Product reviews for Chess for Schools

The author's passion, experience and expertise in the field shines through every page. Whilst many readers will be drawn primarily to an invaluable and well-structured compendium of minigames and chess variants for introducing chess to younger children in a structured, gradual and progressive way (‘Slowly but surely’), the author's robustly expressed (but, of course, contestable) critique of the two main approaches to chess in schools – to enhance academic outcomes or to breed future grandmasters – is worthy of serious consideration. He argues cogently not for chess in the curriculum or a weekly after-school club, but for the infusion of chess in a school culture. A veritable treasure-chest of ideas, advice, opinions and resources for any teacher wishing to use chess to nurture the social world and well-being of their pupils and maybe, just maybe, to create the next Magnus Carlsen as a secondary gift too.