The Chess Kid's Book of the King and Pawn Endgame

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Summary: Where to Begin...
Review: A famous mathematician once calculated the number of possible moves in a chess game. Though this computation gave definition to a seemingly limitless domain, the number is so vast that we don't have a name for it. Once the moves have been learned, some games played and rudimentary knowledge of tactics and strategy attained, where should the student who is interested in pursuing chess further go next?

The Cuban prodigy Jose Raoul Capablanca often counseled those who wished to improve their chess to start with the endgame. The logic is compelling, especially when the game's similarity to warfare is considered. Every great field general commanded smaller units before he could make sense of the chaos of a full-scale battle. The first moves in a game of chess are theoretically the most difficult, since the overwhelming number of choices alluded to earlier still exist. When an endgame is reached, and that number has significantly dwindled, complications still abound. The simplest, those in which each side possesses a king and some pawns, or even that hydrogen atom of endings a king and pawn versus a king, still demand careful attention or mistakes will be made and winning opportunities squandered.

David MacEnulty, whose work with children has earned the praise of many of the world's leading grandmasters, has written a wonderful book that answers the question of where to begin the serious study of the royal game. There are, of course, many splendid treatises available on this subject, but in this reader's experience none as thorough as The Chess Kid's Book of the King and Pawn Endgame. Principles such as Key Squares, The Opposition, and Triangulation are illustrated by enough well-chosen examples to make a lasting impression on the student and yield practical results over the board. This has been proven by the author's own pupils. Mr. MacEnulty's chess teams, hailing from the Bronx, New York City, won five national titles!

The Chess Kid's Book of the King and Pawn Endgame isn't just for kids. Anyone seeking to increase their understanding of this time-honored pastime will benefit from the experience contained in this delightful volume.

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Summary: This book is FANTASTIC!
Review: David MacEnulty is a very talented communicator, writer and coach. This comes through in his books and I am very excited to see more of what he will be publishing! This book is fantastic.

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Summary: Does not compare to my other endgame book
Review: I am 10 years old. I thought this book would add more after reading my other endgame book, CHESS ENDINGS: ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE (which is excellent). However, my first endgame book covered all of the important things in Maceunltys book plus a lot more. It was a loss of money to have bought this book.

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Summary: Too hard
Review: I am only 9. My parents got me this book. This book is for older kids because I don't understand it. I got Bruce Pandolfini's book and like it much, much more because it was writen so someone my age could understand it.
I looked at other reviews here. It seems that some teacher readers mike like it as their guide. But for a kid to get it, it stinks bad.

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Summary: Very confusing
Review: I find this book to be very, very confusing. Sometimes postions are given to find the correct moves. And then I cannot find where the answers are. The book also jumps from very very simple to then very very complicated without explaining things so I can understand. I am rated 900 and don't like this book at all.

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Summary: From a teacher's point of view
Review: I found this book to be somewhat disapointing after purchasing it to teach upper grade elementary school students.
I found that the book makes certain assumptions, like the student has full knowledge of how to checkmate with just 2 Kings and Queen left on the board. If I wrote this book, I would have made sure that this was covered as this is essential knowledge "before" learning the most basic King and Pawn endgames. It would have only taken a few additional pages to cover the basics of this most important item. To start teaching King and Pawn endgames without being sure that the student knows this important mate is insane!
In the author's introduction he also makes major assumptions about the capabilities of students ranging on their grade level. If properly taught even a second grader of average ability can learn the opposition very well. The statement "MOST PEOPLE PLAY THE ENDGAME BADLEY" is a negatism and not the best way to start a book. There are better ways to approach this that will not put down a child from the start. Chess should be used to improve self esteme and words should be choosen carefully by teachers.
Another problem is that the book jumps from simple to much more complex situations and then back again to simple instead of of using a lesson plan format that has lessons build on each other. As a result for a child reading this book he/she will find it confusing. The order in which things are covered is not the best and should be reorganized.
How this book got to be published by the Random House McKay Chess Library is beyond me. Most of their books are excellent, with this book being a rare exception.

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Summary: My kid is lost with this book
Review: I purchased this book for my 9 year old who is in the 4th grade. He has played in a couple of chess tournaments through is school and gets As and Bs in school.
However, he expressed great disapointment when I purchased this book for him after he spend two days on it. Therefore, I look at it in detail and found my poor son had been reading a very poorly written book, that as an adult I found poorly organized and certainly a book with moderatly difficult concepts poorly explained.
Stay away from this!

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Summary: Just OK
Review: I purchased this book to use as a text book in the classes I teach for kids.
It is poorly organized and jumps around too much. Not the most logicla progression of material.
The book, even though as the title suggests covers King and Pawn endings, a primer on how to checkmate with a King and Queen against a King should have been included (i.e. what does the kid do once a Pawn is Queened!).
Just bad writing. Stay away from this one.

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Summary: Not much material
Review: It covers so little material and is very thin. Even a book for kids should have a lot more than this. This book should have gone into more types of endgames which would have been useful for children, starting with the basic engame checkmates, and then after the King and Pawn endings, perhaps the more important basic Rook and Pawn endings. If the author intends to write more books on the endgames, I can see that he is just trying to break up into many books what could have been one good one.

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Summary: Poorly written - Bad Concept
Review: You might think that writing a book on King and Pawn endgames for kids would provide children who have learned basic rules and strategy with a solid foundation for their first endgame specialty book. WRONG!
I did indeed note that the most important first concept that needed to be learned was ommitted in this book - BASIC CHECKMATE WITH KING AND QUEEN (and perhaps even King and Rook versus King should have been covered). So this author thinks he knows how to teach chess to children!! Gosh, oh mighty, golly gee whiz, the author also throws the kids for a loop by going from the most simple to extremely complicated concepts quickly without proper building and explaining.
This book will confuse and drive kids away from the proper learning of what should be a wonderful game.