You are playing a game with your child. You can easily beat them, but do not want to make them feel bad. Your first response would be to let them win of course, to spare their feelings, but there is a cost.
By letting them win, they are missing out on learning how to improve their current level, and how to constructively deal with failure.
But won't loosing make them feel discouraged?
No one likes to lose. But there are things you can do to make it a more positive experience.
Let them almost win, and feel that they put up a tough fight during the contest.
Explain what they can do to beat you. "Are you sure you want to move there...I will jump you if you do! Can you see?"
This is also a good time to show how not to be a sore loser, or sore winner!
Make it a rule that your children shake hands with their opponents and say, “Good game”, win or lose.
Focus on the fun of the gameplay itself, rather than the final outcome.
Regardless of what the game or sport happens to be, determine the level of skill that the child is on, and make the challenge slightly above that level. If the challenge is too hard, the child will be discouraged to try again. If the challenge is too little, no progress is made.