems; but in different ways.  Children will not grasp the same concepts from books that most adults will and will often lose interest.  For that reason they need a much brighter and more interesting way to learn than adults in order to have the same success, and in most cases they have much quicker rates of improvement.  A chess.com with simpler 'child-friendly' language and pictures would enhance their learning experience.

The tactics trainer is not as basic as it gets, in fact; it's very complicated for absolute beginners.  In my club we recently had a beginner come along and teaching him to checkmate with two Rooks was very difficult, he would never understand the concepts in the tactics trainer until he has memorised the very basics.

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Play with him a lot. There are several useful ways to handicap yourself without making bad moves and teaching him bad habits:

Let him turn the board around and switch sides when he senses that he is losing. Limit the number of rotations.

Play pawn wars with fewer pawns than he has.

Play at odds. First you play without your queen. When he wins consistently, make it a rook, then bishop or knight, then pawn.

Use a clock and give yourself far less time. Some of the kids that I coach never have a chance when they play me until I get one minute and they get five.

playing with dad, or Grand Dad is a very good way to learn chess for the young ones, i got started with my  Dad, then friends. 

I spent some time teaching my two young cousins how to play (8 year old girl and 10 year old boy).  They love the attention of an adult playing a game with them, so they have lots of fun even if they lose interest after a couple of games.  I think it's best to start out with playing endgame scenarios with them so they get to understand checkmate.  Give them a queen and rook against your lone king, it may take them a while to learn the checkmate, give them lots of hints, but when they get it they'll feel great because they "beat" an adult! 

Teach them basic ideas like castling early and developing all their pieces.  Even though they like the attention of playing with an adult, I think it's also good if they get the chance to play against other kids their own age (so long as an adult is there to settle disputes, because in my experience there is inevitably a situation where someone makes an illegal move on accident and then they need an authority to tell them the rules again, otherwise they'll just argue and argue).