No Stress Chess
by Winning Moves
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Toys and Games Reviews of No Stress Chess
Customer Review: A four year-old plays chess?
Summary: 5 Stars
I love my 4 year-old daughter more than I can say but, in all honesty, she's no chess prodigy.
Daddy has all these different chess sets around the house, so that's where the interest began (an interest I was more than happy to encourage). We made a game of learning the names of the various pieces and how to set up the board. I thought our next step would involve learning how the pieces move and maybe even playing 'games' with some of the pieces' movements (bishops and rooks versus bishop and rooks, etc.), it was then that we discovered "No Stress Chess."
What the folks at Winning Moves Games have provided is something you'd imagine some clever teacher would have thought of centuries ago, namely; drawing from a shuffled deck of cards to determine which chess piece is to be moved.
Players draw from a face-down pile of 56 cards which each show a picture, the name, and movement of a particular chess piece; if they are able to move that piece, that is what they must do. The card is then placed face-up on their discard pile (each player has their own separate discard pile). In addition to 'chess piece movement' cards, there are also 'move same type of piece again' cards; this card allows the player to move the same type of piece last moved by themselves or their opponent. Believe it or not, that's just about all there is to it!
Needless to say (if you already know how to play chess), the game that results from this type of play is a whole different experience, for the most part based on the luck of the draw. There is no such thing as being in "check," and a "checkmate" is achieved by actually taking your opponent's king! Accordingly, there is "no stress" in placing an unprotected queen next to your opponent's king unless, of course, your opponent proceeds to draw a "king" card.
Once this basic form of the game is mastered (referred to as "Level One"), players may progress to the next level. In "Level Two" each player is dealt 3 cards at a time and may choose which of those cards they wish to play for their move. In "Level Three" each player is dealt 5 cards. Finally, the instructions suggest an "Advanced Game" where the rules of pawn promotion, castling, checking, and en passant are employed.
In addition to the playing cards a two-sided board is included. The squares on one side of the board show how to set up the game, with the name and picture of each piece on their appropriate square. The included plastic chess pieces are "heavy-duty" and virtually indestructible (with the noteworthy exception of the cross on top of the king). Lastly, in addition to the rules and variations of "No Stress Chess," a very adequate explanation of "Standard Chess Rules" and basic strategy are provided.
Okay, back to the title of my review...much to my amazement, I have a 4 year-old who moves her knight around the board like a seasoned grand master. What more can I say?
-- Thom Shanken
Customer Review: A brilliant way to introduce chess to beginners
Summary: 5 Stars
Growing up I always thought it would be cool to play chess, but I never had anyone to teach me. At the age of 24 I was working as a nanny, and the 6-year-old was seeing a therapist. His therapist tried teaching him chess, and amazingly, he GOT it - and this kid really struggles with understanding cause and effect or thinking before acting. So chess was a great thing for him. I bought a set and quickly learned how to play so that we could play together at home. We had a blast!
Fast forward two years, and I'm now working as a TSS for autistic kids. As I was playing some games with the older kids I see, I wondered if they could benefit from learning chess, too. I am still a complete novice (I don't know any strategy or famous moves or anything) but I saw No Stress Chess at Barnes & Noble and thought "That might just work!" I asked my 8-year-old client if he would like to try it, and he caught on really quickly. He would take turns playing with me or his older sister - him playing nicely with his sister was one of the treatment objectives ;-) - and it didn't take long for him to be able to point out to her how she could move her pieces, without looking at the directions on the cards. But if the kids forgot, there was an easy reminder right there. After a while he said he was getting bored, so I told him there was a "Level 2," and he and his sister kept on playing. I have also played this with another 8-year-old and her 6-year-old brother. I give them a little coaching at the beginning, showing them what their choices are or pointing out smart moves or dangerous situations. At my last session it took them over half an hour to finish the game, which is a very long time for my client to attend to anything!
I love the way the levels of gameplay ease you in to this rather daunting Game of Kings. As a TSS, I am familiar with recognizing the complexity of everyday tasks and how they need to be broken down step-by-step to teach most autistic kids. This game reminds me of that process, giving limited choices until you are capable of handling the freedom of the real game.
Let me tell you, it is SO COOL to see kids who are usually glued to their TV or DS screens actually beg to play chess. I recommend this for anyone who wants to learn or teach the game of chess, regardless of age!
Customer Review: Combines a game of chance with one of skill
Summary: 5 Stars
Previous reviewers on Amazon US have generally given praise for this clever game, both an introduction to how its included pieces conventionally move and also, in a twist that even those who know how to play already may enjoy, giving this ancient game of skill a bit of chance. My post shows in more detail how this concept works on various levels according to the directions. Cards for each piece show the moves, and if you draw the card, you must move the piece. If you cannot, you lose your turn. This allows, as the clearly indicated instructions explain, a freedom not open to standard players.
This also liberates the King somewhat, to attack more often. The booklet, which also gives a concise explanation of standard chess, puts the rationale of this version thus: "You can take a chance of exposing your pieces to possible capture in the hopes your opponent won't draw a card picturing a piece he can move to capture yours." You also may draw, in six places in the 56-card deck, a "move same type of piece again," which allows you to use either the card your opponent would draw next or your own.
Level One follows these rules, after an initial non-carded set-up of one at both color's queen's file of the pawn two squares and each king's pawn one. Then, the card shuffle begins. This previous placement opens up the pieces in the back rank for action. Level Two deals a three-card hand to each player before play begins from which he can select one piece; Level Three does this with five cards. This mimics more closely the actual array of options in standard chess.
For advanced guidance into learning chess strategy, there's further variations. You can also add en passant, pawn promotion, castling, and checking to Level Three, therefore following regular chess with the unpredictable card-shuffle of "No Stress." Although by then, I imagine, there'd be enough tension akin to a conventional game! That can be done, naturally, by flipping the laminated cardboard over and pursuing a regular match. Plastic pieces can topple over very easily, a slight drawback, but they are large enough to grasp easily in a child's hand and the green-and-white layout's easy on the staring eyes. The novelty of this board game is that you can combine, for beginners or for the curious, the chance of cards with the skill of chess.
Customer Review: As great as everybody's saying
Summary: 5 Stars
My oldest daughter first "played chess" when she was about 3 and wanted to move around the pieces on one of my fancier fantasy sets. Later her younger sister would say, "You taught her to play chess, when will you teach me?" They're now 8 and 6 (with a 4yr old brother) and I bought this set to introduce them to the rules of the game, rather than just pieces on a board.
The difference with regular chess is simple enough, and you could practically make your own set - on any given turn, instead of moving whatever piece you want, you draw a card that tells you what piece to move (or the somewhat wild, "Move same type as last piece" card). This cuts down the choice from "what should I move" to "where should I move it", and eases the learner into how the pieces are able to move. Each card offers a description of how the piece moves, though honestly I still have to explain pawns and knights repeatedly. I've taught my kids terminology like how to "threaten" or "skewer" a piece. Unlike in regular chess where you'd go out of your way to avoid threatening situations (including check, of course), here it is not a guaranteed capture because the other person may not be able to move the capturing piece. It's risky, but it makes the game go faster. It also makes moving into check a valid position, something that traditional chess players may find annoying.
The advanced version of the game is simply "hold several cards in your hand", either 3 or 5. So you move from "only move this specific piece" to "you have a choice of several pieces to move." The extension to "Now just put down the cards and move whatever piece you want" is obvious.
Customer Review: An awesome apporach to chess!
Summary: 5 Stars
Took it out of the box today shortly before dinner, the worst time of the day to introduce something new to children. My six-year-old and my almost-5-year-old dove right in and played three rounds of Level 1 against each other. Within ten minutes, both kids had learned how to move every single chess piece. Yes, I was there, explaining things when they made mistakes and pointing out opportunities to take pieces, but after two games they informed me I was no longer needed (not true, actually, but it will be true by tomorrow).
The board has two sides - I didn't realize this for the first few games, and played on the "real chess" side. The other side includes drawings to show you where to set up your pieces. With the pictures, my kids have no trouble setting up.
Games took less than 10 minutes. We haven't tried the more advanced levels, which give players a little more control over which piece they move (at the basic level, you draw a card and move the piece it tells you to move).
Both kids wanted to play again after dinner and by bedtime, my daughter told me that she really did not want to stop playing!
My track record teaching things I love to my children is not great. I do love chess, and I must say, this was truly No Stress. I'm about to buy an extra set to donate to my 5-year-old's classroom so she can play it during indoor recess.