Chess for Kids

About the book

The book is very concise and child friendly. Firstly it brings a short history of chess, then explains chess set, notation and all the chess pieces. Explaining chess pieces is accompanied with photos showing possible moves and diagrams for practicing.

The book is formatted in encyclopedia-like style, with chess rules presented in a really clear way and photos of actual chess boards and step by step explanations. My kids liked the book and it reminded them of some encyclopedias that we own.

This is a great example of putting pressure on the pinned piece from the book. "Power of the pinned piece is imaginary", Nimzowitsch said. White to play. Why is white much better?

About the author

The author, Michael Basman was an English chess player and an IM, well known for his unorthodox openings. He created the UK Chess Challenge, chess tournament for school-aged children and he dedicated much of his life to teaching schoolchildren. It seems that all of his work with children, years of coaching and tutoring, Basman tried to pour into Chess for Kids, and I think he did a good job.

Conclusion

Chess for kids is a great book for teaching kids chess basics. It does seem to have maybe a bit of an aged format nowadays but, for kids that are not exposed to screens too much, it is a great choice. It has everything in one place, everything chess basics are well explained and with nice pics. Our 8 year old likes to read it by herself and to solve puzzles and our 5 year old likes to flip through it and solve the puzzles with us. They both liked the book very well.

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