Originally posted by Dutch DefenseYeah, most of them play stuff similar to the Giuco Piano. Just focus on tactics, and don't worry about openings until later.
Don't most 12 year olds play the Giuoco Piano opening?
[fen]r1bq1rk1/ppp2ppp/2np1n2/2b1p3/2B1P3/2NP1N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 0 1[/fen]
๐ด [b]boring ๐ด[/b]
i beg to differ about openings. i've studied openings more than anything else! i played speed games of 5 to 10 mins at the minimum for tactics. after reading a book though. you can learn how to use tactics quick and tons of positions become comftorable after this. at your level of play some books such as attacking chess by josh waitzkin, weapons of chess by bruce pandolfini, and winning chess strategies by yasser seirwan would help your play by a big margin. i suggest weapons of chess or attacking chess first!
"Yeah, most of them play..."
With all due respect, that's about as accurate as saying "most 32 year olds play hypermodern openings".
There are 12 yr olds (and 52 yr olds) who are exploring the open king pawn games, and 12 year olds like my friend's kid, who just won our state's grade level championship playing the ruy lopez exchange whenever possible. Even stereotyping 6 yr olds is inaccurate. Better to venture that many beginning players try out the Italian game...๐
Originally posted by Northern LadI met a young Irish player on Friday - Ronan Magee (aged eight I think). He was very unlucky not to beat the eventual winner of the under 8 tournament and did well in the under 9 as well. He had a very good understanding of positional ideas in one so young.
Any Irish players out there who hate losing to kids had better beware. According to today's 'Independent' there's a five-year-old (!) in Donegal, Shane Melaugh, who's already causing quite a stir on the Emerald Isle being the youngest player ever to represent the Irish U12s.
Originally posted by Fat LadyI bet his grasp of tactics was even better though...
I met a young Irish player on Friday - Ronan Magee (aged eight I think). He was very unlucky not to beat the eventual winner of the under 8 tournament and did well in the under 9 as well. He had a very good understanding of positional ideas in one so young.