Learn to think strategically, try out tricky mental exercises and master fun and exciting challenges – all with a generous helping of chess knowledge. These things and more await you on this unusual chess adventure that has already received great international acclaim.

## About This Game
Learn to think strategically, try out tricky mental exercises and master fun
and exciting challenges – all with a generous helping of chess knowledge.
These things and more await you on this unusual chess adventure that has
already received great international acclaim.
Start playing Fritz & Chesster Volume 1 and join Prince Fritz and his cousin
Bianca on their journey through the rules of chess and many tactical motifs.

Once upon a time there was a small country, a very, very small country. And
this very small country was ruled by a very wise king. In fact he was the
wisest King there had ever been. And he was called “King White”
This is the beginning of a very interesting new product by ChessBase: Fritz &
Chesster. It is possibly also the most important piece of software created by
the company, for a very simple reason.
Like none of the other products, Fritz, Junior, Shredder, or even ChessBase
itself, Fritz and Chesster is one that can recruit new players to the game.
We predict that tens of thousands of children will take up chess because they
had access to this program.
Fritz and Chesster does not teach chess in the usual way. It does not set up a
board and explain how each of the pieces move. Instead it targets children who
have never played chess before in their lives and teaches them the basic rules
in a Sesame Street like environment. There are cartoons and stories for the
children to follow, and then there are tasks for them to solve interactively.

Oh ye, Oh ye, Oh ye!
Listen all young heroes well
Whom the chess game doth compel:
Aspiring masters of the game
Come and enter here your name
Then I beg click on the seal
The world of chess awaits your zeal
Each piece and each rule is explained in a subgame, which you can play against
the computer. Many of them are far away from the actual game of chess, but at
the same time they give the children full insight into the sometimes daunting
rules of the game.
Take for instance the first sequence. Young Prince Fritz has to stand in for a
while for his father, King White. Together with his cousin Bianca Fritz
embarks on a journey through their kingdom.

On their journey they are joined by Kalaidoscope, a jolly instructor, who
tells them all about the kingdom. In each scene the children can click
different elements, like the mouse traps in the above picture, funny things
happen. It encourages the young users to explore the scenery.

On their trip around the kingdom the three encounter the daunting King Black,
who challenges them to a game of chess. But Fritz doesn’t know how to play.
Thankfully he is able to learn the game on the rest of his trip.

The first lesson comes when they see two sumo wrestlers fighting in a ring.
The wrestlers are too fat to approach each other directly, so they always stay
at least one square apart. They move around the board blocking each other off.

If they do it properly Fritz and Bianca can push their opponent off the board.
After that they try to occupy chairs before their opponent, and while trying
to do so the program explains how they can use “opposition” to outwit the
opponent. At the end of this lesson the children have learnt everything they
need to know about the king move, including the concept of opposition.

Learning the rook moves is equally entertaining. In a pacman-like game the
children learn to move the rook and avoid capture by the enemy spiders. There
are sound effects and high-score lists to keep their attention.

The bishop move is learnt by bouncing a ball off a rectangular paddle to
destroy toilet bowls (the kind of thing young children find hilarious). Since
the ball moves diagonally they are learning to operate the bishop. Mind you,
these games might also create some problems. Very often the parents start to
play them and compete against their offspring. There can be ugly scenes when
it turns out, as it usually does, that the children are better.
## The stand-alone chess teacher
The principle of Fritz & Chesster is that you can insert the CD into a
computer drive, fire up the program and then leave a child alone with it if
necessary. After a few weeks the child will come to you and say: “Can we play
a game of chess?” It will have learnt all the rule – we are talking pawn
moves, castling rules, promotion, mate, stalemate, everything – and even
understand a bit about strategy and tactics.
Naturally you do not need to or indeed should leave your child alone with the
program. In fact we have discovered that it is often usually children and
their mothers who pick up the game. The fathers usually get hooked on the
subgames, battling to keep ahead of the kids.
## More Images of the game

Fritz & Chesster – Learn to Play Chess Vol. 1