Trilliumlady Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 DS turning 9 and is really having fun with chess for past few months. We have 1-2 kids books on learning and strategies, but I haven’t perused them too closely to see how far they would take him. We have a decent magnetic board with drawers for the pieces. He does like to travel with it, which is a bit of a bother. I’m thinking of getting him a fun chess t-shirt. I am wondering if he’d enjoy a DVD for kids on learning and strategies, but have no idea where to find a good one that would fit this age. Any recommendations on that? I think he’s to the stage where he would love learning specific strategies. Or DVDs of recorded games for him to then emulate? Again, no idea if that’s even a thing or what they would look like or if they’d even be helpful. I’ve just played randomly here and there for fun, and it’s hard to beat him sometimes! Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitten Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 (edited) I don't know of DVDs, but do you already have the Usborne chess book with the puzzles and stickers? Edit: It might be too young for him, I'm not sure ... but I am working through it with my almost-7 year old and am learning things myself that I didn't know. Edited February 26, 2021 by mitten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 I would get him a fun chess set to use at home and he can keep the magnetic one in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domestic_engineer Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 My kids enjoy a gold membership at Chesskid.com. It *is* screen time, but they seem to get a lot out of it. There are occasional group buys to get it cheaper than advertised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 Is he using the magnetic pieces in the car so he needs the magnets? Would a tournament set (also called club sets) be better for travel? A tournament set has a rollup board and a bag to carry clock and pieces in? We have several different colored pieces so it could be gold against silver, pink & purple, etc. Does he know how to notate? They have some fun notation books - my youngest's at that age said Grandmaster in Training on the front. The book, How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, is popular for that age group. The software, Fritz & Chesster, is also popular. My kids used Chesskid a lot from age 7-12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not_a_Number Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 (edited) A chess clock and a book of puzzles? (Like "Start at this position. Play as white. Mate in 3.") Edited February 26, 2021 by Not_a_Number Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliumlady Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 Oh my goodness, all wonderful ideas. Looking forward to checking them out and trying to decide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliumlady Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 (edited) 6 hours ago, historically accurate said: Is he using the magnetic pieces in the car so he needs the magnets? Would a tournament set (also called club sets) be better for travel? A tournament set has a rollup board and a bag to carry clock and pieces in? We have several different colored pieces so it could be gold against silver, pink & purple, etc. Does he know how to notate? They have some fun notation books - my youngest's at that age said Grandmaster in Training on the front. The book, How to Beat Your Dad at Chess, is popular for that age group. The software, Fritz & Chesster, is also popular. My kids used Chesskid a lot from age 7-12. No, he does not know how to notate. I have no idea what that even means!! A tournament set is a great idea! Looking into How to Beat Your Dad now..... Edited February 27, 2021 by Trilliumlady Adding in a few words for clarification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 8 hours ago, Trilliumlady said: No, he does not know how to notate. I have no idea what that even means!! A tournament set is a great idea! Looking into How to Beat Your Dad now..... Notation is when you write down your and your opponent's move during the game: ie: Queen to B4. As he gets better, notation allows him to be able to go over games to see where he or the opponent went wrong. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliumlady Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 16 hours ago, Not_a_Number said: A chess clock and a book of puzzles? (Like "Start at this position. Play as white. Mate in 3.") Do you have a suggestion for what this book of puzzles would be? If i just search “chess puzzles,” will that get me close? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 3 minutes ago, Trilliumlady said: Do you have a suggestion for what this book of puzzles would be? If i just search “chess puzzles,” will that get me close? We had several puzzle books. Some that I remember being pretty good: Chess Puzzles for Kids, 101 (maybe 1001?) Chess Exercises for Beginners - I can't remember who wrote it, and The Chess Tactics Workbook. I liked the first best for kids because it was more intuitive on what the kid was looking for (ie: mate in 2). Sometimes the last book was confusing in that way. Amazon has a slew of books, just search "Chess Puzzles" and you'll have more than you ever knew you wanted. ChessKid.com has a free puzzle every day, no subscription required, if I remember correctly. Note: I taught the chess class at co-op for a few years, so we worked through a lot of puzzles. I always had the kids set up the board to match the picture in the book. I found it much easier for the kids, especially the younger ones, to visualize it than trying to just think about the board. They could move the actual pieces on the board. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 (edited) He may be too young to fully enjoy at this age, but the Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice (both Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, with Garner's detailed background notes) is lovely. In the annotations for Through the Looking Glass, Gardner explains how each of Alice's adventures and encounters is actually a chess move (think of how she meets the White Knight and the Red and White Queens and Kings -- actually chess pieces 😉 ) The link above is to the expensive Amazon new edition; you can find used editions in very good condition for under $10 at Alibris, Thrift Books, Abe Books, etc. Edited February 27, 2021 by Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliumlady Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 8 hours ago, historically accurate said: We had several puzzle books. Some that I remember being pretty good: Chess Puzzles for Kids, 101 (maybe 1001?) Chess Exercises for Beginners - I can't remember who wrote it, and The Chess Tactics Workbook. I liked the first best for kids because it was more intuitive on what the kid was looking for (ie: mate in 2). Sometimes the last book was confusing in that way. Amazon has a slew of books, just search "Chess Puzzles" and you'll have more than you ever knew you wanted. ChessKid.com has a free puzzle every day, no subscription required, if I remember correctly. Note: I taught the chess class at co-op for a few years, so we worked through a lot of puzzles. I always had the kids set up the board to match the picture in the book. I found it much easier for the kids, especially the younger ones, to visualize it than trying to just think about the board. They could move the actual pieces on the board. I’m sorry for having so many questions, but would you be able to find that first one you listed? I see a few with that title and I’m trying to guess which you were meaning.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 2 hours ago, Trilliumlady said: I’m sorry for having so many questions, but would you be able to find that first one you listed? I see a few with that title and I’m trying to guess which you were meaning.... This one if I remember correctly: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AT0B6ZY?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tkin_3&storeType=ebooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisha Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 He might enjoy Solitaire Chess game: https://www.amazon.com/ThinkFun-Solitaire-Chess-Version-Nominee/dp/B0032UKQFO Basically, you pick a puzzle, then move the pieces their standard move to capture another piece until only 1 piece is left. Kind of like a solitaire logic game, but using chess pieces and moves. (see video at the website to make more sense). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliumlady Posted March 1, 2021 Author Share Posted March 1, 2021 That ThinkFun game looks awesome.... Adding for future present ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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