Sabrina Chevannes - Chess for Children Activity Book

Jess: Hey Jamie! Jamie: Hey Jess! Its been a while! Jess: I know! I havent 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: 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.

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 Id invite our friends Marnie and Harry along too so we could all have fun playing together. Lets put our ideas together and make a Chess Activity Book for everyone to join in and have fun with us together! Jamie: Great idea... lets get to work!

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 cant hurt to look over things again. Jamie: Lets 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. 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, thats 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 cant 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.

Its 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! He has 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: Dont 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. 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: Thats right. Well, anything except a king! Jess: Or another pawn! Jamie: Yeah, that would be silly if it just stayed as itself and couldnt move anywhere considering it cant 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 its en passant! So I am not sure what is right anymore! Jamie: Oh, Jess! You cant 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: Its OK I will explain it again. There are three main rules you need to remember about en passant: Your pawn must be on its 5th rank, which is just past the halfway mark. 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.

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! If it is Blacks move in this position and White has just pushed his pawn to e4, then he 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. Jamie: What if it only moved one square? Jess: Then it wouldnt 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: Heres a question for you Jamie if Black decided not to do that and he decided to push his 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 doesnt actually need to do that because he 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!

Jamie: We have played so many games of Pawn Wars and we beat each other all the time, but do you really know what you are doing? Jess: Well, I do have a plan most of the time and Ive developed a few cool ideas. Jamie: Me too! Want to share? Jess: Hmmm, Im not sure, because then you may beat me! Jamie: Just because I know some of your plans, doesnt mean that I can stop them all! Jess: Thats true. Plus, Im going to keep a few of them a secret anyway. Jamie: Fair enough. So what tricks have you got? Next page