Think Like a King Endgame and Opening Thinking

Official Scholastic Software of the
United States Chess Federation

The first interactive curriculum designed specifically for scholastic chess programs is now available! Each Chess Workout is like a full book on chess - but in an interactive format that students will love. The Workouts can be done on computers at home or at school. See the product descriptions and hardware specifications below.

Chess Workouts© interactive chess books-on-disk will immediately show you how easy - and fun - it can be for anyone to learn chess. Even kids who won't go near a printed chess text love doing the Workouts©!

Whether used independently at home, or as part of an entire system at school, the Chess Workouts© will be the most engaging, and effective, chess teaching tools you've ever found

The Chess Workouts© were designed to be something entirely unique - Chess "books" that kids (or adults!) actually enjoy reading - because they're done interactively, on a computer!

Why "read" a chess book on a computer? Because printed chess texts, no matter how well written, are hard work! You have to struggle with chess notation to know what's moved. You have to work to visualize how figure A becomes figure B. And you have to do this page after page after page! As a result, most kids simply won't get very far before they quit - it's just too laborious a way to learn!

But the Chess Workouts© are entirely different. We've kept the best parts of printed chess books - and thrown away everything that makes them difficult. Then we added the enormous clarity and efficiency of interactive learning to create chess "books" that are actually easy - and fun! - to read! Instead of trying to imagine how the pieces move from figure A to B, you make it happen on screen as you solve problems. Or you see it happen in front of your eyes as the Workouts take you through complex chess lessons move by move, with plain English descriptions that don't depend upon chess notation! You'll immediately discover that, at long last, here are Chess Books that actually get read - cover to cover!

The Workouts combine the very best elements of chess books with those of computers --the rich explanatory detail of text plus all the visual learning that interactive computer animation offers.

The unique design of the Chess Workouts© eliminates the struggles that too often turn off kids to reading chess books: the need to interpret complex chess notation and use static chess diagrams, trying to imagine how one figure changes into another.

Students learn by solving problems on the interactive chessboard, or watch as the computer moves pieces as the text takes them step by step through an entire lesson on a given tactical maneuver.

The Chess Workouts© Volumes can be used by individuals at home, just like a chess "book". Or the entire series can provide a core curriculum for a scholastic chess program, so even non-chess playing coaches can run successful chess teaching programs as all their players learn by reading the most engaging chess "books" they've ever seen!

The Workouts can be used on computers at home or at school, so everyone has access to great chess learning.  Like a file that can't be read without a word processor, the Workouts NEED OTHER SOFTWARE IN ORDER TO BE USED. At home, you need the Home Player©; one FREE copy per student is enough for all the Workouts

Endgame Thinking
It may all come down to this, and here's where beginners have the most trouble. A course on tactics at the end of the game, where clear thinking and careful play are of the utmost importance as players seek to preserve an advantage or overcome a deficit. Learn the tactics of pawn promotion and the rules that let you create a winning position - or prevent your opponent from gaining one! Square of the Pawn, Key Squares, Key Positions, Outflanking, Triangulation, Blocked Pawns, Rook Endings, and Shouldering are just some of the many critical endgame topics covered through in-depth lessons and interactive exercises. This is a thorough and fascinating book, for player's who have mastered the basics of Volumes 1 and 2. Recommended for fourth grade and up.

Opening Thinking
The same interactive format as the titles above, exploring how to think from the very beginning of the game. Covering the common openings and variants, with traps, zaps and more. Opening play is taught not by memorizing endless series of moves and positions, but via lessons and interactive positions that emphasize our Eleven Opening Principles. From 'Control the Center' to 'King Safety', 'Advance with Threat' to 'Respond to all Threats' (and many more!), it's knowing the ideas behind the moves that teach players what the best moves are! Like Volume 3, this is an extremely in-depth book aimed at players who have mastered Volumes 1 and 2. Recommended for fourth grade and up.