Brooklyn Castle star teacher Elizabeth Vicarys recommendations of books for advanced chess

players are at http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8552/468/ and her top 10 books for teaching

chess can be found at http://main.uschess.org/content/view/7776/381/
For more on Elizabeth Vicarys teaching ideas, read Shahade, J. (2007, June 26) E.Vicary
on chess, girls and genius. Chess Life Online. Available:
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/6571/357/. This interview shares how Vicary organizes her
club and encourages girls to participate.
This annotated bibliography of resources for educators and parents is adapted by Dr.
Alexey Root from Root, A. (2009). Read, write, checkmate: Enrich literacy with chess activities.
Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. For more about Alexey Root, see
http://www.amazon.com/Alexey-W.-Root/e/B001JP9XGW.
EDUCATORS
These books have classroom exercises or pages designed to be reproduced as worksheets and
forms for students. Therefore, they are suited for immediate use by educators.
Bain, J. (1994). Chess rules for students. Corvallis, OR: Learning Plus. Bain, J. (2002).
Checkmate! Ideas for students. Corvallis, OR: Learning Plus. These books are both available
from http://www.chessforstudents.com/. Instructional workbooks designed for beginning chess
students. Bain (1994) gives the movements of the pieces and algebraic notation. Bain (2002)
covers tactics that can lead into checkmates. Both books have reproducible worksheets and an
answer key.

Barber, D. (2003). A guide to scholastic chess. Anaheim, CA: American Chess

Equipment. Available: http://www.amchesseq.com/. This guide is available as a free download
from http://www.amchesseq.com/. Barber includes advice and forms for organizing a chess club
and for running chess tournaments.
Khmelnitsky, I., Khodarkovsky, M. & Zadorozny, M. (2006). Teaching chess step by
step. Montville, NJ: Kasparov Chess Foundation. Schools may order a complimentary set of
three books (1-Teachers Manual, 2-Exercises Manual, and 3-Activities) by following the
instructions at http://www.kasparovchessfoundation.org/. Book 1 has lesson plans for chess
beginners, and book 2 has reproducible worksheets.
MacEnulty, D. (2001). Lets play chess: A kids guide to the royal game. New York:
Chess-in-the-Schools. This book was published by Chess-in-the-Schools,
http://www.chessintheschools.org/. Some of the same material can be found in the teacher
section of the Chess-in-the-Schools Web site.
Pelts, R. & Alburt, L. (1992). Comprehensive chess course: volumes I & II (3rd ed.). New
York: Chess Information and Research Center. Lesson plans for educators and tests with answer
keys. The three volumes take students from beginners to intermediate level and beyond.
Polgar, S. (2006). Chess training program for teachers. New York: Susan Polgar
Foundation. Free download; follow the instructions at http://www.susanpolgarfoundation.org/.
This .pdf document (62 pages) has lesson plans covering the rules of chess and basic strategies.
Root, A. W. (2006). Children and chess: A guide for educators. Westport, CT: Teacher
Ideas Press. This book has several chapters that give curricular reasons for educators to include

chess. The latter part of the book has lesson plans, worksheets, and connections to state
standards.
Root, A. W. (2008). Science, math, checkmate: 32 chess activities for inquiry and
problem solving. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. This book has 32 plans organized by chess
level and grade level (either 3-5 or 6-8) that teach science, math, or interdisciplinary objectives
using chess.
Root, A. W. (2009). Read, write, checkmate: Enrich literacy with chess activities.
Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. This book provides forms, directions, examples, worksheets,
and other guidance for completing a chess book-writing project with students.
Root, A. W. (2010). People, places, checkmates: Teaching social studies with chess.
Santa Barbara, CA: Teacher Ideas Press. This book has lesson plans linking chess and civics,
economics, history, the humanities, geography, government, political science, psychology, and
technology. Included are primary documents such as Benjamin Franklins essay The Morals of
Chess.
Root, A.W. (2011). The living chess game: Fine arts activities for kids 9-14. Santa
Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited. This book provides music, art, dance, and theater activities
that teach fine arts objectives and chess. Options for staging a living chess game or a chess talent
show are given.
Shulman, Y. & Sethi, R. (2007). Chess! Lessons from a grandmaster. Rapid City, SD:
Spizzirri. Available from http://shulmanchess.com/, this book has lesson plans that include either
a suggested activity or a notated and annotated game or game fragment. All lessons are followed
homework problems, usually 10 per lesson. Most pages have 2-4 diagrams per page. Within the

book are 30 black-and-white photos of students playing chess. See Elizabeth Vicarys review of
this book at http://main.uschess.org/content/view/9216/520/
PARENTS
The following books are designed for children to read on their own or with a parents help. There
are illustrations and photos. The reading level and content is appropriate for elementary school
students. After reading these books, children will know the rules of chess.
Kidder, H. (1990). The kids book of chess. New York: Workman. This book features
beautiful illustrations and tells the medieval history behind each of the chess figures.
King, D. (2000). Chess: From first moves to checkmate. Boston: Kingfisher. This book
features striking artwork and many chess diagrams. King teaches the history and the rules of
chess.
Nottingham, T., Wade, B., & Lawrence, A. (1993). Chess for children. New York:
Sterling. This book contains diagrams and photos of chess positions, stories about chess players,
and fiction about the roles of the pawns and pieces.