Winning Chess Puzzles For Kids is the perfect introduction to
basic chess tactics for children ages 7 to 13. Full of imaginative
drawings, this workbook combines standard chess problems with a variety
of insightful chess-related puzzles. The main part of the book consists
of exercise sheets with more than 1000 positions, covering mates in one
or two moves, and simple tactics such as forks, pins, and discovered
checks. There are also over 100 pages of additional material with names
like Lily’s Puzzlers, Combo Mombo, Kiril’s Kontest,
Who’s The Goof, and Switcheroos, plus word searches and chess
mazes.
This book can be studied by itself or used as a supplement
to the author’s earlier works: Winning Chess Strategy For
Kids and Winning Chess Exercises For Kids. Taken together, they make a
complete course of instruction for the aspiring player.
From
the author’s notes:
Winning Chess Puzzles For Kids is written as a children’s
workbook, but chess instructors and school teachers should find it a
useful resource.
There are two categories of material: tactical exercises and
chess-related puzzles. They are divided evenly into 40
“chapters”, separated by the Kiril’s Kontest pages.
In general, the level of difficulty increases as the book progresses.
The tactical exercises are intended for students who are new to
the game. The problems are basic though not necessarily easy to solve.
They require the same thoughtful approach that players should apply to
their games.
The puzzles are meant to be fun and challenging. Their
instructional value varies, but together, they provide a wealth of
insights into chess.
About half of the Lily’s Puzzlers come from other sources.
The rest of the material in the book, unless noted otherwise, is
original.
A few words about mazes. This form of puzzle, with variations in
the rules, can be found in other books and on various websites. Some
claim to have invented the “chess maze”. But it’s
hard to create anything new! Those in this book were composed before
1994, and have appeared in each issue of Scholar’s Mate since
then.
