How to Play Chess for Children: A Beginner's Guide for Kids To Learn the Chess Pieces, Board, Rules, & Strategy (Chess for Beginners) Paperback – April 26, 2017

This is very helpful when learning for the first time. My son can't wait to learn.

The content was easy to read, the examples were on point and the illustrations were very helpful. I bought 3 and used it to teach children age 7-12 and it worked well across reading levels.

I would NOT recommend buying this book. It is chock full of confused nomenclature and diagrams that don't match the text. If you don't know anything about chess, this book will confuse and mislead you.For example, after explaining that the "rows" (ranks) left to right are numbered 1 (bottom) to 8 (top) and the "columns) are identified by letters (A - bottom left, to H - bottom right) it goes on to explain how individual locations on the board are named (eg B-6, H-4, etc). So far so good. But then, in the section using this nomenclature to tell where the pieces go to set up the game the book gets the numbers and letter all wrong. (A kid trying to follow this to set up the board would get it all wrong).Illustrations for "Castling" show all the pawns in place which may be confusing because you can't clear Row 1 of the knight and bishop (left) or knight, bishop, and queen (right) without moving at least one pawn out of the starting place (text is correct here).The description of the "en passant" move is correct, but the illustration shows the black pawn in the wrong location at the end of the move -in F-4 instead of in F-3 where it ought to be.In Chapter 5 (Mid-Game Strategies), the text misidentifies a rook in the illustration as a bishop (p 41). The error is repeated in another description on p. 47.In my opinion the book should be removed from sale until it is revised. A big problem is a mis-match between text and illustrations.

A great beginner’s book, however, I must agree with the other reviews about the several errors found on pages 8-11 defining where the pieces go along the X and Y access. This is disappointing since the placement of pieces is the most important part of learning and starting the game. That said, the Author has set up the pieces correctly and the actual diagrams are displayed correctly. If you do buy this book, view the board and how it is set up and disregard the confusing and inaccurate written explanations.I agree, Tim has a great idea, and this is very basic and easy to understand book, but he should have proof-read and checked for errors before having it published. I hope he makes the corrections.I still would recommend this book.

Grandson really liked it

My 7 y/o has read through it twice. Helped to make him Take 1st place for his chess club where he helps teach the other children how to play.

Granddaughter started chess club at school and finds this book very helpful.

Chapter 2 coordinates for setting pieces are wrong...Chapter 3 en passant rule is not fully explained..Chapter 5 discussions of pinning and skewer are inept and miss the point and real value of those maneuvers..Chapter 6 should have come next to explain the object and goal of the game. Unfortunately, the diagrams intended to show queen mates are incorrect, the king has an uncovered escape square...Chapter 7 two distinctly different concepts, perpetual check and recurring position, are hopelessly muddled into one...Recording moves and timing are totally absent as are protocols like touch move, adjusting, and the like...Spend your money elsewhere, there are many many much better books than this one for kids and novices trying to learn the game...