Chess books make great holiday gifts. Vishnu Warrier’s AlphaBetChess series uses the letters A through Z to organize chess terms. For parents who want to share their love of chess with their children, the AlphaBetChess books are wonderful choices.
Vishnu Warrier’s previous book, The Chess Bible – Most Instructive Tips, Axioms, One-Liners & Mantras, was aimed at adult chess improvers. In contrast, Warrier’s AlphaBetChess series is primarily aimed at parents. Sometimes Warrier writes “AlphaBet Chess” as two words and sometimes he writes “AlphaBetChess” as one word. The latter seems to be what retailers use.
Chess Background Recommended
While not explicitly required by Warrier, parents need some chess background to understand the chess concepts in this series. For example, the first term in the first book is “Attraction,” which Warrier ties to the letter “A.” Attraction, according to Warrier, “involves luring an opponent’s piece to a square where they would prefer not to place it.” Two diagrams, corresponding to the sequence below, illustrate this concept in Warrier’s book.
Without knowing the rules of chess, parents would likely be unsuccessful explaining the chess term “attraction” to their children. The second book in the series states that solutions for puzzles and games will be on the website https://alphabetchess.com/. Interactive diagrams, for practicing each chess concept, should be added to that website too, to benefit both parents and children.
The Colorful World of Chess
For the AlphaBetChess series, illustrator Dirk Dewitte, whose name is styled as “Diriq” on the books’ covers, drew each piece’s imagined personality and role. For example, “Queen Quinn” is the mother of “Rover Rook.” On one of the two pages for the Attraction concept, Queen Quinn looks away from the open mouth of Rover Rook. She tells him that he needs to brush his teeth.
The second book includes several typical children’s activities. While the first book’s illustrations are colored by Dewitte, the second book gives children the chance to color similar illustrations themselves. In addition to being a coloring book, the second book has letter tracing practice, both uppercase and lowercase. There are also activities, such as finding five differences between two illustrations or counting items on a page.
Fall in Love with Chess
On November 23, 2024, I attended the “Fall in Love with Chess” event at the luxury health club Life Time in McKinney at Craig Ranch. The weather was 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.89 degrees Celsius), perfect for the outdoor chess activities conducted by members of The University of Texas at Dallas chess team. Grandmasters Ivan Schitco and Balaji Daggupati gave a simultaneous chess exhibition. Grandmaster Brian Escalante Ramirez played blindfold chess, with a teammate making his moves on a giant-sized chess board.
The chess activities were next to the heated outdoor pool. Across the pool was a tent with refreshments. The chess team partnered with Vishnu Warrier, a member of the Life Time club, to create the event.
Thinkers Publishing
Warrier’s books are published by Thinkers Publishing, the brainchild of GM Romain Edouard and Daniël Vanheirzeele. Having just arrived from his snowy homeland of Belgium, Vanheirzeele appreciated the warmer Texas weather. He posed in a T-shirt and shorts next to Vishnu Warrier. Each man is holding one of the first two books of the AlphaBetChess series.
The first two AlphaBetChess books are available in the United States on December 24 at this Amazon link. Thinkers Publishing already has the books for sale in Europe, see this link which includes an interview with Warrier.
