Chess for Juniors: A Complete Guide for the Beginner

I got this book a couple of years ago and now am chess club presendent at my school chess club in 7th grade. I loaned it out so many times it is getting worn out. When I went to get a copy now I found out it is temporarily not in print because it is going to be made a new edition. I plan to get the new edition for the chess club. What I liked about this book is that it isn't a silly little kids picture book. It teaches serious material using an easy to understand method by making the language basic enough and organizing it in an order to make it learning friendly. It would be good for anyone who can read as well as an average third grader right on up to adults. The index in the back makes it easy to find things and relook things up like terms, openings and rules. Everyone in the school chess club likes it and uses it for continued reference even after having read it. I think this is the best first book for kids and adults.

I run two after school chess programs at elementary schools and use "Chess for Juniors" as the text book. At first I was disapointed to see that this book has become difficult to get (if you can get a used copy grab it!). However, I found out is is going through a complete revision and will be a second edition when released later this year (as well as the entire "Chess for Juniors" series of books, including some new ones to be released). "Chess for Juniors" is the perfect text book for teachers who are running a class for elementary age students on up (yes, it is suitable for a class for adults) beginning with an introduction to the basic rules and leading into a lot of basic material on strategy found in all aspects of the game. What I found that sets "Chess for Juniors" (and the entire series) in a class by itself is the readability (ease of understanding the material) and comprehensiveness of the book. Whereas, a 3rd grade reader of average reading skill can understand it, it is not going to insult an adult who wants to learn from it. It is is structured so any teacher conducting a class can easily follow the building lessons (it provides the perfect format for a ready-made class outline!). Please hurry with the second edition!!!

CHESS FOR JUNIORS is the book I recommend to EVERYONE who looking for their first book on chess. You will be taken on a journey of 20 well organized and informative chess lessons that progress at a nice pace. Lots of digrams (not not pictures and drawings, except for the pieces are nicely drawn to show you what they look like on a staunton design chess set) with problems to work on make it a smooth read. The book is not skimpy so there is enough of material to take you from absolute beginning well on past being an advanced beginner. It does an exceptionally good job of covering all the important rules and gets into strategy perfect for a new player to the game. This book is not just for kids - it is a great book for adults as well who can handle some of the humor that is designed to keep kids attention. When you finish this book I recommend getting WINNING CHESS TOURNAMENTS FOR JUNIORS (I rate it *****) that will continue with the same opening system, tactics and endgames where CHESS FOR JUNIORS leaves off (plus much more, including getting into rules for tournament play). HIGHLY RECOMMENED AS YOUR FIRST CHESS BOOK!!!

CHESS FOR JUNIORS: A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR THE BEGINNER is very complete in every respect! A solid foundation is laid for anyone who can read a at a second grade level. Clarity and ease of understanding of what many consider to be a difficult game to learn is an important aspect of CHESS FOR JUNIORS. If you like a stepping-stone approach to learning, where each lesson builds upon the former lessons (expanding on them), then this is the perfect book for you! Lots of diagrams are provided making it easy to visualize the written word. Students are asked to solve basic problems - and this isn't overdone. The author has a wonderful command of the English language. KEY ITEMS; - A very comprehensive index is in the back of the book. This is a special feature not provided by most beginner's books. Want to look up something quickly? Almost every important chess term, opening or situation that is covered by the book can be quickly located! -- The rules are taken nice and slowly at a nice pace. You aren't expected to run before you can walk! Special attention is given to explaining the more difficult rules for a beginner to understand, such as "en passant" (2.5 pages!), "castling", "check", "checkmate" and "draws". --- The principles of development and control of the center are clearly explained before getting into an actual well thought out opening system (well suited for beginners with the Ruy Lopez, Sicilian, Nimzo-Indian and Queens-Indian included with a detailed move by move analysis). ---- All of the basic tactics are covered such as the "pin", "skewer", "fork", "hanging piece", "discovered attack", etc... Later in the book more advanced tactics are covered like sacrifices on "f7". ----- The most important opening traps of importance for a beginner are covered including how to defend against the Scholar's Mate, etc... ------ Checkmate patterns are covered (mates on "f7", on the "h4-e8 and h5-e8" diagonals, smothered mate, back rank mates, etc...). ------- Endgames with the checkmate with 2 rooks, a lone Queen and a lone King are taught. Then important simple King and Pawn endgames are included. -------- How Rooks should be used (opening files, doubling, placement on the seventh rank) and Pawn Weaknesses and Structures are covered (isolated, doubled, backward) with the whys and hows. --------- Two next complete games are given with every move analyzed. These games have many ideas covered earlier in the book and set you up for the same author's next book, UNBEATABLE CHESS LESSONS FOR JUNIORS if you like this learning format. After that then MORE UNBEATABLE CHESS FOR JUNIORS. ---------- Continuing to improve with important advice and how to read the old descriptive chess notation that other books may have is in the last lesson. An introduction to the world of chess is given, without over doing it. ----------- A continuation book covering more tactics, openings and endgames taking over where CHESS FOR JUNIORS leaves off is provided in WINNING C

As an elementary school teacher as well as a chess player I have found CHESS FOR JUNIORS to be the perfect text book for introducing my students to this wonderful brain sport. Chess is a great way of helping my students improve their concentration and studies have shown that chess helps improve reading and math test scores. CHESS FOR JUNIORS is not only used for the lesson plans it has by myself, but it is clear and easy reading for the students. It was only a few years ago that I came across CHESS FOR JUNIORS after having used a couple of other books. The other books, which had a combination of nice pictures, fancy illustrations mixed in with a reading level that was not suited for upper grade elementary school readers, were ok for a good teacher to read to their students. However, my search ended when discovering CHESS FOR JUNIORS. Now a little bit about the material in the book: a. It is logically organized beginning with a little bit of background made interesting to read. It then goes into the basic rules (especially good is how the author covers, "en passant", "castling", "check", "checkmate", "pawn promotion" and the "movement of the Knight" which often confuse first time beginners) and moves into strategy. b. Each lesson builds upon former lessons, introducing new strategy based on the material covered in previous lessons. This is the way teachers actually cover material in a classroom. It does have the drawback of covering just one subject in an entire chapter like so many other beginning books I have seen. c. Extreme wide coverage of important tactics. There are enough problem format examples for students to work on and a teacher to set up that if a club was to have a weekly meeting it would have enough material for an entire school year. It covers ALL of the most important basic mates (especially good is the coverage of "how to defend against the scholar's mate", "rook roller mate", "back rank mate", "mates against the weak f7 square such as Legal's mate", "smothered mate" including the "Philidor's Legacy" mate). It covers all of the important opening traps (especially good is the coverage of "Petrov's Trap") and tactics that win material (nicely covered with good examples are "the pin", "the fork", "the skewer/x-ray attack", "discovered check/attack", "overworked defender" and more). d. Good Opening System. The opening system introduced does not go off into hundreds of complicated variations. It doesn't suggest over ambitious gambit lines nor openings that are over positional or mechanical (not allowing the student to think for them self). The openings are well rounded with a good degree of openings containing important opportunities to get into tactical situations - allowing the openings to be "learning openings" for a beginner. Excellent are the Ruy Lopez and the line against the Sicilian as White (there is also a nice brief coverage of other ways to handle replies to 1 e4 such as the French, Alekhines, Center Counter and Caro Kan