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Chess Mini-Games

Why mini-games are ideal for children learning chess

What is a chess mini-game ?

A chess mini-game typically has a limited number of pieces and allows a short fun game to be played with a basic set of rules to learn.

Fewer pieces

Most mini-games focus on one or two different piece types. Often mini-games don't even include kings and therefore the rules on how to win are very different to a full game of chess.

Simpler rules

Pieces move the same as they do in a full game of chess but some special rules such as promotion, en-passant, stalemate etc are excluded.

Ways to win

In a full game of chess you win by checkmate whereas in a mini-game you might have to get a pawn to the other side or capture all of your opponent's pieces to win.

Learning with mini-games

Children learn best by doing and so chess mini-games allow them to quickly start playing without having to learn many rules. They can focus on how one or two pieces move and build up gradually whilst still enjoying trying to win.

Simple

There are less pieces in a mini-game and the rules for how to win are much easier to absorb. More complex rules such as pawn promotion and en-passant can be introduced later.

Focussed

The children can focus on how a particular piece moves and try it out straight away as there is often only one or two piece types on the board. They can master how that piece moves before trying other mini-games that introduce different pieces.

Fun

Children love to play and a mini-game is easy enough and short enough to keep them engaged and rewarding when they win. They can play against a parent or teacher, other children and even against a computer.

Teaching Chess in the Classroom ?

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Classroom Edition

Mini-games in Acorn Chess

Acorn Chess includes a library of 150+ mini-games

Pawn battles / races

These games only include pawns and the winner is the first to get their pawn to the other side. The pawn stays as a pawn when it gets to other side and en-passant rule doesn't apply in these games.

Pawns vs pieces

One side has a number of pawns and the other side a single piece like a queen, rook, bishop or knight. The piece has to stop any of the pawns getting to the other side either by capturing them all or blocking the last one.

Knight games

Most of the knight games require each side to capture all of the opponent's pawns first. Only the knights can move the pawns are fixed. Knight snooker requires the knight to capture the opponent's pieces in a specific order.

Mazes

The bishop, knight and rook mazes require white to make consecutive safe moves until they put the black king in check. The King maze requires the king to find a safe path through to a particular square.

Starting position

All the pieces are on the board but not in their correct starting places. Each side on their turn has to make a move so that they ultimately end up with all their pieces on the standard starting position of a full game of chess. Whoever achieves this first is the winner.

Pieces vs pieces

There are a few variations of pieces against pieces where you either win by just capturing one of your opponent's pieces or by capturing them all. In Queen vs Bishops the side with bishops wins if neither bishop is captured within 5 moves.

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Triple Lloyd Puzzles

Named after the American chess composer and problem creator Samuel Lloyd, these puzzles require you to place a black king on the board to be in 1) checkmate, 2) stalemate and 3) mate in 1.

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Pawn Mower

Pawn Mower challenges require you to capture a pawn on every move and keep going until you capture all the pawns. Sounds easy but you have to capture in the right order or you run out of captures with pawns still left.

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Place piece games

In these games you must add a piece to the board. The Parachute King Hunt allows you to add a white piece each turn but it must put the king in check. Other place piece games require you to find a square to place a single piece that attacks all the other pieces on the board.

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