how old were you when u learnt how to play chess?

and who taught you?

i was 12, grade 5 and it was raining out and we couldn't go outside.. so our teacher had some games and all the good ones were gone. so some kids like do u want to play chess and i said sure show me how...and i would ask him can i do this, can i do this....anyways i remember his rook coming into my back rank via the h or a file and wiping out the rook, knight and bishop and then i captured it with my queen or king. i found the game intresting read a book. and then next time i asked him to play and i wasted him!!! and ever since then he never played vs me again... i stopped playing as much and picked it up again when i started univ...

You know.. I don't remember who taught me, nor when I learned.. I tried asking my parents who taught me before.. as nobody in my family knows how to play.. wierd........

I do know though, that at 8 yrs old.. when I went in for some surgery as a child, my parents bought me a nice chess set (wood with little compartments inside.. ).. so.. obviously I knew how to play then.. if only I was playing since then!.. I might not drop pieces stupidly!

It sounds like you were a science experiment. 🙂

My dad taught me at age 5, one piece at a time. After learning each piece, we would play a game with just those pieces on the board. It was a great way to learn to play.

LOL.. thats what the surgery was.. the implant of chess skills.. I just wish they didn't drop some of them on the floor before finishing!

I learned about 4 years ago when I was in 6th grade and Im in the 10th now so thats right. A friend of mine showed me how to play after a reading test one day. He won quiet easily, but I dont know about now. hmmmmm

Originally posted by RahimK
and who taught you?

i was 12, grade 5 and it was raining out and we couldn't go outside.. so our teacher had some games and all the good ones were gone. so some kids like do u want to play chess and i said sure show me how...and i would ask him can i do this, can i do this....anyways i remember his rook coming into my back rank via the h or a file and wip ...[text shortened]... er played vs me again... i stopped playing as much and picked it up again when i started univ...

4, my dad taught me.

ahh u guys are so lucky to learnt so young...it amazing how young these kids are now days...gm's at 14 and stuff.... wish i had learnt that young...

I was sixteen when I was told how to move the pieces. I do not know when I knew how to play a fair game. I guess it was a year or two later.

I was 12 when I learned, in the summer between the 6th-7th grade, from an encyclopedia. The chess board came with no instructions and no one in my family or community played.

6 months.

I taught myself.

I was about 15 and played against some guys who were in the chess club in their high school. Looking back I had no clue as to even the basics... like for example what an "opening" was.

Since then it's been all books and playin'.

about 7 year-old. Dad taught me moves and played against me and my friends almost every day. It was just pure fun.

I was 10. I learnt from my dad and then played with some of my friends.