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To stand out in this crowd, a book has to have “something” extra. For example, Chess for Children by Murray Chandler and Helen Milligan stars a cool alligator; while How to Play Chess Like an Animal by Brian Wall has a zoo’s worth of critters inside.
Checkmate! My First Chess Book
by Garry Kasparov has the benefit of an author who is arguably the best
chess player ever, as well as an inspired design
The Chess Workbook for Children by Todd Bardwick (“The Chess Detective”) will keep the kids busy working and thinking at chess; One Move at a Time: How to Play and Win at Chess and Life by Orrin Hudson will keep them busy growing up at the same time. Heck, The Great Pawn Hunter Chess Tutorial - Stories, Poetry and Games by Manus Patrick Fealy has, in addition to chess instruction, well, stories, poetry and games…
Paul Mantell, an author of many sports-related books for young readers, and Dean Ippolito, an International Master and president of the Dean of Chess Academy (http://www.deanofchess.com/), have put together an attractive and readable primer in Chess in Action. The pieces are introduced, their moves explained, their values presented – all from the point of view of an upcoming and ongoing battle: “You are the commanding general of a mighty army …”
The authors cover basic strategy and tactics; take a look at the opening, middle game and end game; and give a bit of information on the history of chess and the current chess scene. Extra value comes in a Glossary of chess terms, a Bibliography and Internet Resources. A few chess problems are interspersed throughout the books, to illustrate and test presented concepts. Diagrams and algebraic notation are well used.
In addition, both “Note from Dean Ippolito” and the “Preface” give insights into the authors’ own early chess play, with pictures of the young pawn pushers, which are nice touches.
The artwork by Giacomo Marchesi is what really sets Chess in Action apart. The chess pieces – by themselves, on the board, or illustrating the themes on the accompanying pages – are rendered in 3-dimensions, and are stylized human forms (except the Rook), looking as if they are wrought of pewter. They move, they emote, they dominate the pages.
Call the illustrations “flash” or consider them “secondary” to the instructional words at your own risk: a chess book is only as good as the number of times it is actually looked at and read. Marchesi’s creativity has turned Chess in Action from solid iron into a very, very powerful magnet for young (and not-so-young) readers. I’ve been devouring chess books for over 50 years, and I went through this one page-by-page, several times.
Check out the cover, especially the back. It’s true that you can’t fully “judge a book by its cover” but if the artwork doesn’t get you thumbing through the book – well, there’s always tic-tac-toe…
Libraries, chess clubs, doting aunts and uncles of prodigies-to-be: give this one a look see.
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Chessville
The
Advertise to Single insert:
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There
are many books written
to introduce children to chess. Most do their job well. Some do
it with style.
crew
that didn’t spare the colors – it is only bypassed by Igor Sukhin’s
magnificent
