Chess Academy and Play Chess

Eighteen lessons, in four parts:

1. Meet the pieces: the board, each piece and how it moves, and setting up.
2. The rules: taking pieces, check, checkmate, and the special moves.
3. Winning ideas: mating with the queen, forks, pins and skewers, and mate in two.
4. Playing games: good first moves, two endings, and a whole game against Pip.

Every lesson explains on the board first, while Pip talks: the squares a piece can reach light up. Then your child tries it. Moves are made by tapping: tap a piece, then the square it goes to. Rings show where the piece can go.

Give me a hint helps one step at a time. If your child is still stuck, the answer is shown on the board itself: the piece and its square light up. A second try that does not work does the same. Start the lesson over is always there.

1. Pick how strong the computer is: Just learning, Easy, Medium or Hard. Just learning often makes mistakes, so a first win is possible.
2. Pick a side: White moves first, Black lets Pip move first.
3. Choose the helpers: Show where a piece can go, Danger warning (it asks “are you sure?” before a move that gives a piece away), Hint and Take back a move. Each can be on or off.
4. Tap Start the game. Stop this game ends it at any point.

After the game, Look back at the game steps through it, with up to three Moments to look at from your child’s own moves: a mate missed, a piece given away, a free piece not taken, or a good capture.