Who has "never" played chess before?

The first chess club meeting at Madison was held this week. I asked, "who has never played chess before?" Eight hands (out of 60) went into the air. I have a 4' x 8' rug at the front of the room where I place children that I want to give special attention to. I put the eight children who claimed to have never played chess on the rug. I paired them and posted a pic of a setup chess board on the wall. The children began setting up their boards and I didn't have to help a single child with the setup. In fact, one child said, "the white queen always goes on the white square, right?" I didn't even mention it beforehand.

As the 8 children began their games, I could tell that this was not the first time playing chess for most of them. One child said, "I know how to play, I'm just not very good." Another said, "my dad has been helping me." Of the 8, I'd say that only 2 really didn't know how to play.

The biggest surprise was that I put a .gif on the whiteboard of the four-move checkmate. One of the 8 beginners figured it out by watching it and defeated their opponent with it.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this new group of players! I think it's going to be a fun year!