re: Books about the history and beauty of Chess

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Are there any kids books on Chess to recommend?

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He's already playing, so he might be beyond the total beginner level of Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

At this point he just needs a general primer to show him the rudiments. There are many books like this out there -- Fred Reinfeld wrote dozens of them. Not sure which of these would be at a six year old's reading level though.

IIRC How To Open A Chess Game has an introductory chapter for beginners. This book is always my recommendation for newbs to learn about openings. I don't know if it's still in print.

The aforementioned Fred Reinfeld wrote several quiz books with titles like 1001 Brilliant Chess Sacrifices and Combinations. His Wikipedia page lists others. This kind of book would accustom a new player to different types of positions. Also it doesn't depend a great deal on reading level.

Amazon has a used copy of his book The Complete Chess Player for $1.18

I'd suggest getting a couple of cheap Reinfelds, one a primer and another a quiz book. If your son finishes these and is still interested, get How To Open A Chess Game and the two Chernevs, Best Short Games and Most Instructive Games. The two of you can go through games together. Right now you can introduce him to endgame studies by showing him The Saavedra position



and The Reti endgame

For those who want to introduce kids to chess, I very highly recommend getting your hands on an old copy of Chess Master 9000. Later Editions butchered the tutorial.

If you have an old laptop with XP on it, that would be ideal. Unless it has Windows 98... which, sadly, would also work

Starting at absolute novice level, the tutorials present new information/concepts quickly, but in small increments, with lots of quizzes that reinforce the principles.

My four kids all greatly enjoyed the program at an early age. It definitely helped make chess become a part of their lives

it teaches a great deal about patience in problem solving too. Early on, they are quick to get frustrated when they get stumped by a quiz problem, and they want help.

I'd make them walk through the problem and their assumptions for me out loud, and they almost always end up blushing as they recognize their error for themselves. They quickly learn how to systematically work through the problems on their own.

I think that might be the closest I ever came to being Ward Cleaver

Here is one on eBay for sale

LINK