Think Like a King Tactical and Checkmate 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.

Tactical Thinking
Introduce the basic tactical concepts with an interactive book designed to get players to recognize strategic and tactical opportunities. From pins to forks and skewers, undermining to overworking, discovering to trapping, basic tactical thinking is clearly defined and demonstrated via interactive puzzles. Simple text explanations and minimal reliance on chess notation make it a perfect learning tool for early students. Over 300 one-step puzzles cement basic knowledge via practice around important themes. 

Checkmate Thinking
Apply the tactical thinking lessons learned above to the ultimate goal -- gaining checkmate! Over 200 interactive checkmate problems for early players that illustrate basic chess thinking principles and let players learn for themselves how to apply tactical thinking to real-life scenarios. This book emphasizes checkmate through pattern recognition, teaching early players how to gain mate by executing basic attack plans with various combinations of pieces.