Teen’s Gambit: Wareham seventh grader teaches chess

Feb 10, 2021

For one young Wareham entrepreneur, the pandemic created an opportunity.

When boredom struck Bill Gouveia, a seventh grader who attends Wareham Middle School, he came up with a creative way to occupy his Wednesday afternoons: He started giving virtual chess lessons.

“[I like] helping people out,” Gouveia said when asked why he likes giving lessons. He noted that he usually doesn’t have much to do in the afternoons. “I’m usually bored, so it also helps me not get bored. And it’s just fun to meet some new people as well.”

Gouveia has been playing chess for years. He said his grandfather showed him how to play when he was about 5 years old. “I really liked it, so I got into it,” he explained.

Before the pandemic, Gouveia said he played in tournaments and won some chess competitions.

“I’m not the most athletic person, so it’s a good sport for me,” he said with a laugh. “And I’m pretty good at it, so it’s fun.”

The chess lessons — which Gouveia offers via Zoom to keep things pandemic-safe — are not the first time he has taught others to play the game. In the past, Gouveia said he helped his chess instructor teach kids how to play at a club he used to attend before covid-19 made gatherings unsafe.

Gouveia’s virtual lessons are open to children ages 6 to 11. 

“Usually those are the people who are least likely to know,” the 13-year-old explained, adding that he thought it would be a little strange to teach people older than him. “And it’s going to be difficult to teach a 2-year-old how to play chess,” he joked.

For $60 total, kids are signed up for three weeks of hour-long chess lessons. Gouveia caps the lessons at five or six students per class. 

He explained that teaching kids chess “is easier with an actual chess board,” but he said it’s not that hard to do online.

During lessons, Gouveia shares his screen so that students can see a virtual chess board and pieces. He teaches chess moves and maneuvers using that board.

In the first lesson, Gouveia goes over how to properly set up a chess board and how the various different pieces can move around the board. Once students learn that information, Gouveia prompts kids to try some game-starting moves and talks them through various starting strategies.

In subsequent lessons, Gouveia said he continues to walk the kids through different ways to win matches and talks them through good and bad chess decisions.

He said he’s found that the most important way to verify that the kids understand what he’s taught is to ask them questions and have them explain what they’ve learned. 

He also said he learned to go over information multiple times: “The more times you go over it, the more likely they remember it.”

Gouveia plans to keep offering lessons virtually throughout the pandemic, and, once it’s safe, he might consider doing lessons in person, he said.

Parents looking for pandemic-safe ways to entertain children ages 6 to 11 who are interested in learning to play chess can sign up for Gouveia’s chess lessons online at https://www.facebook.com/groups/721057365463235 or by searching “Chess Basics with Bill” on Facebook.

After giving lessons for more than three months, Gouveia said the biggest thing he’s realized is that kids can pick up chess faster than he thought. 

“What I have realized is that people learn the game quicker than I expected, [...] which is actually pretty cool,” Gouveia said. “I thought this game would be harder to learn.”