Chess Openings for Kids is a book that teaches all about openings as the name implies.
This book discusses ’50 Mighty Openings‘ which I’ll list subsequently but first let’s see the motivation for the book.
According to the authors, the openings are often the trickiest but most important part of the chess game.
But this is where a lot of beginners falter – early in the game, we see pieces disappearing without compensation and the king chased all over the board.
This was why the book was written – to give anyone reading (especially newbies) the knowledge to get off to a good start.
The book follows the same structure as Murray Chandler’s How to Beat Your Dad at Chess and Chess Tactics for Kids, so if you’ve read these books at any time, this opening book comes as a nice addition to put your tactical knowledge and checkmate ideas to use.
You’ll probably wonder why the authors chose to call them ’50 Mighty Openings’. This is because they carefully selected these openings as those that have proven effective for play as seen in thousands of masters games.
From top to bottom, these openings include:
- Giuoco Piano
- Evans Gambit
- Two Knights Defence
- King’s Gambit
- Danish Gambit and Centre Game
- Goring and Latvian Gambits
- Bishop’s Opening and Vienna Game
- Scotch Game
- Philidor Defence
- Petroff Defence
- Ruy Lopez: Introduction
- Ruy Lopez: Closed Main Lines
- Ruy Lopez: Marshall Attack
- Ruy Lopez: Open Spanish
- Alekhine Defence
- Scandinavian Defence
- Caro-KannDefence
- French Defence: Introduction
- French Defence: 3 Nc3 Main Lines
- Sicilian Defence: Introduction
- Closed Sicilian and Grand Prix Attack
- Alapin (c3) Sicilian
- Morra Gambit
- Bb5 Sicilian
- Open Sicilian: Introduction
- Sicilian Dragon
- Sicilian Najdorf
- Sveshnikov Sicilian
- Queen’s Gambit Accepted
- Classical Queen ‘s Gambit Declined
- Tartakower and Modern Lines
- Queen’s Gambit Exchange Variations
- Tarrasch Defence
- Chigorin and Albin Counter-Gambit
- Slav
- Semi-Slav
- London, Colle and Trompowsky
- Dutch Defence
- Modern Benoni and Benko Gambit
- King’s Indian: Introduction
- King’s Indian: Main Lines
- Grunfeld Defence: Introduction
- Exchange Grunfeld
- Queen’s Indian and Bogo-Indian
- Nimzo-lndian: Introduction
- Nimzo-Indian: Main Lines
- Reversed Sicilian
- Symmetrical English
- Assorted English Lines
- Reti Opening
What I Love About The Book
I appreciate books that don’t rant on and on about variations that are not helpful or ones that the readers may not recall again.
Chess Opening for Kids is one of those books. It goes straight into the opening, explores variation where White moves and Black moves, and goes as far as the 12th move.
The good part is that this information is presented in 2 pages per chapter so this makes it easy for readers to take away practical value without having to wade through dozens of variations.
I also love the position images. For every chapter, there are 6 images sometimes with arrows and emphatic symbols.
This makes for easy understanding and remembrance.
What I Don’t Like About The Book
It’s meant to be a book for kids but it’s written in a way that seems suitable for teens and adults (take away the funny cartoons). That’s how I see it.
And there’s just a 6-page brief introduction that covers basic ideas about chess, then every chapter delves into critical analysis of the openings in raw chess terms.
Who This Book Is Not For
This book is not for you if you’re yet to learn the basics of chess.
Even though it’s all about opening, it delves right into analysing moves in algebraic notation and discussing variations.
A beginner with no prior knowledge will definitely struggle.
What More?
At the end of the book are questions to test your opening knowledge and your opening skills (whether you have what it takes to find the winning moves in poorly played openings)
Final Thoughts
I’ll happily recommend this book to beginners struggling with openings – like having to remember so many variations and falling to cheap traps in tournament games.
This book will help them streamline their thoughts and show them the most important moves that matter.
If you’re coaching kids too, this is a great book to give them for further study or you can use it as teaching material.
However, the student in this case must have learned the basics of chess before starting this book, otherwise, it’ll be difficult to follow.
It’s worth noting that there’s a workbook from the same author on the discussed topic. You could also get that if you’re interested in challenging your opening skills.
Images below:
Let me know if you found this review helpful.