No Stress Chess

I have never bought my grandson a toy which was not educational. For his 7th birthday I found what I thought would be an ideal educator. Little did I know how right I was !! He now eagerly does his homework so that we may play after. Since this game not only educates in chess skill but also introduces an element of 'luck' he's already 'managed' to win me a few games and his improvement in moving the pieces was immediate. Will certainly recommend it for all ages from 7. Good value for money

Brilliant introduction to chess for non players (me included). Played it over Christmas hols with kids ranging from 7 to 13. Some could play already some couldn't but by the end of a few games we all knew the names of the pieces and the moves they were allowed to do, Even the snooty chess playing adults agreed it was a great piece of kit.

My boys are just turned 4 and 6 and they both love to play against me. The game is 7+ so I always supervise (When they play each other I have to adjudicate to keep it civil!!) The card designs are so effective with their description and diagram of how each piece can move. The board design is fantastic, the boys can set up the pieces independently, which they love. I really like the fact that the board is reversible and it will be a regular chess set for when they eventually know how to play. It was not cheap but great value. Thoroughly recommend.

This was a fantastic starter for my 6 yo, whatever she learned from the cards she taught her 4 yo sister, and was enthusiastic to play everyday. She even stopped using the cards to play on her own accord. But for someone who knows how to play it's frustrating because there are patterns or set moves that you would play to trap or win a game, and here this doesn't work because you are directed by the turn of a card. The next step would be to find a box or tutorial on how to play and practice different setups to see if the kids can recognise and resolve those mini challenges before really into a game of chess. But to break the fear and make the game an equaliser for novice and experienced this is a clever approach. Enjoy.

We love it.. Our child of 4 years and old, my husband and I :) Everynight we are playing... Our child chooses if goes with mum or daddy but he is doing great, sometimes better than me. I did not know either to play before but now thanks to this game I win sometimes to my expert husband. Lot of laughs! A possible tip: sometimes in your turn you cannot move and we decided, against the rules, that then we take another card till we can move.. it make us feel the game is more dynamic.

This is brilliant! Previously, I tried before to teach my 5 years old daughter to play without success! This game is doing the trick. I am not interested to get her to play now, I just want her to familiarize with the board and pieces. She loves playing with me and this is giving us lots of quality time together. Do not forget to let your child win now and then!!!! It is a bit pricey but worth to the last penny!

My grandson is only 8 years old and he loves this game as it is teaching him the rules of chess so he can understand the moves.

Brilliant for children. Granddaughters 7 and 9 loving it and learning to play very easily. A clever addition to the traditional game of chess.

The way the pieces move isn't that hard to learn. The seven year old and the five year old both got it pretty quickly. The problem is one of strategy and tactics. While they both really wanted to play they didn't know exactly why they were moving the pieces and what is was, exactly, they needed to accomplish. Enter this game. Because the cards dictate which piece has to be moved the young player is a bit on auto-pilot. They don't have to look at the board and 16 pieces and decide which one should go somewhere next. The card they draw tells them which piece to move. One guy was very aggressive, opening up on attack. The other was very defensive, making small and closed up moves. They began to see the larger picture, and after a few games they started to develop their own styles and really began to see how you attack and defend the king. It was actually pretty cool to see them "get" the point and flow of the game. We had great fun and made huge strides. I was delighted. Both boys desperately wanted to play chess and I figured this game would do no harm and was no more expensive than a plain plastic set. I did not expect this to be so successful, both as a fun game and as a learning tool. One suggestion. Early on a player may get a card for a piece that can't be moved. (Usually, a rook.) The "rules" dictate that the player must then skip his turn. This made no sense to me because losing a turn is a real disadvantage. We play that if you select a card for an unmovable player you select another card until you can move. That worked much better, and maintained the balance between the players. Anyway, the upshot is that this really worked well for us and I enthusiastically recommend this as a solid introduction for youngsters curious about chess. UPDATE. As of late summer the boys are now playing, quite well, without using the cards at all. This really just worked well beyond my expectations.

1. Sehr speditive Lieferung über Landesgrenzen hinweg, danke! 2. Das Spiel war ein Geschenk für unsere 7-jährige Tochter. Sie liebt es und hat dank dessen innerhalb eines Tages die Züge der Figuren gelernt. Ich auch :-) Für uns also eine sehr hilfreiche Art, Schach zu erlernen. Daher 5 Sterne von uns!

When my son came home asking for chess lessons from me, I was hesitant because of his age. But I found this game and it has worked wonders. I don't mean to say that he became an expert in days and he can play chess well. But it explains the rules of the game and some basic strategies can slowly be introduced with each game. It reduces the stress while playing chess, especially for beginners.

Don’t buy this, it will make you learn and love chess. I don’t know about children, but it helped me learn chess. My husband has always loved chess but I was intimidated by the rules and different pieces. When you play the card version you start to hope for certain pieces to come up in the deck and develop a strategy in your mind, this makes you want to stop playing with the cards and start playing normally as you develop a better understanding of potential moves. The booklet also gives you a basic understanding of chess strategy. After teaching myself, I thought one of my friends in an afternoon and she taught her boyfriend, and now we all play. I’m confident children could learn easily too, I was kidding earlier definitely get this. On one side of the board is labeled with suggested moves to meet the card game works better, the other side is plain. The pieces are a light plastic, nothing special, but it’s just a training set anyways. If you learn to like chess you can invest in a much nicer board, and if not, you got your value for your money. My only tiny complaint is that some of the colours on the cards are close together and easily confused at a glance in dim lighting (but you can also just read and see the picture). Great set!

Makes a great introduction to chess with the labels on the board. Also cards to help identifying how each piece type should move. It’s a great tool for young beginners!