About Chess

Many people who are not themselves chess players have the wrong idea about the nature of chess.

Chess is an exciting and aesthetically beautiful game with an extraordinary history, heritage and literature.

It’s a pure skill game with minimal luck involved. If you use your brain better than me you’ll win: if not, you’ll lose. It’s also, far more than most pure skill activities, very much driven by knowledge. You may well have more natural talent than me, but if I have more knowledge than you I’ll have little trouble beating you.

It’s easy for young children to learn how the pieces move, and talented children with proactive and supportive parents can excel at an early age.

But, because of the game’s complexity, the number of choices on each move, and the length of time a game takes to complete, it’s really more suitable for older children and adults than younger children.

The view of most chess educators is that younger children should master simpler strategy games before playing complete games of chess. Our Spectrum Minichess Clubs serve this purpose.