This week for Project Library, resident chess instructor, David, provides us with some books that will help you learn how to play chess.

"To start, I'd recommend either 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess' by Patrick Wolff or 'Chess for Dummies '  by James Eade.  Both the 'Idiot's Guide' and 'Chess for Dummies' are good introductions to the game.

After you've learned how to move the pieces and you understand check, checkmate, and stalemate, then you are ready to play chess.  At this point you should play ten to one hundred games against other chess players, preferably chess players who have a few years of experience playing chess and are eager to help you learn how to play.  After playing for a while, I'd recommend reading whichever of the above two books that you didn't pick the first time around.  As you continue to play, two books I'd recommend are 'Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess' by Bobby Fischer and 'The Chess Kid's Book of Tactics' by David MacEnulty.

'Bobby Fisher Teaches Chess' will show you how to look for a certain weakness in the other player's game and how to plan ahead two or three moves.  'The Chess Kid's Book of Tactics' shows you the 'tricks of the trade' of chess—how to use one or two pieces to put the other player in some trouble. Please know that when you are first playing chess you will lose nearly every game you play.  This is normal; it can be very frustrating, but it is normal."

David, thank you so much for giving us some insight on how to get started and up our game in chess!  If you'd like to know about other chess books at the library, click here to see what we have available to check out. 

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