Chess for Juniors: A Complete Guide for the Beginner (McKay Chess Library)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent text for Teachers as well as Students
Review: As an elementary school teacher as well as a chess player I have found CHESS FOR JUNIORS to be the perfect text book for introducing my students to this wonderful brain sport.
Chess is a great way of helping my students improve their concentration and studies have shown that chess helps improve reading and math test scores.
CHESS FOR JUNIORS is not only used for the lesson plans it has by myself, but it is clear and easy reading for the students. It was only a few years ago that I came across CHESS FOR JUNIORS after having used a couple of other books. The other books, which had a combination of nice pictures, fancy illustrations mixed in with a reading level that was not suited for upper grade elementary school readers, were ok for a good teacher to read to their students. However, my search ended when discovering CHESS FOR JUNIORS.
Now a little bit about the material in the book:
a. It is logically organized beginning with a little bit of background made interesting to read. It then goes into the basic rules (especially good is how the author covers, "en passant", "castling", "check", "checkmate", "pawn promotion" and the "movement of the Knight" which often confuse first time beginners) and moves into strategy.
b. Each lesson builds upon former lessons, introducing new strategy based on the material covered in previous lessons. This is the way teachers actually cover material in a classroom. It does have the drawback of covering just one subject in an entire chapter like so many other beginning books I have seen.
c. Extreme wide coverage of important tactics. There are enough problem format examples for students to work on and a teacher to set up that if a club was to have a weekly meeting it would have enough material for an entire school year. It covers ALL of the most important basic mates (especially good is the coverage of "how to defend against the scholar's mate", "rook roller mate", "back rank mate", "mates against the weak f7 square such as Legal's mate", "smothered mate" including the "Philidor's Legacy" mate). It covers all of the important opening traps (especially good is the coverage of "Petrov's Trap") and tactics that win material (nicely covered with good examples are "the pin", "the fork", "the skewer/x-ray attack", "discovered check/attack", "overworked defender" and more).
d. Good Opening System. The opening system introduced does not go off into hundreds of complicated variations. It doesn't suggest over ambitious gambit lines nor openings that are over positional or mechanical (not allowing the student to think for them self). The openings are well rounded with a good degree of openings containing important opportunities to get into tactical situations - allowing the openings to be "learning openings" for a beginner. Excellent are the Ruy Lopez and the line against the Sicilian as White (there is also a nice brief coverage of other ways to handle replies to 1 e4 such as the French, Alekhines, Center Counter and Caro Kann) and well as Black (playing against the Ruy Lopez and handling the "d" Pawn openings with the Nimzo-Indian, an active defense with a good sharp fight for the center).
e. The most important first endgames for students to learn with how to checkmate a lone King with just a King and Queen and King and Rook, and then going into basic King and Pawn endgames. These are explained extremely well.
f. Special features of the Rook (use on opening files, behind passed pawns, on the 7th rank, doubling, etc...) and Pawns(doubled pawns, isolated pawns, pawn chain, backward pawns) are very nicely pointed out.
g. reading and writing moves (notation) is very nicely taught. Getting into this important part of learning chess into an appropriate depth for students not to fear what at first may appear to them to be complicated. CHESS FOR JUNIORS does an excellent job of covering this.
h. Two example games with very nice winning ideas are covered. There is move by move analysis making the games flow very nicely. This makes the setting for a follow up book by the same author known as UNBEATABLE CHESS LESSONS FOR JUNIORS (continues with more games in this matter).
i. Ever try and look something up again that you had previously seen in a book, but had problems locating it? Ever had someone mention the name of something but then ask yourself, where would it be in this book? Well in CHESS FOR JUNIORS you will find an extensive INDEX in the back! What a wonderful help this has been!
j. Humor using riddles and stories are used to help the students remember. Some are so silly/funny (well suited for an elementary school or even junior high school audience) that students cannot forget the material. This is an especially great and unique feature of CHESS FOR JUNIORS not found in your typical beginner's book. This can only come from an author that has many years of experience working with young students.
h. The author's UNBEATABLE CHESS LESSONS FOR JUNIORS and my favorite, WINNING CHESS TOURNAMENTS FOR JUNIORS continues with additional material designed to go beyond CHESS FOR JUNIORS (this avoids the pitfalls of having inconsistent or repeated material).
In a chess nut shell if you are a teacher, student or parent and want what is far the best chess book for a beginner, then CHESS FOR JUNIORS is it!


Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book!!!
Review: I am not the best at English. So I got this book because it was writen in simple words and easy for me to understand. I figure if a young person can undestand it, so can I! It worked very good for me. I understand the basic ideas of chess after reading Chess For Juniors.
Thank You Mr. Robert Snyder for writing this book.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to Understand & Up to date
Review: I got this and the author's "Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors" for my 11 year old son. I was at first concerned that "Chess For Juniors" might have been too basic since my son had already been introduced to the basics. I found "Chess For Juniors" to start off at the very beginning (assuming no knowledge of chess), however, it wasn't before long that the author was providing my son (and I!) with new material that we never new existed. In other words the book takes you up to Intermediate Level from the very beginning and makes sure that you have a SOLID FOUNDATION before continuing on to more advanced chess books.
The book has twenty lessons. Each lesson progresses and adds on the the previous lessons. All important parts of the game are covered. It starts off with basic rules but soon you are learning openings, endgames and tactics. The writing is clear and easy to understand. The author uses the right degree of humor for kids to make it fun.
The book is a total pleasure to read!

Rating:
Summary: Improving my game
Review: I have two copies of this book in my 5th grade classroom. My students have really enjoyed reading "Chess for Juniors". I also have learned a lot from this book. It provides me with great lesson plans for my students. The author has a wonderful way of reaching children and is a talented teacher. I am grateful that "Chess for Juniors" is there!


Rating:
Summary: As on Television
Review: I just saw the author of this book a second time recently on Television, this time on another channel. I also had the opportunity to meet him in person at a book signing Colorado Springs some months back where I purchased two of his books.
Just as shown teaching chess on television (I can see this has sparked even more interest in his books by the many recent reviews) the author has a true love for chess and his work. Great care has gone into each book to enlighten his readers with his many years of experience as a chess teacher and chess master. He is not a a world champion but being a highly rated master in the US Chess Federation (at over 2300) he is very strong as a player and is actually not so high that he is out of reach of being in tune with his readers. He spends his time teaching, writing and coaching instead of off playing. And as such he has produced more individual national scholastic champions than anyone else and has introduced chess to over 160,000 children personally. Remarkable achievments.
CHESS FOR JUNIORS is a great book for anyone to learn how to play chess. If you know a little about chess then CHESS FOR JUNIORS will take you to a higher level. The author uses the same style of writing as in his in person teaching. His unique method of "entertaining" students to get knowledge into the students heads is encased between the two covers of this book.

Rating:
Summary: From a teacher's point of view
Review: I own about half a dozen introductory books. This one beats them all in a flash!
For a teacher running a chess class for students of any age the table of contents of this book in itself provides a great outline.
Each chapter is a lesson, which builds on the former lessons, and makes no assumptions of chess knowledge that wasn't already covered. It is written very clearly and is very easy to understand (and as pointed out by another reviewer, a student say age 9 or 10 will not require an adult help him with it).
For a young reader humor is effectively used to keep their interest in the material. I had several students want to go back and read some of the funny parts again and again! I don't know if this turned out to be a good or weak point of the book (just kidding!).
The material is perfectly arranged and extremely comprehensive. The balance of material covering rules, tactics, openings, traps, endgames, a couple of games with commentary on every single move and providing useful information to students for continued study is just right. This friendly and fun book is perect!

Rating:
Summary: Best Introductory Chess Book Ever Written
Review: I own over 1000 chess books and teach beginning chess classes for children.
This is my text book. After having examined over 20 other books that introduce chess to the beginning I can say with confidence that this book is far superior than any of the others.
CHESS FOR JUNIORS provides the most logical progression to introduce the rules and then basic strategy. A common fault with many other introductory books is that the author lacks experience in teaching things in the most logical order. CHESS FOR JUNIORS avoids those pitfalls. This Author has introduced chess to over 160,000 children (the world record).
CHESS FOR JUNIORS provides a clarity beyond any other book in making the material easy to understand. An average 4th grade student doesn't need to have a parent read the book to them and explain things. So many other books have wonderful pictures and diagrams that catch the eye while you are in the bookstore. However, these other books require an adult reader. CHESS FOR JUNIORS is at the right level for kids, and adults will love to learn from it as well!
CHESS FOR JUNIORS is well balanced covering in lessons that build on each other. Once students are introduced to the basic rules they learn the ideas behind the openings, are given a basic system to start with, learn the most important tactical concepts (forks, pins, mates, etc...) and the most basic endgames are covered.
ALL THIS IN ONE BOOK that is reasoably well condenced. My research has revealed that this is the best selling chess book in the United States and one of the most popular text books used by school chess programs.
If you are looking for a first (or maybe even second) chess book as a parent for you or your child, or if you are a teacher in need of the best text book for running a chess class this book is what you are looking for.

Rating:
Summary: Fun way to learn chess
Review: I run two after school chess programs at local elementary schools with approximately 20 students in each class. "CHESS FOR JUNIORS" is the recommended text book in each class with about 3/4 of the students owning a copy (the school libraries have each purchased about 5 additonal copies for students to check out - most of the copies are always in use!).
Using "CHESS FOR JUNIORS" for its already developed lesson plans and with most of the students actively reading it the students have shown remarkable progress. We have a chess team from each school and won 1st and 3rd place in events against other area school teams.
This book is very well written at a level so that kids can easily understand it and an adult will find it to be a first rate instruction book for them! I have read about 15+ of the other reviews on this book and found the only pin pointed complaint to be (probably from an adult who keeps using "kids reviews" not revealing who he is) about the book using humor directed at kids. Well, indeed in my classroom I have found kids calling a Pawn and Pond, a Knight a Horse, a Rook a Castle. The book addresses these common kid mistakes by "not insulting" students but making the students laugh. I love the author pointing out in a humorous was when introducing how a Knight moves, that every time the Knight moves, "now that is a horse of (on) a different color". Indeed, there is no other book that reaches kids on their level like "Chess for Juniors".
The structured material is nicely layed out and organized in a way to make it easily understood. Just the right amount of material on the basics of the opening (with a nice introduction to a basic opening system), basics of the endgame (excellent coverage on basic mates and the King and Pawn ending), fantastic coverage of the most important tactics (there are enough tactics in this book with opening trap examples to keep a teacher/student busy for some time without having to get a second book!) and two wonderul complete games with detailed analysis at a kids level of understanding.
Indeed, after seeing 10+ beginning books no other book comes close to approaching "Chess for Juniors" for the age 7 to 16 range.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book to vanquish your adversaries
Review: I thank Mr. Snyder for writing an excellent book with such useful information that is relevant to a beginner. Mr. Snyder explains how the pieces move (which I like the explanation on how the knight can move to multiple positions when it is positioned in a central position.) He teaches opening such as the "Italian Game" or the "Ruy Lopez" (Spanish) which are two good opening for beginnings. He also goes into teaching the Pin, the Fork and later on in the book the X-ray also known as the Skewer. He shows how to stop the 4 move checkmate (scholars mate) and how to use queen sacrifices to force checkmate. The useful information on defense is very helpful because everybody can move pieces, but are they always the correct ones and defenses such as the Sicilian Defense and others are explained. He gives very good information on the end game such as having reached the winning position with your king, king and rock endgame as well as two rooks where you can use the rock roller to checkmate your opponent. Most beginners play king pawn opening which is moving the pawn in front of your King and he devotes a small unit on queen pawn opening (moving the queen pawn) as well as wonderful defenses to them. You will find two games near the end of the book which is good for a beginner to see how they should play chess and how they shouldn't and how great they can become with practice. To stop my hands from typing Mr. Snyder's book as well as his other two which I have read pages from it, is a wonderful collection that will definitely pave the way for future International and Grand Masters; I assure you.

Rating:
Summary: Your Best First Book (part of a great series)
Review: If you just want to learn the basics and get everything right under the most sucessful chess writer and teacher in the country then you will only need one book, CHESS FOR JUNIORS.
CONCISE, COMPLETE, ACCURATE, LOGICAL, FUN, ENTERTAINING, HUMOROUS would all be single words when put together describe what CHESS FOR JUNIORS is all about. When all is said and done this book has become the best selling ches book in the United States (due to a combination of the best written beginner's book along with the great marketing of "Random House").
A little background. I met the author at the National K-12 School Grade Chess Championships in Orlando a couple of months ago where I had time to talk to the author while he was doing book signings and helping kids with free lessons and game analysis at the book concession. He is a hard working person with great personality (he is friends with and given lessons to actors Will Smith, Nicolas Cage, Bill Windom and the children of Ray Charles, Kurt Russell and Ron Howard to name a few!) and when he was teaching he would often have 15-20 parents and kids gathered around the table.
The author has put his teaching style into CHESS FOR JUNIORS which contains 20 well organized lessons based on his introducing 160,000 children to the basics. With a deep undersanding of how children think and learn each lesson puts into action installing in the brains of kids the information he wants to get across.
Chess can be introduced in a boring way. And, I have seen many teachers who are very knowledable about chess not to be able to reach kids. And, I have seen a lot of books written in a rather boring manner. Some contain a combination of pictures and colorful graphics to try and spice up the book. CHESS FOR JUNIORS doesn't have fancy graphics or pictures. Just good old words that are crafted meticulously based on many years of the experience behind them.
The general concensous of the readership of this book has placed it on top for good reason (sure there are a few who hate the success of others and hide and toss in unfounded digs - but this is what any celebrity who is tops in their field must learn to put up with - it is easy to spot).
Having met the author and having a personal insight has made me want to do reviews and what I consider to be the finest series of chess books around (there are also other good chess books too and great authors in their respective chess fields) and what I consider as #1 in the Youth Market!