How to Beat Your Dad at Chess (Chess for Kids) Hardcover – Illustrated, October 1, 1998

HARDBACK IS BEST FOR THIS BOOK SINCE IT IS A BOOK WORTH SAVING TO READ OVER AND OVER AGAIN

This was a gift and the young man loves it and is learning all kinds of strategies and putting up a good match for any challenger! He would recommend this book, and so do I.

I bought this book based on coach Andrea's recommendation. I'm an adult improver so I like books that make learning simple and easy to digest. My first impression of the book was very good. It is bound well and will open up and stay open on your table. The book is of good quality in that regard. The printing and diagrams are very clear and easy to look at and understand. It's a book about mating patterns and drives home the point how important it is to internalize the patterns and become aware of them in your games. I have the Chess King app which is excellent for learning patterns as well but there is something about a book that appeals to me. So I'm glad I have this to reference as well. There are some really good examples and explanations that are broken down into distinct steps. It's easy to understand without using a chess board to set up the positions.What I didn't like is finding an error in the notation. With chess books, math books, or anything that demands precision, you don't want errors in notation. This is just not acceptable and the reason why I knocked off a star from the rating. The good news is, the error is not so bad that the reader could see that it was a mistake and reason for themselves what the correct squares are supposed to be. For example on pg.15 move 2 references Qxg4! when it should have been Qxf4! Good grief.In spite of the error, I still would highly recommend getting this book and drilling your self on all of the patterns until they become second nature to recognize. You're going to have a lot more fun playing chess. My favorite mating pattern is one of the oldest but still is awesome when you get it, the Arabian mate with the rook and knight.One last thing. Makes sure you envision each of the patterns from both white and black perspective as the each of the patterns can work for both players. They mention this in the beginning of the book, but I believe this point to be important enough to repeat it here.

My granddaughter was just learning chess. I got her this book and a chess set. Pretty soon she will be able to beat her Daddy (my son)

I am a US Chess expert who teaches as a volunteer for the Chicago Chess Center, and I often (sheepishly) give a copy of this book to my ADULT students after their first lesson.Why? Illustrations aside, it's a wonderful book for teaching the most common checkmating patterns. Recognizing these patterns is only a small part of the tactical competency that beginners need to acquire in order to become strong amateurs. But it's an essential component, the exercises are beautiful (not boring) and fun. Because checkmate is our goal, we can make forcing moves that would otherwise be ridiculous if they didn't achieve our goal. Hey, checkmate ends the game.Many experienced adult players at the Class D level (competent tournament players) will be able to solve 60% of the exercises on sight. But most of these players can progress to solving 95%+ on sight. That's meaningful progress!This is NOT AT ALL the best book for absolute beginners. Chess for Children (co-authored by Chandler & Helen Milligan) fits that bill, and Coakley's WInning Chess Strategy for Kids is a great second book. (The more absolute beginner books a beginner reads—or works through with a parent or coach—the better!) Most young players probably shouldn't read it until they've been playing for at least six months (your mileage may vary). But it is a great book for those who are ready for it.Tactics is of course much more than mating combinations, but there's a lot to learn about mating combinations themselves. Henkin's 1000 Checkmate Combinations and Reinfeld's 1001 Brilliant Ways to Checkmate are both good follow-ups to Chandler.

The book is cool but sent loose in the box resulting in broken corners. If sending back was easier this time of year, I would , as it is a gift, but looks beaten up. Shame on the packers.

This is a good book that also works as a checkmate patterns encyclopedia. A lot of adults have never learned some of the checkmates and sequences inside this book!To be honest, me and my sister have reviewed 1/4 of the book and there’s nothing so far that makes it seem like this book was written for children.Sure, they refer to a “dad” being your opponent, but they could have replaced all the times they said it with any other word: villain, enemy, rival, and suddenly it would have been a “chess book for adults”It’s a great book overall!This book is 100% tactical. Which is exciting for everyone to see, not just for kids. It will not teach you opening moves, or endgames. Which is not a problem since entire books are written for those topics too.

A better title for this book might have been “50 Deadly Checkmates.” Each of the checkmates is explained in no more than two pages. It’s easy to digest and immediately applicable to your games. No theory. No filler. Just deadly, game-winning tactics for all levels. You Dad has been warned.