Winning Chess Exercises for Kids Paperback – 31 Dec. 2003

This is an excellent chess book. It is packed full of interesting puzzles of very different types. The variety of puzzles helps to maintain interest and the instructional sections are very clearly written. Although the title suggests it is for 'kids' they would either have to be well motivated or quite good at chess to enjoy this book. I would strongly recommend this book for adults who already know how to play chess and want to improve or for children who are members of a chess club. A truly excellent beginners text.

This is my 3rd tactics book I'm going through. My first two were Winning Chess Tactics and Learn Chess Tactics. I love this book as well. I believe it's a good idea to understand the basic tactical motifs before getting this book. (It isn't necessary, but I believe it would help you.) As others have said, it isn't for beginners. I'd put it in the range of 1200 - 1700 players. (I understand that's a broad range, but I've not went through the whole book yet.)I had heard all great things about this book so I had to find out for myself. I'm glad I purchased the book! I've went through a couple of pages. It's hasn't got hard yet, but I'm sure it will. (I'm rated around 1600 [daily] on chess.com. The same rating with tactics trainer.)I love the book layout. It would be good to use as homework if you were teaching chess to a student or a class. I like how on each page the first row is mate. The next row is material. Then the final row is sort of a mix of defense, endgame, positional, and etc. So, you are getting a variety of tactics which is a good thing.You will not be disappointed in this book. Yes, it costs more than most, but it is well worth it!

Worth the investment. I got a great deal, but going through the book I feel the retail price is reasonable.A terrific resource for coaches, scholastic chess club advisors or anyone interested in improving their chess.The core of the book is the collection of 100 worksheets with 9 problems and an additional text question about chess on each worksheet. There are a few additional themed problems and instructive articles on reading algebraic notation, symbols and how to improve at chess.If you coach/teach chess buy this book. Though the author recommends it for ages 7 to 13, I think high school students and adult beginning to intermediate players will find it useful.

This is part of an excellent series by Canadian chess instructor Coakley. This book contains tactics at a level that many lower rated players never master. You need to be able to SEE relatively simple tactics almost instantly at the board, and better yet, you need to see the possibility of those tactics before they occur. This book will help you with its well chosen examples and fine explanations. As a bonus, you get problems on strategy, defense, and endgames. The breakdown by category is 300 checkmates, 300 'win material' problems, and 100 each of strategy, defense, and endgame problems, all with insightful and detailed answers. If you are a relative novice, or if you are that typical adult player stuck for years (or decades!) in that 1200-1500 USCF range, serious study of this book could give your rating a real boost! Highly recommended.

I'm teaching an after-school chess class at my kid's elementary school. There are a dozen students, mostly First through Third grades, with little or no experience playing chess.Based on reviews here and elsewhere, I was going to purchase one copy of this book for each student. But I decided to get one copy first to check it out. I'm glad I got one copy first, because this book is WAY too advanced for the children I'm teaching. They're just learning basic moves, very basic strategies, and easy checkmates.Even the first exercises in the book show boards with many pieces, and many possible moves. The students I'm teaching need something much less complex as a starting point. One book that does that well is "One Move Checkmates" by Eric Schiller... but it obviously only deals with the end of the game.For children who already have a strong working knowledge of chess strategies, tactics, and moves, "Winning Chess Exercises" may be appropriate. It wouldn't hurt to have this book on hand to use along with other, easier books for a new player. "Winning Chess Exercises" does have a lot of challenging, brain-building exercises. But, it's not a one-stop book of exercises for brand new players. Perhaps, I'll be able to share this book with the quick-learners in our group before as the year progresses.

Super instruction, sequencing, has value actually for Class A players as much as kids. Recommended in writing by Dan Heisman.