Well if you have the will power and the time then I would say go for it. Teaching the basics to children should be manageable for a person your rating. Of course a coach with a higher rating might have more knowledge than you, but that only matters in the long run. And you all ready have teaching experience which is great.
Two advices:
Thanks for the response. Having seen these kids play, I fully expect that some of them will surpass my current level quite quickly - the faster, the better. Preparing a weekly class will also help me improve my game. My guess is that I'm about 800 elo higher than the children right now. Sometimes they don't see that they are in check and move a pinned piece. The game continues as if nothing happened. Every now and then one of them plays an amazing and imaginative move, not necessarily winning but a move I would never contemplate. 
Thanks for the response. Having seen these kids play, I fully expect that some of them will surpass my current level quite quickly - the faster, the better. Preparing a weekly class will also help me improve my game. My guess is that I'm about 800 elo higher than the children right now. Sometimes they don't see that they are in check and move a pinned piece. The game continues as if nothing happened. Every now and then one of them plays an amazing and imaginative move, not necessarily winning but a move I would never contemplate.
You're welcome. Yeah that with the pinned pieces is normal if they are not used to playing over the board. It even sometimes happens to me .
I wish you a good time with teaching (if you choose to do it).
You can def tach them. It's like a first grade student doesn't necessarily need a professor as a tutor. Besides, even if the kids catch up with you, you can still teach by discussing games and creating a setting where they can learn by themselves. Teaching doesn't necessarily have to take the form of direct instruction.
You can def tach them. It's like a first grade student doesn't necessarily need a professor as a tutor. Besides, even if the kids catch up with you, you can still teach by discussing games and creating a setting where they can learn by themselves. Teaching doesn't necessarily have to take the form of direct instruction.
Thanks for the encouragement. I need to select games that include clear examples of things such as pawn structures, tactical motifs, control of the centre, piece development, taking control of open lines and so much more. I am lucky that there are so many great instruction books out there, in which instructive games have already been selected by much stronger players. I also have László Polgár's 'Chess Training in 5333+1 positions'. What a brilliant resource to have! If this goes ahead, I think we should start by working our way through 'Power Chess for Kids' which is full of short combinations from master play.
You are not an 'average player'. An 1800 rapid rating is better than 99% of the chess population. You definitely can teach them, and I think they would be lucky to learn from someone with your experience.
If the goal is to teach children the rules of chess, then by all means an average player can do it.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin started a program in the early 1930s to teach children to play chess. Arpad Elo (!) developed a 5-lesson plan for this. He even taught 1,100 kids to play in the summer of 1935.
From 1932 to 1975, the program taught about 260,000 kids to play!
the emphasis should be on fun. Teach the rules. Get kids starting to play. Don’t overwhelm them with abstract material.
then give very basic tips for openings and endings.
Depending on age, vary the length of lessons (8-year-olds should have shorter lessons than 12-year-olds than 15-year-olds).
Show them the Scholars Mate and the 2-move mate as examples of what NOT to do. Have some examples to show pins, forks, and discovered attacks.
older kids can learn notation and you can have them play through a few short games as homework.
i learned chess because of Milwaukee’s program and support efforts to introduce kids to the game.
If the goal is to teach children the rules of chess, then by all means an average player can do it.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin started a program in the early 1930s to teach children to play chess. Arpad Elo (!) developed a 5-lesson plan for this. He even taught 1,100 kids to play in the summer of 1935.
From 1932 to 1975, the program taught about 260,000 kids to play!
the emphasis should be on fun. Teach the rules. Get kids starting to play. Don’t overwhelm them with abstract material.
then give very basic tips for openings and endings.
Depending on age, vary the length of lessons (8-year-olds should have shorter lessons than 12-year-olds than 15-year-olds).
Show them the Scholars Mate and the 2-move mate as examples of what NOT to do. Have some examples to show pins, forks, and discovered attacks.
older kids can learn notation and you can have them play through a few short games as homework.
i learned chess because of Milwaukee’s program and support efforts to introduce kids to the game.
Thanks so much for the tips. I have a few famous games in mind, but I need to sort out those which have educational value and that I feel confident to talk about. Your suggestions are great. For king pawn openings, I was thinking of going through the refutation of the line: 1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 f6?? and recommending 2 . . . Nc6! in this continuation. I would like to do this for a variety of popular openings, including some I seldom play (it will be a learning curve). Fool's mate should get similar treatment. I have selected about 15 historic games that really impressed me, but half of them I think are too complicated so I will have to dig deep to find better material for teaching. As I prepare, I'll post my ideas here so anyone can give comment.
Hi.
As a (retired) college professor, I have lots of thoughts about setting up classes. You will have to consider the age range, skill level, and size of the group.
E S Lowe wrote a book called Chess in 30 Minutes. At the end of the book, he gives 7 or 8 sample games that are short and that illustrate basic tactics. These are great examples for a beginners class.
Hi.
As a (retired) college professor, I have lots of thoughts about setting up classes. You will have to consider the age range, skill level, and size of the group.
E S Lowe wrote a book called Chess in 30 Minutes. At the end of the book, he gives 7 or 8 sample games that are short and that illustrate basic tactics. These are great examples for a beginners class.
I'll look out for the book: it sounds ideal. The ages range from about 6 to 11.
This project is about to happen. There was some confusion about the age range of the students prior to procuring this new position (teaching the basics). This is open to everyone. I'm still writing the notes for the first session (2 days to go). I also stumbled upon some more books including: 'Play Winning Chess' by Yasser Seirawan. I will be recommending this book (for older students because the content may be too advanced for younger learners). It's an excellent book in my opinion and it is also modern. I believe a modern book is better for the students than the old classics: which are mostly written using descriptive notation.
Today I gave my first lesson. There were mostly parents and children who came. I burned the midnight oil yesterday preparing 5 pages of piece movement descriptions and visual diagrams. I believe I got everything in apart from the 50 move rule which I thought would be overkill. I got a really warm reception from everyone. I got the children and parents playing and they seemed completely absorbed during the games.
There was no time for it, but I had selected a game to look at, in case time were to permit: Napoleon vs The Turk through the eyes of Johann Allgaier. Not only does it have a curious story behind it, but it also features a name most people are likely to have heard of. Allgaier shows how to rip open the castled position followed by delivering a basic checkmate. Next week comes tactical motifs! 
Today I gave my first lesson. There were mostly parents and children who came. I burned the midnight oil yesterday preparing 5 pages of piece movement descriptions and visual diagrams. I believe I got everything in apart from the 50 move rule which I thought would be overkill. I got a really warm reception from everyone. I got the children and parents playing and they seemed completely absorbed during the games.
There was no time for it, but I had selected a game to look at, in case time were to permit: Napoleon vs The Turk through the eyes of Johann Allgaier. Not only does it have a curious story behind it, but it also features a name most people are likely to have heard of. Allgaier shows how to rip open the castled position followed by delivering a basic checkmate. Next week comes tactical motifs!
Nice to hear. Keep it going.
Nice to hear. Keep it going.
Thanks. I will do my best to inspire them. It was a lot of preparation, but the effort was truly rewarding. After the lesson, I played against a young Chinese girl (11 or 12 years old) and she parried several of my threats. I was really impressed by her understanding of the game. Once she starts making threats of her own, I expect her to become a very strong opponent.
The thought I am about to share with you is influenced by personal circumstances. Recently a friend of mine, who is a good player, started a regular chess event in the local library. Quite a few children have been attending the sessions. Today I heard that they were looking for someone to teach the kids some chess basics. I spend most of my time preparing guitar lessons and hardly have time to study chess. While the game analysis engine has rated me well over 2000 elo rapid on a few occasions, and my accuracy can go over 90%, my overall rapid rating performance is much lower (currently 1876 rapid). I know that playing into the late hours and being tired after working hard on other projects is an influencing factor.
So I was wondering what stronger players think of average players (I consider myself to be an average player) teaching kids the rules of chess along with a few fundamental principles and working with them on tactics. Let me put this another way: given that the kids currently have nobody teaching them, is it reasonable for an average player to try to assist and encourage their development. I asked my friend why he did not do it and he replied saying it was not his thing which I personally think is a shame. A. S. has defeated the British champion and I found out today that he played against Jovanka Houska (after I showed him one of her books that I recently purchased). That game ended in a draw. My friend has has also written numerous articles for BCM.
As far as teaching materials go, I am a dinosaur - I collect books!
Two that appeared in the second hand shop this week (now in my possession) look really good. 1. 'Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess' and 2. 'Power Chess for Kids' by Charles Hertan (a NIC publication).
If anyone has any thoughts, opinions or suggestions, I would be grateful if you were to share them with me. I am only contemplating this idea right now because it was suggested to me. I am under no illusions that this would be easy - it would be a tough challenge.