No Stress Chess by Winning Moves Games USA, Celebrating 20 Years as The Chess Teaching Game Using Innovative Action Cards, for 2 Players, Ages 7+ (1091)

Bottom line: you could make your own set of six directional cards for each piece. No Stress Chess provides several advantages for anyone new to the game--including me. I purchased this No Stress Chess set to introduce my grandchildren to the game. So far, it is the four-year old who likes to play it. The older ones prefer checkers, though they do like to put the chess pieces on top of the checkers to liven up the game. ( Note to other adults with a similar goal, I wish I'd introduced chess to the others by at least five years of age.) After two games, my granddaughter could correctly arrange the pieces on the board and by the fifth game she decided to challenge herself and use the standard or "grown-up" side of the board without referring to the picture on the back of the box. From the beginning, we used the cards to see which way a piece could move. At first, we each got a set of cards consisting one each of a rook, a knight, a bishop, the king, the queen and a pawn. Later she decided we could share one set which she would line up off to the side of the board. Each card has the name of the piece at the top, a clear picture of the piece, and another picture of a small chessboard with arrows that show the direction the piece may move. Initially, the most helpful card was for the pawn, because it clearly shows that it can move twice the first time, once afterwards, and can only take another piece with a diagonal move. Without the card, this would have been difficult to explain.--we're still working on the "horsie." We found all the directional cards quite useful. Actually, imo, these directional cards are the best part of this game. Being able to refer to them allowed my granddaughter to be much more independent while learning. The cards provide visual aids that make the basic concepts much easier to grasp than verbal instructions alone. She didn't have to ask me about the rules over and over and she could actively participate from the first game. On her own, she learned to use the cards to plot strategy, for instance, figuring out how to sacrifice the pawn to free up her rook. Being able to refer to the cards allowed her to be confident and independent from the beginning. In short, they're great. We have not used the cards that suggest moves, so I can't comment on them. Maybe we will use them some day, but I rather doubt it. If you already have a chess set, you could easily refer to the illustration on the box provided here on Amazon and make your own set of six directional cards. The box is shiny and quite attractive. The pieces are black or white, lightweight plastic, the pawns are about an inch high and the king is about two inches high. The side of the chessboard that provides "hints" has the name of the piece printed on its beginning position, and it hasl arrows showing how a pawn can move the first time. No Stress Chess definitely made learning chess easy and enjoyable for both of us. The price is reasonable and I do not regret this purchase. But we already have two chess sets so this is just one more to store. Based on my experience using No Stress Chess, were I to do this again, I'd have taken a picture of the rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, and pawn from my own chess set and printed them out. Using your computer or colored pencils, you could include the name of the piece and a small chessboard on which you've drawn the directions that piece can move. Either way, this is a great way for kids and adults to learn to play chess. To encourage her, I've let her win a few times, but she's also surprised me with a checkmate more than once.

Great for a beginner level and those who just wants have fun. My son loves it. He plays with his grandma. Nice for Sunday school activities. Love its simplicity. Kids don’t get upset if they lose. Teaching the rules of chess in gentle and positive ways.

I first learned about this from a friend who purchased this for her 7-year old grandson. She stated that he was extremely happy to play this and his parents, whom play very little to no chess, are also learning as they go along. We purchased this for our grandson who is 11. He has not played chess before and thought this would be a great starter for him as well. Fingers crossed! PROS: Excellent quality, designed and advertised correctly. Great for ANY age, for those wishing to learn the game. CONS: None noted

My 6 year old had been begging to learn chess but the main problem is that I don’t know how to play it either. That’s where No Stress Chess comes in. The instructions are simple and with enough repetition, you’ll learn the rules of chess. There’s even three levels of difficulty so the game doesn’t become stale. The learning side of the board has the names and pictures of the chess pieces on the square for initial setup. Then you take turns flipping over a card that tells you which type of piece to move and how that piece is able to move. So simple! While this beginner stage doesn’t have a lot of strategy involved, the more difficult levels do so it can grow with you. When you’re ready, flip the board over and play on a standard chess board without prompts.

This is an excellent start chess set. I got this for my 6 year old and 4 year old as they have recently really been interested in learning about chess, but they are too young to deal with the nicer sets (keep the grubby little fingers away). This is a very basic set, but the nice thing is that one side of the board it shows you exactly where to put the pieces and has suggested starting moves for the pawns. This is a quick way for the boys to memorize placement, and keeps them organized. But then when they are daring they can flip the board over to the other side and that is a blank board, testing their memory skills. The cards are somewhat handy as they show each of the different moves a piece can make. We haven't really used them for their stated purpose as what we found is that many times you couldn't move the piece they were suggesting to move. Instead we have one card of each piece set aside so the boys can reference them if they can't remember how it moves. Overall it's a great first starter chess, and you can't go wrong for the price. Pieces are durable, cards are normal cards so be prepared for some bent corners, and the box is a typical box (mine is pretty destroyed already). Highly recommend this.

Good quality pieces and board - though i do wish the card holder was made of a better material than plastic. Bought it for my nephew for Christmas. It makes it easier to teach the game to him with No Stress Chess - though there's still lots of explaining to do with the why and how and when etc.. There was stress however - not for the kid but for the adults who came to watch him play the game and kept getting stressed when the pieces that should move in a real game (without the cards) were not moved - even after being told that this is a learner's chess game not real chess and he has to follow the cards!! LOL!! The game was later hijacked by the adults to play normal chess while the nephew tackled Backgammon.

Thought chess was stressful? Same. This game teaches moves right on the cards, no memorizing, no pressure, just aha! moments. Kids feel like geniuses, adults feel less confused, everyone has fun. 10/10 would finally play chess without stress.

The way the pieces move isn't that hard to learn. The seven year old and the five year old both got it pretty quickly. The problem is one of strategy and tactics. While they both really wanted to play they didn't know exactly why they were moving the pieces and what is was, exactly, they needed to accomplish. Enter this game. Because the cards dictate which piece has to be moved the young player is a bit on auto-pilot. They don't have to look at the board and 16 pieces and decide which one should go somewhere next. The card they draw tells them which piece to move. One guy was very aggressive, opening up on attack. The other was very defensive, making small and closed up moves. They began to see the larger picture, and after a few games they started to develop their own styles and really began to see how you attack and defend the king. It was actually pretty cool to see them "get" the point and flow of the game. We had great fun and made huge strides. I was delighted. Both boys desperately wanted to play chess and I figured this game would do no harm and was no more expensive than a plain plastic set. I did not expect this to be so successful, both as a fun game and as a learning tool. One suggestion. Early on a player may get a card for a piece that can't be moved. (Usually, a rook.) The "rules" dictate that the player must then skip his turn. This made no sense to me because losing a turn is a real disadvantage. We play that if you select a card for an unmovable player you select another card until you can move. That worked much better, and maintained the balance between the players. Anyway, the upshot is that this really worked well for us and I enthusiastically recommend this as a solid introduction for youngsters curious about chess. UPDATE. As of late summer the boys are now playing, quite well, without using the cards at all. This really just worked well beyond my expectations.