Chess Is Child's Play (English, Laura Sherman | Bill Kilpatrick)

5.0 out of 5 starsGood book to learn how to teach chess to young children

Author structured the book very well. Introduced the pieces and concepts in the appropriate sequence based on the complexity of their movements. Usually we always start teaching with pawns. But pawns behalf differently at different places and it is very difficult for younger ones (2 to 5) to understand during the initial learning days. (1) Can start by moving two steps (2) But later can move only one step (3) They will travel straight but can attack diagonally that too only one step (4) Cannot move backwards (5) Promoted when reached last row (6) Finally, “en passant” most confused move for kids.In the book, it starts with rooks instead of pawns, followed by bishop. These pieces have single property (simple) i.e., move straight and diagonally respectively. Later it introduces slightly complex pieces in order Queen, King (With concept of check), Knight then finally pawns.In this book, other highlights are mini-games. For younger ones dealing with 32 pieces in 64 squares board is too overwhelming. With this mini-games author introduced the concepts of chess, attack, defend, check-mate with only fewer pieces. And these mini-games are fun and child feels the sense of achievement, which will keep them motivated to play again and again. My son (4 years) enjoyed the mini-games every well.The book is to learn only basics (in-fact too basic), it does not cover anything with respect to tactics or strategy. I will not consider this as con, but it would have been great if its covers one or two basic strategies.

5.0 out of 5 starsAmazingly sequenced

Perfect for beginners of any age. I used it to teach myself. :) :) : : : ; ; :

5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome

Extremely well written book !

Excellent walkthrough of how to teach chess to young children

I wish I'd bought this book before trying to teach my four year old to play chess. I thought because I knew how to play chess that it'd be easy, and I'd read various things about teaching pawns first, but it didn't really work. Going through this book has worked much better.It starts with rooks, then bishops and the queen and the concepts of taking pieces and attacking and defending pieces, moving onto a mini-game where you each have those pieces and just try and take the opponents' pieces. It then moves on to the king, check and checkmate, which were concepts that I'd found it hard to explain, but which my son having worked through the book, didn't have any problem with (at this point I also introduced a mini-game, not in the book, where he had lots of pieces and I had just a king and he had to try and checkmate me, which worked quite well and which I would recommend). It then covers the knight, pawns, and rules such as castling.It doesn't cover anything in terms of tactics or strategy, and for older children you could probably just explain the rules and then get on with it, but I found the way it ordered everything and the explanations it had for introducing the various aspects of the rules very well thought ought and obviously well tested on actual children. Definitely much better than trying to wing it!

The best tool for teaching children chess.

Having spent several months reviewing this text, I recommend it to anyone who has ever tried to give beginners instruction in the game of chess.Firstly, the mini games. Anyone who has ever tried to get more than one child on the same sheet of music knows that it can sometimes be like having a bowling alley installed in your head. These mini games are designed to keep your child's interest while craftily getting them to practice the lesson over and over. Quite unique and fun for the parent and child at the same time.Secondly, the order of the lessons. For me the biggest struggle was keeping the attention of any child while I ground away at each piece movement usually starting with the pawn. It seems so simple to to me now that you would start instruction with THE ROOK and move up in difficulty from there. This book moves so fluidly from one lesson to the next and gradually eases your child up into tougher scenarios.Lastly, how the piece movements are taught. From rook to pawn. One short example. As a child I had great challenges understanding the movement of the knight because I was taught to make an "L" movement. How big was that "L" supposed to be again? Two up, one over? Three or four? It was the hardest piece for me by far. Laura and Bill's explanation of just having the knight "hop" the fence and land on the opposite color smacked me with a knight awakening. How logical and simple. How PURE! My daughter has no traces of the knight troubles that I had.This book is a must have in your shelf for anyone (experienced teacher or patient parent) that wants to spread the joy of chess. There is not a better priced chess text given the gems contained within.