Chess

Advantages: Complex and fun
Disadvantages: Hard to learn

..., but it is worth it! Chess sets are relatively cheap - I know you can get dead expensive hand crafted one, but they can be around £5-£10, with Draughts thrown in. You can join a chess club too - there are loads. Handheld computer games are available - but hard to understand and expensive. And you can get computer games for your PC or Mac. The best thing is to have a friend who plays - because its a lot easier to learn by watching them and asking questions. Its a very good game once you get into it - and two players of a similar standard can play for hours. I haven't played in a while - but I feel like it now!...

Dawson 10.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of Chess

Confessions of a chess hater.

Advantages: it passes the time
Disadvantages: I find it a bit on the dull side and I don't enjoy it much.

...taken classes on the art of chess playing, who has learned chess theory, openings, strategies, manouvers and the like. The game is almost like a science, and apparently there is a lot you can learn. He's taught me a great deal, but the more I discover about chess, the less I find I like it. I think it depends a lot on who much you enjoy the notion of working with a large, but not infinite number of variables. I will share with you a teaching method that Jonathan used to improve my chess. Set up pawns on one side of the board, just pawns. On the other, place a pair of pieces - the rook, the bishops. Work through all of them, excepting the king. The idea is to get a pawn to the far side of the board, or to prevent this. It's a good way of learing how to use the pieces and the board, and it did wonders for me. It's a fascinating exersize...

Bryn_Pearson 05.09.2001 · Read review
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Review of Chess

Good at chess or just a mess

Advantages: May make you look more intelligent than you actaully are
Disadvantages: Takes a while to get good at

...Manufacturers- Countless, there are so many versions of chess. It must not have a patent on it then. Age- No real age limit, although there are some sets which have small parts, like in travel versions. Really most regular sets could pose a choking hazard and so really I wouldn’t let a child under three years play and any way a child under three may not understand what few rules there are any way. Price- Anywhere from £1 for a cheap set, or perhaps a £1000 for a gold platted or crystal set (Although they may just be ornaments). Average game length- Could be between a few minutes or maybe even hours, it depends how good you are. Professional matches are timed, as you may have seen after every move they tap that clock which has two sides, one for each player. Now most would describe chess as a game for intelligent, patient...

sirmitchalot 10.02.2004 · Read review
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Review of Chess

In the night garden ninky nonk train set

Advantages: strong, versatile, compact, nice bright colours, fun to play with
Disadvantages: none so far

...I decided to buy the in the night garden ninky nonk train set from Amazon as my young daughter is a big fan of in the night garden and whenever it comes on TV she gets really excited. So as my daughter already had some of the other characters from the show I wanted her to have the whole set and since buying it the train set the ninky nonk train set has become one of her favourite toys to play with on a daily basis. The train set can come apart and be attached on many different ways and my daughter enjoys looking at the nice bright colours and putting some of the other in the night garden characters onto the train set even though it keeps falling of now and again it keeps her busy and sometimes I hear her in fits of giggles. The train set is very cute and versatile and its great as children such as mine can have hours of fun with it...

jmarlene 02.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Hasbro In the Night Garden Ninky Nonk Train Set

complicated and challenging chess

Advantages: fun, makes you think, tactical
Disadvantages: complicated initially

...It is only lately that I have come to realise just how complicated chess is. I was given a lovely wood chess set a couple of months ago, which has since sat in the front room looking pretty. Then the kids asked if they could play draughts with it, which they did and the conversation led onto chess. I loved chess as a child and a teenager. I joined the chess club at school and spent many a happy dinner hour there. Then later as a student, I went to weird parties which often included a chess set being dragged out of a cupboard and a little impromptu tournament beginning. So, when my children asked how to play it, I felt qualified to explain the game - until I tried to. How do you explain to a seven and ten year old that each piece moves in a different way, that the rook/castle can only move in straight lines, not diagonally, whereas...

KarenUK 17.12.2000 · Read review
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Review of Chess

Chess made fun for kids

Advantages: Teaches kids to solve problems
Disadvantages: Hard to get them off the PC

...to pick up at an early age. So what have Lego done with chess? Lego chess has the distinctive Lego look. Bright primary colours easy to use self- explanatory instructions and the trademark Lego people populate the game. Even the CD case the disc comes in has the traditional Lego brick pimples running along the spine. The setting up of the game is very simple and children can easily do it by themselves, the very youngest 5 or 6 year olds might need some assistance depending on their reading and computer skills. On entering the PC game you come to a throne room with the Lego king as your host. Using 3D animation the character talk directly to you and details the basic features of the game. Looking around the room there are various object you can click on to enter the various parts of the game THE TUTORIAL For a child that...

Mauri 28.07.2000 (18.12.2003) · Read review
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Review of Lego - Lego Chess

Chess and Internet

Advantages: full
Disadvantages: no

...Chess and Internet This page is in reaction to an article seemed in the excellent French review Europe Echecs (to see opinion drafted on this review) in December, 1999. This remarkable article presents the impossible to circumvent sites, the clubs and the leagues, the game by e-mail, the game directly, the on-line sale, the forums of discussion, the programs about Internet as well as the lists of broadcasting. Here is my personal selection of sites: www.europe-echecs.com establishes the ideal complement to the review of the same name. Www.echecs.asso.fr the site of the French union, the news, the competitions but also regulations or review of the union. Www.viruschess.com the Nord-Pas-de-Calais league is one of the first to have its site, of numerous links, numerous results but regrettably the disastrous jokes of the international...

zeitnot 12.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of Chess

chess-not just a geek game

Advantages: encourages the mind-builds strategy-can be played indoors-enjoyable-no physical advantage
Disadvantages: people are 'classed' as 'geeks'

...Hello my name is Rishi an I have been playing chess for about 6 years.I play for my county and have played for the 'rest of England?. Now at schools and in many other places people who play chess are branded 'geeks' or 'nerds' and I myself have experienced but since I was friends with some of the more popular people it was more my chess playing friends who got the insults but we all got the jokes just some more harshly than others.For example they would replace the S-club song with 'chess club' etc. Chess has many advantages.One huge one is that it doesn't matter how big you are or how old you are.All that matters is your chess ability.It brings together people of all ages and small children can crush older people and elderly people can provide numerous tricks and helpful advice.In chess you have 2 rooks,8 pawns,2 knights,two bishops...

rishibave 12.07.2002 · Read review
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Review of Chess

Chess with a difference

Advantages: More than just a normal chess game
Disadvantages: Doesn't appeal to convential chess fans

...simply because of these majestic characters. When you capture a piece, you visually see a mini fight in which the piece you capture dies. You even see a short video when the king loses. You can obviously choose your own level to match your ability in the game - with clocks to time you. Characters are brought to life when you move them, with 32-bit alpha channelled graphics whatever that means. There are more than 600 animation sequences which the makers describe "ingenious". You'll never be sure how they will act apparently. Each piece however is armed with their own weapons and it can be quite pleasing when your army is beating the opponent badly, you feel sorry for the little king. There are in game tutorials to aid those without experience in chess. You have the option of playing in 2D or 3D, with a Staunton set - a classical...

werdnajas 21.09.2002 · Read review
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Review of Combat Chess (PC)

The Best Chess Programme Ever Made

Advantages: An incredibly powerful programme, your standard doesnt matter.
Disadvantages: None chess fans wont appreciate it as much

...chancing your arm at playing the best the chess world has to offer? Well simply set Fritz to its hardest level and bingo your playing in effect a Grandmaster. There are plenty of nice features also in the game - with numerous sophisticated coaching functions, adjusting its playing strength to exactly match that of any opponent. It graphically displays threats and plans, and provides full opening statistics, which is superb for a novice player. The game also has a database of games between the best there is and commenteries on them explaining moves. This is extremely fasicnating to watch, as are the in depth opening analysis which feature video recordings of the best players in world explaining you the game as it unfolds beneath your very eyes. For club and tournament players Fritz has long become a trusted friend and indispensable advisor...

Steboyuk 19.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Fritz Chess 11 (PC)