I've read stories of children as young as 3 years learning to play the game which frankly when I first heard about blew my mind. But upon closer inspection I realised it is probably not as difficult as first thought.

The minds of children around that age are sponges, soaking up everything they come into contact with. They follow rules all (most!) of the time that we parents set out for them, so introducing a new set of rules in the form of a game should be relatively easy. Theories are great aren't they?

So in order for this to have a chance the child needs to have some fundamental understandings. Knowing up, down, left, right and the ability to physically count squares on a board is another necessity. If your kid can do that, there is nothing stopping them from learning Chess.

It would also help if the child has an interest in the chess board and pieces. My daughter is fascinated with my Chess set and can't stay away from it, so much so that I had to give it to her and buy myself a new one over the weekend. And she is keenly interested in playing, albeit by her own rules, which usually involves moving any piece anywhere any time, and her eventual victory.

So in the interest of not bombarding the youngster with too much at once, I will forgo the objective of chess, and start by trying to make her understand that each chess piece can only move in a certain direction. I will do this one piece at a time on a clear board, starting with pawns. Here's how it started.

Obviously she needs her attention focused a little more, or it needs to be made a little more interesting. Don't worry, I have a plan.

Continue to Part II.