In chess, tactics are the tricks and techniques players use to get a quick advantage over their opponents. David MacEnulty, a former director of program development in New York City's award-winning Chess-in-the-Schools program, teaches students how to develop a tactical mindset. In The Chess Kid's Book of Tactics , he instructs 6-10-year-old players in how to recognize the basic chess patterns and how to apply those patterns to understand-and win-the game.
David MacEnulty is an award winning teacher with over twenty years of experience teaching children and adults. His chess teams have won numerous New York City, New York State and National Chess Championships. He has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the US Chess Federation, and was given the Lives that Make a Difference Award from A&E Television. The film, Knights of the South Bronx, starring Ted Danson, was based on David’s years as a chess teacher at C.E.S. 70 in the Bronx.
The reason why book has lost two stars is the final chapter of the book. The problems are combinations which can be as long as 4-5 moves both sides and can have variations as well. It’s like the author has just taught you how to crawl and now wants you to run a marathon. The reason for three stars is that it does explain every tactical motif and shows some nice games examples and has some learning value.
Excellent. The puzzles are systematically organized around the theme of each chapter and they are instructive rather than bamboozling (in contrast to many chess books with puzzles). So, it's a great teaching tool.