Game teaches kids advanced chess moves

Fritz & Chesster's Chess for Winners uses a series of mini-games to teach advanced chess strategies to kids.

CHESS FOR WINNERS
Score 9 stars (out of 10)
Best for ages 8 to 14
Platform Windows
Publisher Viva-Media
Price $29.99

Lots of kids know how to move chess pieces, but when they learn tactics and strategies, they discover what makes chess such a great game. The computer game Fritz & Chesster's Chess for Winners is a great way for kids' to expand their chess knowledge.

Chess for Winners is the third title in the award-winning Learn to Play Chess with Fritz & Chesster series, and continues the series' tradition of teaching chess strategy within the framework of an interactive computer adventure.

The stars of the first two games, Fritz and Bianca, two royal children related to the chessboard's white king, are back. Kids join them at the Pleasantville Village Fair, a carnival full of booths and games that teach chess knowledge, including specific opening, middle game, and endgame tactics.

When Fritz and Bianca arrive at the fair, they discover that the evil King Black has cheated 16 other kings out of their carnival winnings, special prizes called Chess-chubbies. Kids help Fritz and Bianca visit 16 different booths and rides to win new chubbies for the disheartened kings. At each location, the chess activity has a carnival theme. Thus while taking a ride on the Ghost Train, a skeleton will give you scenarios in which you need to deliver checkmate on the next move.

The teaching of chess strategy is done in such a way that kids won't be overwhelmed and will find it fun. For example, to practice the Spanish Opening (also known as the Ruy Lopez), kids memorize the sequence of moves by placing a gem on the board during a practice session and then recreating the moves so that they can collect the gem and earn points.