Checkmate at Chess City

by Piers Harper

Book Overview

"The mazes are satisfyingly tricky . . . and puzzle-minded kids who are beyond WHERE'S WALDO? should enjoy this for hours." - BOOKLIST Chess City has been captured! The king and queen are missing, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763609218
• ISBN13: 9780763609214
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 10.0" x 12.0"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Excellent primer for kids

I teach chess at a local library and I've found this book to be an excellent resource. The library where I teach currently has four copies and these books are always checked out. I've found chess puzzles to be a good way to convey chess concepts to young players and this book uses chess puzzles in a creative way to teach young players how to move pawns and pieces correctly. The format reminds me of a Richard Scarry or a Where's Waldo book. Children have a lot of fun looking at little details on every page, just like looking for "Gold Bug" or Waldo. This book engages childrens' attention while introducing the basics of pawn and piece movement. It's a fun book for children and it accomplishes its purpose wonderfully.

Splendid and Wonderful (Especially for K-3rd grade)

I cannot say enough about how wonder this book is for the K-3rd grade kids in my Chess Club! They are learning the moves of all pieces. The book may not be thick, but it is LONG in the hours of FASCINATION that it generates in kids. It is like a story book about a Chess King and Queen that need to be rescued from captivity out of the dungeon of a Castle surrounded by deserts, swamps, and other challenging areas through which the kids must navigate the other chess pieces. The kids do not even realize that they are learning how to move real chess pieces! I am asking all parents of my Chess Club members to get this book for their child. I love to read it myself!

Great puzzler book!

Despite the fact that our 6-year-old already knows how to play chess, he loved this book! Every page is filled with detailed pictures and game boards -- it is entertaining just to look at everything that's "going on"! The theme of the book is actually a puzzle or a maze based on the movements the chess board pieces are permitted to make in the real game. The book helps children understand the game, or, if they already know how to play, helps them practice on their own. Not all of the puzzles are easy, either!

A fascinating way to learn the game of Chess!

This fascinating and brightly illustrated picture bookexplainsto beginners how the game of chess is played by usingelaborately, colorful chessboard mazes within a castle setting. The object is to learn correct names and moves for each chess piece. Each page addresses a different chess piece, it's moves and then has a maze with booby traps on the page to navigate through. With an almost arcade type feel to it, this book should fascinate youngsters or anyone needing a visual and simple explanation of how to play chess. Highly recommended.

An excelent guide to chess

This is a demonstration of imagination put at service of an history and chess. I bought this book for my son, translated it (I live in Argentina) and he enjoyed very much it. This is an excelent introduction to chess and literature, both for children. Let your child to get a good literature begining. And to get an interest in the wonderful game of chess.