by Jeroen Bosch and Steve Giddins, 230pp. (2008 New In Chess)

Features: Training Methods, Chess in Schools, Exercises, Top Coaches Explain, the Benefits of Learning Chess, Interviews, Tools, Reviews, etc.

In the last decade there has been a phenomenal growth of chess within the educational community.

The popularity of chess is no accident: in an era of compulsive zapping of TV channels, violent gaming and mobile chatter, learning chess means improving basic skills (like analysis, decision making, strategic thinking, stamina, and dealing with stress) while interacting meaningfully with other pupils. A great job for motivated teachers and coaches.

But how do you teach chess? What material do you use? Is there a particularly successful method? How do you sell a chess curriculum, how do you motivate your pupils and monitor their progress?

The Chess Instructor 2009 aims to give answers to all these questions, and more. Michael Basman explains how he puts 70,000 British schoolkids to play, every year, and Simen Agdestein tells about his work with super talent Magnus Carlsen. How do you run a chess school in the US, and what does acclaimed expert Mark Dvoretsky say about improving the play of promising youngsters?

This compendium is for chess training at all levels. With a multi-colored mosaic of articles, it aims to raise topics for discussion, and to get chess teachers at local schools to learn from top coaches, as well as the other way around. With ready-to-use teaching exercises for all levels.