Games / Crosswords

Want to play chess like a champ? Dummies can help.

From Netflix's "The Queen's Gambit" to podcasts, virtual and mobile gaming, and beyond, chess is back in a big way. But, with all those kings, queens, and knights, chess can be a royal pain to grasp. Chess For Dummies is here to help beginners wrap their minds around the rules of the game, make sense of those puzzling pieces, and sharpen their chess strategy such that even Paul Morphy would be impressed. You'll learn the laws of chess, its lingo, and engage in the art of the attack with the easy-to-follow, step-by-step explanations found in the latest edition of Chess For Dummies.

Whether you're playing chess online, in a tournament, or across the dining room table with a family member or friend, this hands-on guide is sure to capture your interest (and your opponent's queen), getting you up to speed on the game and its components and giving you the know-how you need to put the principles of play into action from the opening to the endgame.

Grasp the rules of play and the nuances of each phase of the game

Familiarize yourself with the pieces and the board

Pick the perfect chess set and chessboard for you

Get to know each of the pieces and their powers

If you feel like you're in a stalemate before you even begin a game, Chess For Dummies is your guide to forcing moves, raking bishops, and skewering your opponents like a true champion.

Go from beginner to winner with this simple-to-follow guide by chess streaming sensation Kévin Bordi and FIDE master Samy Robin.

Want to learn chess? Not sure where to start?

Go from beginner to winner quicker than you ever imagined with this simple-to-follow guide!

Chess streaming sensation Kévin Bordi and FIDE master Samy Robin introduce you to a world of fun and excitement. Drawing on their experiences and unique playing style, they demystify the rules of the games, arm you with winning tactics and propel you towards success.

With more than 450 annotated illustrations, you will gain invaluable tips and tricks to refine your strategies and finally understand what is going on in the heads of champions.

Effective lessons, strategies, and tips to become a better chess player.

In an ideal world, any chess player would improve their game with help from a coach. If that's not possible, having chess champion coach Thomas Engqvist's book next to the chess set is the next best thing. In a series of lessons, he guides players through the most important elements of chess to master. He also looks at the psychology behind chess, how to marry knowledge with imagination, and how to stay motivated.

Suitable for adults as well as older children, the lessons will steer players in the right direction to avoid wasting time on chess learning that is inefficient. Following the important great players, starting with the Italian school and Philidor and finishing with Carlsen and AlphaZero, the chess lessons draw from their most important discoveries, theories, and ideas. These are distilled into useful lessons that include the main focus: how to practice chess.

Chess becomes fun when we learn how to survive the opening and stop falling into our opponents' cheap tactical tricks.

And that's what this book is about! By understanding opening play and how to exploit tactical ideas, we turn the tables on our opponents. Now they will be the ones getting outmanoeuvred, tricked, trapped and pushed off the board!

Chess Opening Traps for Kids is a serious course on how to play the opening, illustrated with memorable and entertaining examples. By focusing on 100 key themes, Graham Burgess explains how to use opening tricks to our advantage. Every opening features hidden dangers for both players, so we need to avoid pitfalls while making full use of tactics to achieve the opening goals of purposeful development and central control.

Most of the 100 sections feature a basic example followed by a more complex one. Some of the traps have claimed grandmaster victims, while others are more likely to arise in junior chess. Either way, the aim is to learn the theme so well that you can use it when similar opportunities arise in your own games. A series of exercises at the end of the book allows you to check that you have grasped the main points. Throughout the book there are tips on how to spot tactics in advance and advice on opening strategy.

It's been said that "tactics are 99% of chess." This third volume of the Comprehensive Chess Course teaches you the basic tools of winning chess with instructive and memorable examples. Grandmasters Alburt and Palatnik thoroughly explain hundreds of key positions arranged by difficulty and designed to sharpen tactical recognition and vision in your own games. Nothing is left to chance in this work. All materials have already shown their worth in Russian chess instruction.

GM Alburt's Comprehensive Chess Course brings English readers the once strictly guarded and time-tested Russian training methods, the key to the 50-year Russian dominance of world chess. Comprehensive Chess Course takes you from beginner to master.

Coloring is the perfect way to relax and unwind. Add a bit of subversive and irreverent humor and you have Chill the F*ck Out! Beautiful scenes and abstract doodles are combined with irreverent quips like Shit just got real that will keep you laughing.

Features:
-32 original pieces of artwork to color and enjoy
-Perforated pages for easy framing
-One-side printing so colors don't bleed through

An official Mensa puzzle book!

Master puzzle maker Trip Payne has come up with another brain-busting collection that will wow youngsters. His Crosswords for Kids has sold nearly 60,000 copies, and his Great Crosswords for Kids is on its way to similar success; these oh-so-clever puzzles should scale the heights of popularity, too. Children will enjoy figuring out such kid-friendly clues as "Last name of the author of Curious George," "One of Santa's helpers," and "Sylvester the Cat chased him." And while they're having a good time filling in the answers, youngsters will also improve their vocabulary, learn interesting facts, and boost their powers of concentration.

Need a pick-me-up? Who needs caffeine when you can jump start your brain with Will Shortz sudoku! People all over the world can't get enough of this delightful number puzzle. They're short, addictive and perfect for solving on that daily coffee break!

Features:
- 100 easy to hard sudoku puzzles
- Edited by legendary New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz
- Big grids with lots of space for easy solving