Dr Dave speaks...
Someone just emailed me with this question. My first reaction was 'if you don't have a clue, then you shouldn't be trying to do it', but then not everyone has my unbearable self-confidence that they can do things before they try, and it may be that someone running a chess club doesn't actually play much chess themselves. So..." You can find the rest of this article, which also serves as a gateway to one of the best chess sites on the net, here.
A more official line can be found in the ECF leaflet The School Chess Club
"Encourage children to explore their own ideas and learn from their own mistakes. Many teachers find that they can be of most use simply circulating when play is in progress, commenting when necessary. Children usually just want to get on with playing and may be ‘put off’ with too much formal tuition. Finding the right balance is the real skill."
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Speaking from personal experience you can run a school chess club in several different ways. If you don't know, or aren't confident about, how to play chess that doesn't necessarily matter as you might well find pupils who are interested will probably already have a good idea of the moves. They will benefit from having a supervised space and get on with, and enjoy, playing amongst themselves. That's the starting point, the more confident you are the more you'll feel able to engage and instruct, but how you do that will be down to your teaching style.
If you have any questions please email me on pbailey@sheffieldnomads.co.uk or call me on 078 12 49 49 57.
Paul Bailey
