My nephew is gaining an interest in chess, and he’s actually… Well, OK, I beat him easily even being way out of practice, but it looks like he’s got some potential, at least. And look, it’s that time of year! I’ve been carefully cultivating a reputation as the Book Uncle, so I figured that a book on chess might be a good choice.
So, does anyone have any good recommendations for a 7-year-old, bright but not prodigy, chess novice?
I gave my son Chess for Children by Chandler and Milligan. He likes it.
The first half of it is basic stuff, just explaining the rules. But the rest covers some simple tactics, openings and so on. There are some other more advanced books by the same author too.
Moved two squares to the left and one back. Er, from Cafe Society to the Game Room.
Everyone’s Second Chess Book by Dan Heisman might be a good fit, but unfortunately it’s not easy to find a (resonably priced) copy. See here. The writing itself might be above his level, but that may be true for most books that go beyond simply explaining the basics.
I taught myself (aged 6) chess from Chess for Children by Bott and Morrison.
It went pretty well, since I’m a FIDE Master and professional chess coach. 
Tellyworth’s suggestion of another ‘Chess for Children’ sounds fine too. I know both Chandler and Milligan and they do good work.
If you happen to give him any brief lessons, make sure he knows about castling, promotion and en passant.
Do basic checkmates (King and 2 Rooks v King; King and Queen v King; King and Rook v King.)
Then take a look at King and pawn v King.
(It’s unproductive to teach openings too soon to a novice.)
So far, our chess interaction has been limited to one game (with extensive commentary along the lines of “Are you sure you want to do that?” and “Think for a moment about what I’ll be able to do next turn if you don’t stop me”), and an exercise in KRR vs. K. The game included castling (along with commentary on why it’s considered a good idea), and I explained promotion, but it never actually came up. En passant I figure I’ll wait until it actually shows up in a game, so as to not overwhelm him.
Is there any fundamental difference between KQ vs. K and KR vs. K, other than the fact that using the queen makes it a little harder to screw up? Oh, and in case it comes up, I can’t myself teach him KBB or KBN, since I don’t know those either (beyond knowing that they exist).
borshevsky, price is very definitely an object for me right now, so I’m afraid that one is out. But with one outright recommendation and an endorsement from glee, I’ll probably go with the Chandler and Milligan.
That all sounds fine. 
The key thing for young players is that they enjoy playing, so having a friendly teacher is great.
Unfortunately just playing games as a beginner is not an efficient way to learn. There’s just too much going on.
Advising him to ‘think before he moves’, ‘sit on his hands’ and ‘think what your opponent is up to’ are all important - but it’s still incredibly hard for a beginner to have a plan and execute it!
K+Q v K is easier than K+R v K, but there’s far more danger of stalemate. :eek:
(The other checkmates can wait for now, but when you do them it does help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of B v N.)
One thing that should help is to give the pupil a simple puzzle to solve in their own time. Mate in 2 moves - that sort of thing.
I use these for complete beginners:
a) White: Ke1 Rh1 Bf4,c8 Nc3
Black: Kf3
White to play and mate in 1 move.
Solution 1. OO (castles)
You can give a clue that here are 5 checks to find and one of them is mate.
b) White: Ke5 Ra8 Bf6 ph7
Black: Kf7
White to play and mate in 1 move.
Solution 1. h7-h8=N (although promoting to a Queen is almost always best, you can also promote to R,B or N)
You can give a clue that here are 3 checks to find and one of them is mate.
Also note that both 1. Ke5-f5 and 1. Ra8-g8 are stalemate!
I have literally just bought that last week. My daughter is five. I’m not yet convinced she can sit still long enough to play a game of chess but she asked for it. We’ll see how it goes.