Ches
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Activity Bo
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Ches
s
for
Children
Sabrina Chevannes
Activity Bo
ok
Conte
nts
First published in the United Kingdom in 2013
This reillustrated edition first published in the United Kingdom
in 2024 by
Batsford
43 Great Ormond Street
London
WC1N 3HZ
An imprint of B. T. Batsford Holdings Limited
Copyright © B.T. Batsford Ltd 2024
Text copyright © Sabrina Chevannes 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
copied, displayed, extracted, reproduced, utilized, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise including but
not limited to photocopying, recording or scanning without
the prior written permission of the publishers.
eISBN 9781837330119
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library.
Introduction
........................................
6
Revision Time: The Pawn
..... ..............
8
Pawn Wars Strategy
......... .................
12
Revision Time: Rooks, Bishops and
Queens
....... ...................................
16
Cops and Robbers Strategy
........ ......
18
Revision Time: Knights
....................
20
Hungry Horse Strategy
............ .......
22
A Knight’s Tour
.................................
24
Chess Variants
..................................
26
Jesön Mor
.........................................
28
Revision Time: The King
......... .........
30
Mine Alert
...... ..................................
32
Introduction to Strategy
....... ...........
34
Strategize: Knights vs. Bishops
........
36
Revision Time: Chess Notation
...... .
40
Co-ordinate Bingo
............................
44
Revision Time: Check and
Checkmate
....... ............................
48
Checkmate Challenge
......................
50
Puzzle Time: Mate in One
......... ......
52
Three Check Chess
.........................
54
Thinking Ahead
................................
56
Puzzle Time: Mate in Two
......... .......
58
Progressive Chess
.............................
60
Revision Time: Scoring Points
.... .....
62
Chess Maths
.. ...................................
64
Good Capture/Bad Capture?
...........
66
Giveaway Chess
................................
68
Strategize: Opening Principles
........
70
Puzzle Time: Yes, No or Maybe
.... ...
74
Revision Time: Pins, Forks and
Skewers
.........................................
76
SPAF
.................................................
80
Revision Time: More Tactics
............
82
Spot the Tactic
.................................
86
Spot the Threat, Stop the Threat
.....
88
Walking the Dog Challenge
.............
90
Shadow Mate Challenge
...... ............
92
Box ’em in Challenge
........................
94
Game Time: Guess the Move
....... ...
96
Bughouse
........ ................................
106
Goodbye
..........................................
109
Glossary
.......... .................................
110
Index
....... .........................................
114
Answers to Puzzles
...... ....................
116
6
Chess for Children Activity Book
Introduction
Jess:
Hey, Jamie!
Jamie:
Hey, Jess! It’s been a while!
Jess:
I know! I haven’t seen you since we
worked on our first book. How have
you been?
Jamie:
Great, thanks! I have been practising
lots of chess and I think that I am even
better at it now!
Jess
Jess:
Yeah, me too. I really think that practice
does make perfect.
Jamie:
Especially with chess – there is a lot of
pattern recognition involved.
Jess:
Well, this is why I called you, Jamie.
I would like to do some more chess training
together in the form of fun puzzles.
Chess for Children Activity Book
7
Jamie
Jamie:
Oooh, that sounds like a great idea!
I know so many fun games to help us get
better at chess.
Jess:
I know quite a few too, and I thought I’d
invite our friends Marnie and Harry along
too so we could all have fun playing together.
Let’s put our ideas together and make
a Chess Activity Book for everyone to join
in and have fun with us!
Jamie:
Great idea... let’s get to work!
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Chess for Children Activity Book
REVISION T
IME:
The Pawn
Jamie:
Since it has been a long time, I think
we need to do a little bit of revision on
everything we learned in our first book.
Jess:
Well, I have been practicing a lot, so
I think I remember everything, but it can’t
hurt to look over things again.
Jamie:
Let’s start with the pawn!
Jess:
Ah yes, these little guys are deceivingly
complicated. Even though they are small,
they do so many confusing things!
Jamie:
Yes, they are the only pieces
that move differently from the
way they capture.
Jess:
They move forwards, but capture
diagonally, right?
Jamie:
Yes, they only ever move one square
forwards unless they are on their starting
square, when they have the option of moving
two squares forwards if they want to.
You see, the pawns highlighted in green can
still move two squares as they have not yet
been moved. The ones in red cannot move
at all as they are blocked. The others can all
move, but they can only move one square as
they have already been moved.
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Jess:
I always move mine two squares if I am
allowed to. Why would you only move one
square?! Surely you want to advance as
much as possible?
Jamie:
Not necessarily… what if someone can
capture you if you move two squares?
Jess:
Oh yeah, that’s true. So that is why we
get the option of moving one or two – it
depends which is safer!
Jamie:
Well, they may both be safe, but it
means we have extra choices. I suppose it
is to compensate for the fact that the pawn
cannot move backwards.
Jess:
Oh yeah, that is really annoying. I always
have to think very carefully before I move
a pawn, because I can’t move it back if it is
a mistake.
Jamie:
Exactly!
Jess:
Then I have to take care when the pawns
are diagonally next to each other, because
they can take each other. It’s confusing as
I just got used to them moving forwards.
Jamie:
And with so many of them on
the board, there are probably captures
everywhere! Look at all the captures that
White can make in this position! There are
seven different captures to choose from!
Jess:
Yes, but if White can
capture Black, then Black
can capture White too! This
position is crazy!
Jamie:
Good point!
Jess:
Don’t you remember we talked about
Pawn Magic in our first book too? The pawn
did some really cool extra stuff.
Jamie:
Yeah, there were two extra special
moves that the pawn made –
promotion
and
en passant
.
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Chess for Children Activity Book
Jess:
The promotion one was easy: if a pawn
got to the end of the board, it could turn
into a piece of its choice.
Jamie:
That’s right. Well, anything except
a king!
Jess:
Or another pawn!
Jamie:
Yeah, that would be silly if it just
stayed as itself and couldn’t move anywhere
considering it can’t move backwards!
Jess:
What a waste of a promotion that
would be!
Jamie:
I would always choose a queen
because it is the most valuable.
Jess:
Me too… I love the queen!
Jamie:
What about en passant though, Jess?
Do you not remember that one?
Jess:
I do, but sometimes I get confused.
I swear I have played people and they have
just cheated and said it’s en passant! So I am
not sure what is right anymore!
Jamie:
Oh, Jess! You can’t let people do that
to you! You were the one who taught me last
time and now you have gotten all confused
yourself.
Jess:
I know.
Jamie:
It’s OK – I will explain it again. There
are three main rules you need to remember
about en passant:
1.
Your pawn must be on its 5th
rank
, which is
just past the halfway mark.
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Chess for Children Activity Book
11
2.
The pawn that you are to capture must be on
the
file
next to that of your pawn and move
from its starting square two squares, so that
it sits next to your pawn.
3.
You could then capture the pawn as if it only
moved one square.
Jess:
I thought that is what you do, but it is
still confusing!
Jamie:
Look!
Jamie:
What if it only moved one square?
Jess:
Then it wouldn’t be allowed to take it en
passant, it would just capture it normally.
Jamie:
Very good. The black pawn would
end up on e3 and the white pawn would
disappear from the board.
Jess:
Here’s a question for you, Jamie – if
Black decided not to do that and instead
decided to push their pawn to b5, what do
you think White would do?
Jamie:
I know what you want me to say!
White can take the black pawn by en passant
if that happens! However, White doesn’t
actually need to do that because they can
just push the pawn to a6 and still win!
Jess:
OK, smarty pants, but en passant is still
possible there.
Jamie:
Indeed it is. En passant is not
compulsory, but in this case, it is definitely
worth Black taking the e4 pawn!
Jess:
I think I need to put these things
into practice!
Jamie:
Game of Pawn Wars?
Jess:
Bring it on!
If it is Black’s move in this position and
White has just pushed their pawn to e4,
then Black can actually capture it!
Jess:
Oh yes, because the black pawn on d4 is
on its 5th rank and the white pawn is on the
adjacent file having just moved two squares
next to it.