we’ve been talking about the theme of
exploration all day and I’d like to
follow suit by inviting everyone in here
to imagine my favorite place on earth my
favorite place on earth is a sea where
mosquitoes can bathe an elephants can
drown this is a Indian proverb that is
referring to the 64 squares that make up
a chessboard the mosquitoes bathing
means that a beginner can take up chess
with ease in before long start at fun
the elephant’s drowning refers to the
inevitable soul-crushing mistakes that
any chess player will make at any time
in their career
my name is Tyler Schwartz I’m a chess
player I’m a chess teacher and just when
you thought a resume could get you
uninvited from a cocktail party faster
I’m also just commentator but this talk
isn’t about chess it’s a funny thought
about a funny call I got while playing
chess one day in the park
I was playing chess in the park 12 years
ago when a preschool called me wondering
if I could teach chess to the school’s
three four and five-year-old students
now I don’t know how many chess players
you know but it’s none of our dreams to
teach chess to students who are
constantly getting peanut butter stuck
in their hair another fact about chess
players and this is true we don’t get
offered many jobs I had just graduated
college and this great opportunity to
teach in this preschool represented a
practical way for me to stay in New York
and have a life there so I wanted to
make the most of it so I went online and
I googled best early should early
childhood chess curriculum and I don’t
think it will surprise you to learn that
there was no early childhood chess
curriculum at that
that’s because teaching chess to
that’s my daughter she’s very cute she’s
three years old but come on it’s
teaching chess to this age it’s just not
a great idea
we can start with something easy like
like the bishop okay
anyone here the bishop moves on a you
get a cookie diagonal a couple of things
about diagonals a three-year-old is
gonna have trouble pronouncing the word
diagonal it’s a little bit too long but
more importantly a three-year-old can’t
conceptually understand what a diagonal
is they probably haven’t come across
them in their life before they’ve never
seen them it they maybe haven’t seen him
every day and maybe just not put a name
to it but those little plastic things on
but my best qualities that I’m naive and
so I wanted to take this job in the
preschool and I’m happy to say that 13
years later I’m still the chess
specialist for the Washington market
school and Tribeca I run and seven years
ago my best friend John Sieber and I
funded a company called chess at three
that is devoted to teaching this
wonderful age how to play chess
this year chess at three will teach
10,000 children a week through our vast
tutor Network and online curriculum
well what I’m here to do today is to
take the method that we used to teach
chess two three and five year olds and
share it with you all so that the
parents and educators can extract it
from chess and use it to teach all new
concepts two three four and
five-year-olds that were before thought
to be too complicated sound fun okay the
first day I went into this preschool I
had very unambitious goals I just wanted
to teach the children about this the
king so I remember going into the first
class insane
hey kids my name is Tyler this is the
chess class this
the king he moves one square at a time
my name is Tyler and the the chess
teacher this is chess that’s one of the
rules up please do it and the class
hated chess and this question kept
coming up over and over all day why why
did the pieces move the way that they do
and my frustration kept growing and
growing as I saw the possibility of me
getting this job Wayne my frustration
boiled over in the seventh and final
class as a kid asked why and I said
something unexpected
I said hey kids uh this is the King he
moves one square at a time a kid asked
why and I said it’s because he’s got a
huge belly and the kid said what and
then did you say yeah what I said yeah
this is King Chomper and he had pancakes
for breakfast ten and all the kids
laughed and laughed and laughed because
that’s way too many pancakes for someone
to eat and for lunch he had 20
sandwiches and for dinner he had 30
pizzas and so how do you think his body
would look he is a huge coming out to
hear everyone in here pretend you have a
beach ball tummy right now like this I’d
be a kid again a bit uh okay that’s how
the kids understand King chopper is a
huge beach ball tummy and then the next
day King Chomper wakes up he goes
downstairs for breakfast and only sees
one lone pizza left and he goes to grab
it but then sneezes and the pizza flies
out of his window and lands in the
checkered lawn outside that is the
chessboard
and to one of the kids I said hey this
is King Chomper and I put him down I
want you to show me how you think he
likes to move and the child went up to
the king and went the child moved the
King according to the rule but never
hearing the rule only hearing a silly
story that allowed them to discover how
the piece moved on their own they didn’t
memorize that they discovered it so it’s
going to be permanent in their minds
that is the method that chests at three
teaches
yes to all kids stories that let
children discover what we’re trying to
teach them without us ever mentioned it
what I’d like to do next is to drill
down a little bit on what three
ingredients these stories need to have
in order for them to be successful for
this age
I’m a horrible note-taker so I’m
speaking to the Tyler’s in the crowd
right now this is going to be the part
you’re gonna want to write down because
you’ll be able to take this and teach
whatever you want to kids out you know
backgammon are at No Limit poker for
tonight okay first thing a character a
character with a simple motivation or
driving force King Chomper loves food
the rest is logical he has a big belly
and therefore moves slow the black King
his name King shakey he grew up in a
castle made of pillows and is afraid of
everything that’s not a pillow so he’s
scared of everything the next ingredient
is a reason for that character in ER to
interact with your world in this case
it’s a chess board what is gonna bring
these two kings to interact on the board
for King Chomper it’s because his pizzas
flew out of the window for King shakey
his jewels flew out of the window the
children can understand why they’re
actually going to this place at the same
time and the third ingredient is the
magic moment when the child is able to
take the motivation of the character put
it over the world that you’re trying to
teach them and discover a tactical truth
about their world by understanding the
one that you created let’s use these
three ingredients to go back to the
impossible bishops remember these guys
impossible to teach kids about that I
can’t pronounce the word they don’t know
the concept how could it be done what if
you could circumvent all that
complicated ‘no story that even a
three-year-old can understood i’d like
to introduce you to b and Baba they’re
twins
the trapeze artists and B loves the
color green everything she does is green
she has green hair green clothes green
shoes green car always eats salad
and baht the other Bishop loves the
color white white hair why clues white
shoes white car and he always drinks oh
no I’m sorry
as we were looking for is unfiltered
sake yes Bob has a drinking problem no
no I’m kidding milk you got it but
that’s all you need
cane shaky goes to their circus and he
sees them zipping around and he wants
them to play chess with him and so they
come back to the board because they want
to be his friend and you can see the
magic moment already give a kid a kid
Bishop and say this is B it’s okay love
screen goes on a green square and this
is Bob you can just put them on a white
square and now how do you think that
they like to move and you can see a
child approaching the bishop and saying
okay this bishop really likes green if I
go forward Boop that touches avoids
where it wears another green square oh
there’s one over here so I can get to
that one I can go through the corner
there and that’s when we can say that’s
it that’s how being Bob liked to move on
this thing called a diagonal because the
child discovered the concept in their
mind on their own so naming it is
secondary it’s easy they’ll pick up the
word as whenever they’re ready to this
is how we teach everything in chess of
three through all the pieces movements
to the most impossible thing which is
which is if a four-year-old plays a game
of chess with all his characters that he
loves and losses and has to shake hands
and that’s the real impossible one that
we’re proud of but I don’t have time to
share with you the story today of King
Rashard at the beginning of this talk we
all laughed
that teaching chess two kids three years
old was a bad idea and we thought that
was because the three-year-olds couldn’t
understand these complex concepts but
that’s not the truth the truth is that
they can understand the concepts they
just don’t care about them because we
haven’t communicated him to them in
their language the language of stories
that’s chess I
three’s big idea that is worth spreading
for the early childhood I’d like to
close as I opened with a quote that’s an
analogy revolving around a body of water
it’s by Antoine they synched expiry a if
you want to build a ship don’t draw up
men together would divide the work and
give orders instead teach them to teach
them to yearn for the vast and endless
sea what if instead of tricking kids to
learn what we think they should we
create a world that they fall in love
with something and they can teach
themselves I’m super proud of you guys and this already
exploration all day and I’d like to
follow suit by inviting everyone in here
to imagine my favorite place on earth my
favorite place on earth is a sea where
mosquitoes can bathe an elephants can
drown this is a Indian proverb that is
referring to the 64 squares that make up
a chessboard the mosquitoes bathing
means that a beginner can take up chess
with ease in before long start at fun
the elephant’s drowning refers to the
inevitable soul-crushing mistakes that
any chess player will make at any time
in their career
my name is Tyler Schwartz I’m a chess
player I’m a chess teacher and just when
you thought a resume could get you
uninvited from a cocktail party faster
I’m also just commentator but this talk
isn’t about chess it’s a funny thought
about a funny call I got while playing
chess one day in the park
I was playing chess in the park 12 years
ago when a preschool called me wondering
if I could teach chess to the school’s
three four and five-year-old students
now I don’t know how many chess players
you know but it’s none of our dreams to
teach chess to students who are
constantly getting peanut butter stuck
in their hair another fact about chess
players and this is true we don’t get
offered many jobs I had just graduated
college and this great opportunity to
teach in this preschool represented a
practical way for me to stay in New York
and have a life there so I wanted to
make the most of it so I went online and
I googled best early should early
childhood chess curriculum and I don’t
think it will surprise you to learn that
there was no early childhood chess
curriculum at that
that’s because teaching chess to
that’s my daughter she’s very cute she’s
three years old but come on it’s
teaching chess to this age it’s just not
a great idea
we can start with something easy like
like the bishop okay
anyone here the bishop moves on a you
get a cookie diagonal a couple of things
about diagonals a three-year-old is
gonna have trouble pronouncing the word
diagonal it’s a little bit too long but
more importantly a three-year-old can’t
conceptually understand what a diagonal
is they probably haven’t come across
them in their life before they’ve never
seen them it they maybe haven’t seen him
every day and maybe just not put a name
to it but those little plastic things on
but my best qualities that I’m naive and
so I wanted to take this job in the
preschool and I’m happy to say that 13
years later I’m still the chess
specialist for the Washington market
school and Tribeca I run and seven years
ago my best friend John Sieber and I
funded a company called chess at three
that is devoted to teaching this
wonderful age how to play chess
this year chess at three will teach
10,000 children a week through our vast
tutor Network and online curriculum
well what I’m here to do today is to
take the method that we used to teach
chess two three and five year olds and
share it with you all so that the
parents and educators can extract it
from chess and use it to teach all new
concepts two three four and
five-year-olds that were before thought
to be too complicated sound fun okay the
first day I went into this preschool I
had very unambitious goals I just wanted
to teach the children about this the
king so I remember going into the first
class insane
hey kids my name is Tyler this is the
chess class this
the king he moves one square at a time
my name is Tyler and the the chess
teacher this is chess that’s one of the
rules up please do it and the class
hated chess and this question kept
coming up over and over all day why why
did the pieces move the way that they do
and my frustration kept growing and
growing as I saw the possibility of me
getting this job Wayne my frustration
boiled over in the seventh and final
class as a kid asked why and I said
something unexpected
I said hey kids uh this is the King he
moves one square at a time a kid asked
why and I said it’s because he’s got a
huge belly and the kid said what and
then did you say yeah what I said yeah
this is King Chomper and he had pancakes
for breakfast ten and all the kids
laughed and laughed and laughed because
that’s way too many pancakes for someone
to eat and for lunch he had 20
sandwiches and for dinner he had 30
pizzas and so how do you think his body
would look he is a huge coming out to
hear everyone in here pretend you have a
beach ball tummy right now like this I’d
be a kid again a bit uh okay that’s how
the kids understand King chopper is a
huge beach ball tummy and then the next
day King Chomper wakes up he goes
downstairs for breakfast and only sees
one lone pizza left and he goes to grab
it but then sneezes and the pizza flies
out of his window and lands in the
checkered lawn outside that is the
chessboard
and to one of the kids I said hey this
is King Chomper and I put him down I
want you to show me how you think he
likes to move and the child went up to
the king and went the child moved the
King according to the rule but never
hearing the rule only hearing a silly
story that allowed them to discover how
the piece moved on their own they didn’t
memorize that they discovered it so it’s
going to be permanent in their minds
that is the method that chests at three
teaches
yes to all kids stories that let
children discover what we’re trying to
teach them without us ever mentioned it
what I’d like to do next is to drill
down a little bit on what three
ingredients these stories need to have
in order for them to be successful for
this age
I’m a horrible note-taker so I’m
speaking to the Tyler’s in the crowd
right now this is going to be the part
you’re gonna want to write down because
you’ll be able to take this and teach
whatever you want to kids out you know
backgammon are at No Limit poker for
tonight okay first thing a character a
character with a simple motivation or
driving force King Chomper loves food
the rest is logical he has a big belly
and therefore moves slow the black King
his name King shakey he grew up in a
castle made of pillows and is afraid of
everything that’s not a pillow so he’s
scared of everything the next ingredient
is a reason for that character in ER to
interact with your world in this case
it’s a chess board what is gonna bring
these two kings to interact on the board
for King Chomper it’s because his pizzas
flew out of the window for King shakey
his jewels flew out of the window the
children can understand why they’re
actually going to this place at the same
time and the third ingredient is the
magic moment when the child is able to
take the motivation of the character put
it over the world that you’re trying to
teach them and discover a tactical truth
about their world by understanding the
one that you created let’s use these
three ingredients to go back to the
impossible bishops remember these guys
impossible to teach kids about that I
can’t pronounce the word they don’t know
the concept how could it be done what if
you could circumvent all that
complicated ‘no story that even a
three-year-old can understood i’d like
to introduce you to b and Baba they’re
twins
the trapeze artists and B loves the
color green everything she does is green
she has green hair green clothes green
shoes green car always eats salad
and baht the other Bishop loves the
color white white hair why clues white
shoes white car and he always drinks oh
no I’m sorry
as we were looking for is unfiltered
sake yes Bob has a drinking problem no
no I’m kidding milk you got it but
that’s all you need
cane shaky goes to their circus and he
sees them zipping around and he wants
them to play chess with him and so they
come back to the board because they want
to be his friend and you can see the
magic moment already give a kid a kid
Bishop and say this is B it’s okay love
screen goes on a green square and this
is Bob you can just put them on a white
square and now how do you think that
they like to move and you can see a
child approaching the bishop and saying
okay this bishop really likes green if I
go forward Boop that touches avoids
where it wears another green square oh
there’s one over here so I can get to
that one I can go through the corner
there and that’s when we can say that’s
it that’s how being Bob liked to move on
this thing called a diagonal because the
child discovered the concept in their
mind on their own so naming it is
secondary it’s easy they’ll pick up the
word as whenever they’re ready to this
is how we teach everything in chess of
three through all the pieces movements
to the most impossible thing which is
which is if a four-year-old plays a game
of chess with all his characters that he
loves and losses and has to shake hands
and that’s the real impossible one that
we’re proud of but I don’t have time to
share with you the story today of King
Rashard at the beginning of this talk we
all laughed
that teaching chess two kids three years
old was a bad idea and we thought that
was because the three-year-olds couldn’t
understand these complex concepts but
that’s not the truth the truth is that
they can understand the concepts they
just don’t care about them because we
haven’t communicated him to them in
their language the language of stories
that’s chess I
three’s big idea that is worth spreading
for the early childhood I’d like to
close as I opened with a quote that’s an
analogy revolving around a body of water
it’s by Antoine they synched expiry a if
you want to build a ship don’t draw up
men together would divide the work and
give orders instead teach them to teach
them to yearn for the vast and endless
sea what if instead of tricking kids to
learn what we think they should we
create a world that they fall in love
with something and they can teach
themselves I’m super proud of you guys and this already
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