Serendipity
Whenever you start a new project or endeavour it's always uplifting to find like-minded people who share your passion. And so it was that shortly after launching Acorn Chess in October 2020 I came across Andy Trattner's post Learning Chess the Easy Way and immediately realised I had found a kindred spirit.
I related to much of the content and anecdotes in his post, and it was clear that he saw mini-games as a transformative tool for helping engage children in fun chess learning. We exchanged a few emails back in November and he was kind enough to share a draft of his book. He also took a look at our Acorn Chess application and provided some valuable feedback. It was clear that our application was very complementary and supported many of the mini-games he recommended in his book.
Andy has just published his book, and I'd like to share my thoughts on it and provide details for where you can get it.
Book review
This is a book that can help parents or anyone engaged in teaching chess to children or beginners. It's compact at around 60 pages and very easy to dive into and get practical exercises and mini-games you can use straight away.
The chapters introduce a mini-game and then there is follow on content on teaching mechanics and parenting skills that include great anecdotes from his own experience as both a child and later as a teacher.
His writing style is very approachable and engaging. Would definitely recommend checking it out along with other articles and videos he has published about teaching chess using mini-games. All the details you need are below.
Book and related resources
You can order the book now from yourmovepublishing.com. Note if you are outside of the US you will need to contact Andy on that website to discuss shipping.
To learn of Andy's journey in writing the book check out his post My Journey to Publish A Book. It might even inspire you to write and self publish yourself.
Finally Andy has a great set of resources that will continue to be updated at Coach Andy's Chess Corner.
Take a look at his video below on using the mini-game '2 rooks vs 2 bishops' to teach chess.