Posted by Charles Gelman on October 23, 1997 at 03:05:34:
In Reply to: Chess "variants" for Kids posted by Stanton Nesbit on October 21, 1997 at 23:43:03:
I agree that younger kids find chess more exciting
when they win. I played chess when I was 6, but
I gave it up until much later because it seemed
boring to me. I think this was mostly because I
lost most of my games.
But, I think an important question comes up. At
what point does it become important for the chess
student to learn to lose gracefully? Just as the
thrill of victory is a wonderful part of chess, so
is a game that was well-played but was lost. There
is also the important idea that you can learn much
more from a game that you lose than from a game you
win (see Capablanca's quote in the tutorial section).
While I never fully enjoy losing, I have some fond
memories of when really strong players told me I had
a lot of potential. It's really motivating.
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