Chess Tactics for Kids Reviews

• Chess Tactics, Traps and Combination books - the best way to get better

  
  By on 2006-09-15
  When you are a beginner there is nothing better than studying books on Tactics, Traps and Combinations in chess. This is because the mind of a beginner can certainly understand 1 + 1 = 2. The value of the pieces is clear and coming out ahead can be calculated. This is a point that is a first step in learning chess! Tactics, at any point of the game are important to learn. Knowing what they are, how they work and recognizing them at a glance is necessary if you are going to become a good chess player. "CHESS TACTICS FOR KIDS" works on the most important starting tactics by showing you what they are and giving brief examples. This is not a tactics workbook where you will find hundreds of examples (a good book to get after this) or a traps book (a book also good to get) where you can see the tactics arise from the first move of the game. It is a book where you will learn the "mechanics" of the tactics. The brief chapter on each tactic is a great way to get started!
  
  

• Good way to improve your game

  
  By on 2005-10-25
  Learning Tactics will help you win 90 percent of your games. I like this book because it covers a good variety of tactics ranging from forks to pins and more. Could probably use more problems but the problems it has are very good. [...]
  
  

• Great Book in Combination

  
  By on 2005-02-06
  I think this is a great book with HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD AT CHESS, WINNING CHESS TOURNAMENTS FOR JUNIORS and ART OF THE CHECKMATE.
  These are all wonderful books that teach you how to be a winner!
  
  

• Good Tactics

  
  By on 2005-01-07
  This book has some good positions to learn from. I got this book in my school library but found the newer book "Winning Chess Tournaments for Juniors" to be even better. But this book is still good.
  
  

• Aimed at children but good for adults too

  
  By A2T52F3JJ3FRWB on 2006-02-25
  This is Murray Chandler's follow up to his highly successful "How To Beat Your Dad At Chess". The book presents 50 common tactical ideas - pins, skewers, forks, stalemate and many more - each one explained and illustrated in a double page spread. Only themes which occur fairly commonly in practice are included, and there are six diagrams per double page. The explanations are in simple language, and each diagram is accompanied by a brief commentary pointing out the salient features of the position. The continuations are very short (usually only one or two moves) so they can be followed easily without the need for a board.
  
  Three or four examples are given of each tactical trick, with the aim of getting the reader to recognise certain patterns, and hopefully apply this newly acquired pattern recognition to his/her own games. To test how well the patterns have been absorbed there are 54 test positions for the reader to try. If the reader is unable to spot the continuation, a hint is given by way of a reference to the number of the tricky tactic that is being tested. So you can refresh your memory by looking back at the illustrated examples and then hopefully spot the same theme in the test position. All of the illustrative positions and test positions are taken from actual play (though there are no game references given), and there are no artificially composed positions.
  
  Although the book is aimed at children in the first instance, it could be used equally profitably by adult beginners who wish to sharpen up their tactical awareness.
  
  This review first appeared in the magazine En Passant.
  
  
  
• Fun book - a few mistakes
  By on 2004-08-07
  This is a fun book to read to go over the puzzels that it gives using different tactics. It is a little more expensive than Winning Chess Tactics for Juniors and I found a few mistakes in the book.
  For a kid this book is fair to good compared to other books of its type.
  
  
• Chess tactics and combinations to make you a more powerful player quickly!
  By A1J93EGDYK0IWA on 2006-12-30
  This is a great book that compliments "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess." It covers various chess tactics that come up or can be created to win material, gain positional advantages and impose checkmate.
  
  Overall, the book is highly readable with good diagrams and easy to follow text. It is thorough in covering important and commonly used tactics, but not overwhelming for new players.
  
  I think Chess Tactics for Kids is a misnomer in a sense since this book is appropriate for almost any adult and probably wouldn't be very useful to kids under 12 years old unless they have more than a casual interest in chess. However, younger kids could certainly grow into it as their interest peaks and they master more fundamental skills.
  
  I've been playing chess for years and got a lot out of this book. I think it's perfect for teenagers and highly recommend it to adults who have not read seriously on chess and are somewhat intimidated or bored by move-by-move type chess books. I also recommend it to younger kids with more advanced chess skills or who are serious doing their homework to improve their skills.
  
  I wish this book was available when I was learning to play chess. It would have saved me a lot of time learning things the hard way and wading through a lot of overly complicated move-by-move type books that I wasn't ready for.
  
  
• Another awesome book for fast improvement
  By on 2006-06-16
  A few years ago the author of this title wrote his How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, an original and popular book which taught checkmating patterns. In Chess Tactics for Kids the lessons are all about learning chess tactics which win material, for example winning a pawn or a piece.
  The format is very similar to the DAD book and equally effective.
  
  To improve at chess, the best chess teachers will tell you to study a variety of chess books. If you are interested in the opening stages, and are confused by all the choices, go for a book like Understanding the Chess Openings by Collins. This gives a useful overview of all openings.
  
  If you want to study middlegames try a move-by-move book or study a collection of games played by a great player. But if tactics is your thing, you can't go wrong with Grandmaster Chandler's two books.
  
  As a pair, How to Beat Your Dad at Chess and Chess Tactics for Kids cover all the basic tactical themes a chess player is likely to encounter. The motifs are grouped by, well, motif, and the concept of pattern recognition is introduced in a way that is easily understood.
  There are several hundred diagram examples per book, including tests and puzzle positions to solve.
  
  The best thing of all is how often these themes, tricks and traps occur. I found that I had been getting numerous opportunities to win in my own games, only I just didn't realize it! Chess Tactics for Kids teaches how to spot the patterns where a tactic is likely to be lurking.
  
  It is amazing how quickly winning combinations can be found, once you know the patterns.
  
  
  
  
• Chess Tactics for Everyone
  By on 2004-08-15
  This is a sequel to the book How to beat your Dad at Chess and once again Murray Chandler gives us an overlooked work of genius. This book is not just for kids, it's for all beginners to intermediate players who want to get ahead in the middlegame. This time instead of giving tactics leading to checkmate it allows you to gain material- from a pawn to a queen- or save a game by forcing stalemate. I think it should have been called Using Tactics to beat your Dad in chess.
  
  The sub-title of this book is 50 Tricky Tactics to Outwit your Opponents, and it contains 50 tricky tactics that can get you out of a tough situation. While the beginning tactics teach the more basic tricks, like forks and pins, when you get deeper into the book, you'll find tricks that even grandmasters could miss. In the introduction, there is a great page that explains the algebraic notation which can help all chess players to read moves made in the book and enable them to write down moves in their own chess games. This isn't new information, but I like the concise way its explained and the symbols used through out the book.
  
  How to beat your Dad at Chess was all about pattern recognition and this one is about motifs. Each tactic merits its own chapter. He breaks studying tactics into three steps. Step one is learn what the basic tactical motifs are and how they operate. He says there are 12 basic tactical motifs, which are: forks, pins, skewers, decoys, deflections, overloads, discovered attacks, discovered checks, double checks, desperado sacrifices, stalemates, zwischenzugs (in-between moves), perpetual checks, and breaking the pin. In the first chapters he teaches you what every one of those tactics are and how you can use them to crush your opponent's defenses.
  
  Step two is recognizing typical patterns by seeing where piece formations make it possible to execute different tactics. Chandler gives three examples. I find this part the most difficult to identify because the tactic is often hidden from both yourself and opponent. When using tactics, you need to look ahead more than one move, and be intentional in your choices of strategy. You always have to look ahead. Once you see patterns often enough, it becomes easier to recognize. That's why you have to play a lot and study different games to be able to "site read" the formations and recognize patterns quickly.
  
  In Step three, he combines tactics to out-calculate the opponent. This is also a very difficult step because instead of just having to recognize where one tactic can be used, you have to recognize other tactics to set up one ahead of time. An example is sacrificing a knight to pin the opponent's queen. I knew this before, however, Chandler gave me new distinctions by telling how to recognize that the sacrifice will gain material. Near the end of the book, he shows you how to use step three.
  
  A great example of combining tactics is Tricky Tactic #13, The Rook-c8 and the Knight-e7 check Trick. Some hints to show you when you can use this tactic, or when your opponent can use it on you, are:
  
  A White knight on d5 and a White rook on the open c-file;
  
  A black queen on d8 and a black king on g8; and
  
  Black's e7 square is undefended, except by the black queen.
  
  I have fallen victim to this tactic several times before reading this book. What happens is the White rook comes down to the c8 square, using itself as a decoy sacrifice. The Black queen then takes that White rook putting herself in position for a knight fork. Then the knight on d5 jumps to the e7 square. This forks the Black king and queen and wins the Black queen for the White rook.
  
  Once again, at the end of the book, there is a wonderful test to determine how much you've learned about tactics. First, you're tested on identifying the tactics, then on how well you can find and executive tactics.
  
  I think that people should read Chess Tactics for Kids before reading How to beat your Dad at Chess because Chess Tactics for Kids helps you get to the middlegame and endgame positions where you can use the checkmates shown in How to beat your Dad at Chess. So even though Chandler may have written this second, I think it should read first. I recommend this book to beginner and intermediate players of all ages because it will help you defeat any opponent that comes at you or maybe even your poor old suffering Dad. It might even help your Dad if you let him read it!
  
  
  
  
  
• A complete tactics course
  By on 2005-11-08
  If you are looking for a totally absolute complete course on tactics, my suggestion is to get this book and the "How to Beat your DAD at chess" book. Put together you get coverage of all tactics themes in a format that is fun and contains tons of instruction.
  
  Between them that is a total of 100 different tactics motifs, with over 700 diagrams overall to illustrate the ideas and provide test positions.
  
  A motif is an idea for a combination that can be used in lots of different situations, even if the position is different each time.
  
  The themes are shown in a fantastically clear way that is easy to understand, and I don't think it matters in which order you read the books. My experience was that the DAD book was extra fun because it covers attack against the king, and everyone loves playing sacrifices to give a forced checkmate.
  
  But I also found that "Chess Tactics for Kids" has lots of tactical ideas that I get to use nearly every game I play.A real incentive to learn all the positions.
  
  
• Chess Tactics for Everyone!
  By on 2003-12-22
  This is a sequel to the book How to beat your Dad at Chess and once again Murray Chandler gives us an overlooked work of genius. This book is not just for kids, it's for all beginners to intermediate players who want to get ahead in the middlegame. This time instead of giving tactics leading to checkmate it allows you to gain material- from a pawn to a queen- or save a game by forcing stalemate. I think it should have been called Using Tactics to beat your Dad in chess.

  The sub-title of this book is 50 Tricky Tactics to Outwit your Opponents, and it contains 50 tricky tactics that can get you out of a tough situation. While the beginning tactics teach the more basic tricks, like forks and pins, when you get deeper into the book, you'll find tricks that even grandmasters could miss. In the introduction, there is a great page that explains the algebraic notation which can help all chess players to read moves made in the book and enable them to write down moves in their own chess games. This isn't new information, but I like the concise way its explained and the symbols used through out the book.

  How to beat your Dad at Chess was all about pattern recognition and this one is about motifs. Each tactic merits its own chapter. He breaks studying tactics into three steps. Step one is learn what the basic tactical motifs are and how they operate. He says there are 12 basic tactical motifs, which are: forks, pins, skewers, decoys, deflections, overloads, discovered attacks, discovered checks, double checks, desperado sacrifices, stalemates, zwischenzugs (in-between moves), perpetual checks, and breaking the pin. In the first chapters he teaches you what every one of those tactics are and how you can use them to crush your opponent's defenses.

  Step two is recognizing typical patterns by seeing where piece formations make it possible to execute different tactics. Chandler gives three examples. I find this part the most difficult to identify because the tactic is often hidden from both yourself and opponent. When using tactics, you need to look ahead more than one move, and be intentional in your choices of strategy. You always have to look ahead. Once you see patterns often enough, it becomes easier to recognize. That's why you have to play a lot and study different games to be able to "site read" the formations and recognize patterns quickly.

  In Step three, he combines tactics to out-calculate the opponent. This is also a very difficult step because instead of just having to recognize where one tactic can be used, you have to recognize other tactics to set up one ahead of time. An example is sacrificing a knight to pin the opponent's queen. I knew this before, however, Chandler gave me new distinctions by telling how to recognize that the sacrifice will gain material. Near the end of the book, he shows you how to use step three.

  A great example of combining tactics is Tricky Tactic #13, The Rook-c8 and the Knight-e7 check Trick. Some hints to show you when you can use this tactic, or when your opponent can use it on you, are:

  A White knight on d5 and a White rook on the open c-file;

  A black queen on d8 and a black king on g8; and

  Black's e7 square is undefended, except by the black queen.

  I have fallen victim to this tactic several times before reading this book. What happens is the White rook comes down to the c8 square, using itself as a decoy sacrifice. The Black queen then takes that White rook putting herself in position for a knight fork. Then the knight on d5 jumps to the e7 square. This forks the Black king and queen and wins the Black queen for the White rook.

  Once again, at the end of the book, there is a wonderful test to determine how much you've learned about tactics. First, you're tested on identifying the tactics, then on how well you can find and executive tactics.

  I think that people should read Chess Tactics for Kids before reading How to beat your Dad at Chess because Chess Tactics for Kids helps you get to the middlegame and endgame positions where you can use the checkmates shown in How to beat your Dad at Chess. So even though Chandler may have written this second, I think it should read first. I recommend this book to beginner and intermediate players of all ages because it will help you defeat any opponent that comes at you or maybe even your poor old suffering Dad. It might even help your Dad if you let him read it!
  
  

• Best book on Tactics
  By on 2005-10-28
  If you are not already an experienced player, this neat little book will improve your game for sure. It's all about pattern recognition: spotting familiar clusters of pieces that alert strong players to the possibility of a combination. There are 50 different motifs covered, and all win material in one way or another.
  All strong players know and use these patterns frequently. Learning them is essential if you want to improve. Chandler's book is clearly intended for the lower level player (though not only juniors), but it is an intelligent read, and often fun. The author is a grandmaster, and you can be sure he knows what he is talking about.
  Layout is friendly and I like it that the book opens flat,a benefit of hardcover.
  
  
  
• Chess Tactics for Everyone!
  By on 2005-10-27
  This is a sequel to the book How to beat your Dad at Chess and once again Murray Chandler gives us an overlooked work of genius. This book is not just for kids, it's for all beginners to intermediate players who want to get ahead in the middlegame. This time instead of giving tactics leading to checkmate it allows you to gain material- from a pawn to a queen- or save a game by forcing stalemate. I think it should have been called Using Tactics to beat your Dad in chess.
  The sub-title of this book is 50 Tricky Tactics to Outwit your Opponents, and it contains 50 tricky tactics that can get you out of a tough situation. While the beginning tactics teach the more basic tricks, like forks and pins, when you get deeper into the book, you'll find tricks that even grandmasters could miss. In the introduction, there is a great page that explains the algebraic notation which can help all chess players to read moves made in the book and enable them to write down moves in their own chess games. This isn't new information, but I like the concise way its explained and the symbols used through out the book.
  
  How to beat your Dad at Chess was all about pattern recognition and this one is about motifs. Each tactic merits its own chapter. He breaks studying tactics into three steps. Step one is learn what the basic tactical motifs are and how they operate. He says there are 12 basic tactical motifs, which are: forks, pins, skewers, decoys, deflections, overloads, discovered attacks, discovered checks, double checks, desperado sacrifices, stalemates, zwischenzugs (in-between moves), perpetual checks, and breaking the pin. In the first chapters he teaches you what every one of those tactics are and how you can use them to crush your opponent's defenses.
  
  Step two is recognizing typical patterns by seeing where piece formations make it possible to execute different tactics. Chandler gives three examples. I find this part the most difficult to identify because the tactic is often hidden from both yourself and opponent. When using tactics, you need to look ahead more than one move, and be intentional in your choices of strategy. You always have to look ahead. Once you see patterns often enough, it becomes easier to recognize. That's why you have to play a lot and study different games to be able to "site read" the formations and recognize patterns quickly.
  
  In Step three, he combines tactics to out-calculate the opponent. This is also a very difficult step because instead of just having to recognize where one tactic can be used, you have to recognize other tactics to set up one ahead of time. An example is sacrificing a knight to pin the opponent's queen. I knew this before, however, Chandler gave me new distinctions by telling how to recognize that the sacrifice will gain material. Near the end of the book, he shows you how to use step three.
  
  A great example of combining tactics is Tricky Tactic #13, The Rook-c8 and the Knight-e7 check Trick. Some hints to show you when you can use this tactic, or when your opponent can use it on you, are:
  
  A White knight on d5 and a White rook on the open c-file;
  
  A black queen on d8 and a black king on g8; and
  
  Black's e7 square is undefended, except by the black queen.
  
  I have fallen victim to this tactic several times before reading this book. What happens is the White rook comes down to the c8 square, using itself as a decoy sacrifice. The Black queen then takes that White rook putting herself in position for a knight fork. Then the knight on d5 jumps to the e7 square. This forks the Black king and queen and wins the Black queen for the White rook.
  
  Once again, at the end of the book, there is a wonderful test to determine how much you've learned about tactics. First, you're tested on identifying the tactics, then on how well you can find and executive tactics.
  
  I think that people should read Chess Tactics for Kids before reading How to beat your Dad at Chess because Chess Tactics for Kids helps you get to the middlegame and endgame positions where you can use the checkmates shown in How to beat your Dad at Chess. So even though Chandler may have written this second, I think it should read first. I recommend this book to beginner and intermediate players of all ages because it will help you defeat any opponent that comes at you or maybe even your poor old suffering Dad. It might even help your Dad if you let him read it!
  
  
  
  
• Great Tactics Book!
  By A3H5O49GI320HR on 2004-09-04
  Like other reviewers, I found this book a revealing guide to the way top players find chess combinations. Of course there are many books on tactics - one reason this one stands head and shoulders above the rest is because of the quality of the examples, and the logical presentation.
  Most home players would improve very quickly studying this book.
  
  
• Perfect follow-up to How to Beat Your Dad at Chess
  By A2D507BGFUPG4A on 2005-07-03
  Once you have finished the first book in this series, "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, I recommend getting this book along with "The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book" by John Emms. You will then have a wonderful basis for studying and improving your tactics and pattern recognition for years to come.
  "Chess Tactics for Kids" presents all of the important tactical motifs that involve winning material, starting with pins, forks, skewers, and gradually progressing to more sophisticated themes. This series is without doubt the best on the market for tactics, and perfect for scholastic teaching.
  
  
  
• As recommended by a world champion!
  By on 2005-01-31
  I got this tactics book after it was highly recommended by former world champion Susan Polgar, who promotes children's chess from her new Polgar chess center in New York. She selected it, along with the companion volume HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD AT CHESS (which I already owned) for her Scholastic Chess Package. Written by a Grandmaster too. Brilliant book.
  
  
• A second inspiring volume on tactics
  By AHE1V7M9CJG8I on 2005-03-12
  I made the decision to purchase this book after reading HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD AT CHESS by the same author, after I found out it was a companion volume. Whereas the Dad book showed how to spot all the important checkmate positions in the middlegame, this sequel presents motifs that win material.
  I was not disappointed. Once again the explanation and presentation are simply brilliant for a player of my level. The basic themes like forks, overloads, perpetual checks and others are explained so succinctly, that even someone who is inexperienced could grasp much of it. I fully agree with other commentators who say the titles of both of these books are a bit deceptive! Sure the books are great for kids, but adults too will benefit from the instruction.
  
  
• Best coverage of combination themes
  By on 2005-03-18
  I own seven books on combinations and tactics. This book is my favorite because of the great examples, and the clear way that the different tactics are explained and reinforced.
  The tactical ideas are grouped together, and there are lots of examples on themes an inexperienced player might not have encounted before. For example Discovered Attack and Discovered Check. When you get it you will see what I mean. It is perfect for the player who wants to take their game to the next level.
  
  
• First Class Training Material
  By A2F4S80O5HNX8J on 2004-08-18
  Chess tactics can confuse a lot of inexperienced players (like myself!), but as I have recently learnt, there are some great tricks of the trade you can learn. This book reveals how masters use their knowledge of similar positions to help them find combinations easily. The amazing thing is - even beginners can do the same. Chess Tactics for Kids shows you every important tactical device that can be used to win material, and reinforces each lesson with several similar examples. Brilliant.
  
  
  
• Number ONE book on tactics!
  By A2DEAY2AN7KMP3 on 2004-08-30
  Put simply, this is the best book on tactics you can buy. All the motifs are there, the layout and typesetting is excellent, and the examples are clear and easy to follow.
  
  
  
• helpful introduction to chess tactics
  By A2P6LOVZ56CB9B on 2005-01-25
  This hardcover book is an introduction to the basic tactical concepts, such as how to use a pin, fork or skewer. Featuring "50 Tricky Tactics" it follows on from the author's book of checkmating patterns, covered in How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, and the material is presented in a similar fun format. The game examples, 362 diagrams in total, are well chosen. Generally two illustrative positions are given to teach the tactic in a very basic form, and this is reinforced by up to four more examples, all taken from competitive tournament games.
  Some of the examples, such as the Caro-Kann trap, show specific opening traps which opponents can fall into. There are also some amazing and inspiring endgame motifs, showing clever "Rampant Rook" stalemates which are explained in a way even beginners will understand.
  At the end of the book there are tests on motif recognition - 8 puzzles - and a tactics test of 54 positions.
  
  
  
• Chess Tactics Made Easy!
  By on 2004-05-29
  This is the sequel to Chandler's HOW TO BEAT YOUR DAD AT CHESS (a terrific little book om checkmating patterns that has become virtually a textbook on the subject). Following the DAD model in layout and format, Chess Tactics for Kids covers 50 different motifs, but in this case the book features standard devices that win material rather than mate. In each Tricky Tactic first one simple example is carefully explained, and this is then followed up by a variety of well-chosen positions (all from real tournament games).
  After covering the most basic tactical motifs - forks, pins, skewers, deflections etc - the examples move on to positions where familiar tricks can be used (such as the move Nd5 in lots of positions, or ...Nxe4 for black where a pin is broken). Chandler also has a bit of fun, with the incredible themes of the Rampant Rook and Kamikaze Queen. These two (as he concedes) are more exotic, but we can forgive this thanks to the sheer entertainment value - chess in the twilight zone!
  I can see this book being extremely popular with chess coaches as well as kids, as it is a virtual course-book on every important tactical theme in chess. At $14.95 for a Gambit-quality hardback the price is good value too.
  
  
• Best Book on Tactics
  By on 2004-06-14
  If you are not already an experienced player, this neat little book will improve your game for sure. It's all about pattern recognition: spotting familiar clusters of pieces that alert strong players to the possibility of a combination. There are 50 different motifs covered, and all win material in one way or another.
  All strong players know and use these patterns frequently. Learning them is essential if you want to improve. Chandler's book is clearly intended for the lower level player (though not only juniors), but it is an intelligent read, and often fun. The author is a grandmaster, and you can be sure he knows what he is talking about.
  Layout is friendly and I like it that the book opens flat,a benefit of hardcover.
  
  
• Great Tactics Intro
  By A12B28KGZW739U on 2007-01-09
  This book is a very good introduction to a number of essential tactical concepts. For novice players looking to improve quickly, attention to the lessons in this book will be a big help. The lessons build from simple concepts to more complex motifs in a logical manner, which makes the material easy to grasp.
  
  I recommend the book.
  
  
• First Class Training Material!
  By on 2005-01-24
  Chess tactics can confuse a lot of inexperienced players (like myself!), but as I have recently learnt, there are some great tricks of the trade you can learn. This book reveals how masters use their knowledge of similar positions to help them find combinations easily. The amazing thing is - even beginners can do the same. Chess Tactics for Kids shows you every important tactical device that can be used to win material, and reinforces each lesson with several similar examples. Brilliant.
  
  
  

• How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Gambit chess)
• Chess for Children
• Chess for Kids
• Practical Chess Exercises: 600 Lessons from Tactics to Strategy
• No Stress Chess