Customer Reviews

How to Play Chess Like an Animal

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I thought this would be a book for kids, but when I read it, I realized this would be interesting for adults also. You won't normally find these strange chess openings in other books and I don't necessarily recommend that you play them as a serious player, but they will give you a fresh and different look at playing the game. Plus the art work is excellent. I definitely recommend it and have bought a few copies to give away to chess club kids I coach and one to keep. I'm hoping there will be a sequel.

With its inventive title and bright illustrations of animals, "How to Play Chess Like An Animal" appeals to both children and adults of all ages. This great chess guide is for anyone who is new to chess or wants to improve his or her game. Authors Carson and Wall explain the basics of chess as well as each opening with clarity and humor. In their description of the Giraffe, they ask the reader: "Ever wish you were taller than those sixth grade bullies? . . . There is a magic way to be big instantly! Play the Giraffe!" And after finishing the book, the reader can try out new moves with a game of penny chess using the board on the back cover. I'm not a regular chess player but came away with a greater understanding and appreciation of the game, and my four-year-old loved the pictures of the animals.

This book is unlike any other that I have seen in the chess world. The book introduces the reader to a bunch of chess openings that for the most part have animal names. I am a tournament chess player - currently around 1740 USCF rating, and have found myself getting obsessed with some of the openings in this book, and playing them over the board. While they are not played at a Grandmaster level, they are certainly playable for class players, and definetly for children, and are a TREMENDOUS amount of fun!!

The illustrations in this book are amazing. The illustrator is a professional and the colors are fantastic. Everyone kids, and adults will love the pictures. Some of the pictures would make nice posters to hang.

This book would make a nice Christmas present for a kid learning the game, or for someone that likes unusual chess openings.

As the Colorado State Chess Association Scholastic Coordinator many parents have asked me how can they help their kids learn to play chess. Until now much of the material I have suggested is good but lacked making the game fun, allowing the child's imagination to soar.

"How to Play Chess Like an Animal" is the perfect book for your young zookeepers uh, I mean chess players.

This book is very entertaining and makes learning chess openings and the beginning basics of chess super fun for young children.

Life Master Brian Wall states in his Foreword letter: "I have been madly in love with chess since age 6. ...This book is for 6 year old chess stars all over the world."

The pictures, the names of the openings, and the youthful style in which this book has been written will keep your young chess stars coming back to learn more.

I had the chance to sit down over a cup of coffee with Anthea Carson who did the coloring for the drawings done by Linn Trochim (famous for her drawing art work for Hanna-Barbera Studio with "The Flintstones ®" and "Scooby Doo ®").

She made the statement:

"Many authors have used animals to teach great lessons to children. Children have come to love animal stories and their characters. We wanted our book bring those fond fun loving memories of animals to the chess board and allow kids to be kids while they learn one of the greatest games in life from their new found animal friends."

Well Anthea, you and Life Master Wall have succeeded!

In the world of children's chess this book is an instant classic!

Tom Nelson
CSCA Scholastic Coordinator
csca-scholastic-chess@comcast.net

While my own work is probably not best suited for children, much of it IS set around the game of chess. And why shouldn't it be? I started playing when I was six. Yet for all the years I've been involved with the game, I would wager that if I'd owned a copy of HOW TO PLAY CHESS LIKE AN ANIMAL back then, today I'd probably be as proficient a player as its authors.

If you've got kids and they're interested in chess, this is the book to give them. But don't be surprised if you find yourself learning an opening or two yourself -- and maybe even enjoying the process...

Paco Ahlgren

Chess teaches time, resource management, mathematical, geometric and spatial concepts in an exciting one on one struggle. Wouldn't you like your child to get into that rather than the latest mind-numbing video game? When kids engage in a challenging activity that calls forth their best mental efforts and creativity it can help them avoid becoming "laboratory rats pressing the feeder bar..." When kids get curious about a subject there is a very small window of opportunity to get them hooked on a subject before they move on to something else. This book has that hook! With engaging explanations and some of the most beautiful graphics ever seen in a book of this type, "...Chess Like an Animal" will pique their interest like no other material on chess that I know of. Once they have caught the bug, those kids lucky enough to have gotten this book will have been given the incredible gift of Chess, the world's best game: a mind-building, boredom busting, low cost artistic hobby that they will treasure for a life time. Also, as the other reviewers have mentioned, there are "sprinkles" everywhere that adults will enjoy thru-out the book. Highly recommended!

It's common knowledge that chess is great for kids, teaching as it does, planning, logical consequences, and intellectual discipline. If this list of attributes doesn't sound a whole lot like actual fun, well then you don't look at Chess the way Brian Wall does. In a field bereft of good, yet entertaining instruction books for kids, he and co-author Anthea Carson have penned a delightful manual that reminds kids that chess is about experiencing enjoyment and using one's imagination. Most kid's chess books are really adult beginner manuals dumbed down a little bit for easier absorption by the little ones. Wall and company have taken a different approach and emphasized the "fun" aspect right off the bat. Using the theme of animals, the book enlivens the subject with both whimsical animal metaphors and equally nutty and colorful illustrations. The result is something kids will recognize was designed solely for them. To be sure, there is solid if not exactly comprehensive instruction here but even that information is conveyed in a delightfully irreverent style. Consider the beginning of the explanation of pawn moves:" You will need a magnifying glass, a beaker, a compass, a blender, string, 2 rubber bands, a #2 pencil and a camel hair coat to make sense of the pawn rule moves. It is easier to learn than Chinese. Let us begin".

The book does not appear to be aimed at any particular age group here. I would think that some parts of the book, the wacky openings for instance, would appeal to four or five year olds whereas adults might get something out of other parts of the book like the hilarious glossary. I suppose this lack of age targeting could be considered a weakness or a strength. Personally, I think it's a strength. The book doesn't pretend to be a comprehensive primer on chess rather; it succeeds by acting effectively as a teaser for whatever age child that might happen to pick it up. If they catch the bug (and this book is more likely than any other than I can think of to infect them with bugs) then they will likely look beyond it for other more information-based modes of instruction. Wall has a gift for reducing complex ideas in simple terms that are simultaneously entertaining as well as instructive and the accompanying illustrations are suitably wacky and eye catching. One aspect of the book that generally goes a bit further than most kid's books is the substantial section on openings. Some of these openings are hopelessly unsound, but again, as the focus is on funny patterns and the crazy names associated with certain chess openings, the book may interest a child in the opening phase in a way that dry instructions to "maintain a two pawn center" may not. All in all, this book is a winner and I only hope that Mr. Wall gets around to writing a book for adults that teaches and entertains as well as "Play Chess Like an Animal" does.

Life Master Brian Wall and co-author Anthea Carson have produced a unique introduction to chess openings for children and adults.

I must first say that this book is in LARGE PRINT, which I use in my own beginner chess lessons. There is nothing that turns off beginners in chess so much as to see a long series of moves in tiny print, That's like reading a credit card contract! Well this book says FOOEY to small print!

The book requires no prior knowledge of how to play chess, as the student will be taken through explanations of piece movements, terminology, and most importantly, how to Read & Write Algebraic Notation. [How chess moves are recorded in a game.] This is the key to chess improvement.

The openings introduced are characterized by the animal names associated with them: Dragon, Alligator, and so forth. Children will be delighted with the fantastic illustrations which are large and colorful. Some of the unusual openings are very capable of giving the player an edge in any competition.

The authors encourage students to invent their own unique chess openings and explore them freely, rather than playing chess by rote memorization.

My impression is that when this first edition will be sold out, [I think it already is!] a second edition will be soon be in demand, and it will include additional material not included in the first edition. This is a book whose theme can be easily expanded into a series of books.

Anthea Carson and Life Master Brian Wall have poured their love into this work, which is so very unlike the multitude of chess books for children. The novelty of the presentation places this work in a class of its very own. Co-author Anthea Carson has two small children of her own, and her son has to his credit a FIVE-HUNDRED POINT upset just in the past year. It indicates that the mother knows how to teach chess for sure!

An extensive chess glossary is provided which will enlarge the student's scope of understanding. This colorful book is nicely priced at just under $20.00 and I think it is well worth the price.

Mark my words. Public demand for this book will grow in the coming months.