Chess for Children: How to Play the World's Most Popular Board Game Hardcover – April 1, 2004

Bought this for my first grade grandson who want to joint the chess team! His mother reports that he is fascinated with the book and very focused on the diagrams.

I am using this book to teach my two older children (6 and 4) and my wife (who never learned) how to play chess.It is WELL done at having bite sized lessons followed by exercises. (I add some additional ones of my own.)I was concerned about the algebraic chess notation lesson with my four year old, but he did great!The best part about this book is that it isn't just a "here are the rules" book. Last night we went through the lesson on the value of pieces and talking about whether a swap is good or not. Some other really good lessons are the ones showing common checkmates, that talk about what to do when in check, and the chapter on forks, pins, and skewers.This is a great book, but understand that it is for the absolute beginner. I think it is going MUCH better using this book than if I had tried to teach the kids just by myself.

I bought this to teach a kindergartner how to play. As I worked through it, I found it easier and more effective to just teach him straight ahead.In other words, I walked him through the name and function of each piece. I explained the board and piece layout. I explained castling and en passant. He got it.The exercises are good, but I used the book for ideas and for a sense of curriculum. That's why I give it four stars.While the book may have been used differently than I expected, it served my goal: to teach a young one chess.Anthony Trendlanthonytrendl.com

I want to teach my nine year old granddaughter to play chess but I haven't played myself since high school, so I needed my own refresher in order to be able to instruct her correctly. This book teaches the game so much better than I could do on my own. It introduces the moves of the different pieces and the game strategy in small bites; never more than a young person can grasp at once. And it has abundant illustrations, so your young player can visualize the concept being introduced. And the sequence of new material makes perfect sense. So logical! Really glad I found this book. It's a bargain, and fun to boot. Highly recommend.

My 6yo son got into the chess club in 1st grade and I felt this book as the wisest 1st book. I still agree it is the best 1st book most people should get, BUT his chess instructor thinks he should just be having fun playing the game. I'll probably be sneaking him through this book, but in as playful a manner, as possible. It is a tough call. I tend to overdue things and I don't want him burnt out, because of my expectations for his success. It is more important to have fun than to win, although most people find winning extremely fun... LOLAll in all, it is a great book covering ALL the general basics... 5 stars!

First let me say that overall this book is well-geared for children and adults alike. The content is excellent. HOWEVER there are HUGE printing errors that are massively confusing for one who actually reads the book and the moves closely.In the board depictions about taking the king the black king on the board is consistently illustrated as a white king in the move instructions. Particularly for young players still trying to figure out the notation system, this is highly confusing. I had to go through the book with a black pen and meticulously color-in the white king references that should have been black king references in the move instructions so that my grandsons wouldn't have whiplash from trying to figure out the book. This book has been in print since 2004. I am utterly shocked this has not been fully edited in the 2017 printing since this is the 12th reprinting of the book. Possibly this is a new error only in the 2017 re-print, but since I ordered this in December of 2017, it certainly seems someone would have noticed this and corrected it before...unless adults buy this book for kids to read and then wonder why the kids seem confused or turned off.The author or publisher definitely needs to address this problem. If the rest of the book wasn't really good or if I was not willing to go through and take about an hour to color in the move depictions, the best place for this book is the trash bin. The last thing I want to do for my grandchildren is to get them confused about chess if they take the time to read this book carefully. Very counter-productive.That said, with better key editing, this could be a very good book for kids.

I gave this book to my grandson for his 9th birthday. He has been playing around with a chess board for over a year with surprising skill and minimal instruction. This book contains excellent illustrations and instructions that he can read and understand is just what he needed to fine tune his game! It was helpful to me too, a beginner chess player! Chess is a wonderful mind game, full of strategy and abstract concepts and introducing it to children is a great gift.

This is a great book for children learning to play chess. I have a 7 and a 4 year old. The tests in the book keeps my 7 year old motivated to learn the lessons and earn "points" (That's how the book structures it). My 4 year old isn't old enough for the in-depth lessons, but is captured by the cartooned portions of the book as he learns basic names and moves. My 7 y/o will likely continue to learn strategy from this book for several months as he practices what he learns. All in all this is a great book that will help them advance over at least a year, if not more if they are younger. I recommend it.